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JANUARY 5, 1872.]
ON OLD HINDI.
interest and importance for the student of com- | tribe of Rajputs, the last Hindu sovereign of parative philology will be apparent, when I say Dehli. This is followed by a long string of writers that the modern Aryan group of languages has of religious poctry, whose names are too well been developed from the Sanskrit, or rather known to need repetition here, but whose works froni that old Aryan ursprache, of which Sanskrit are, perhaps, not so familiar as their naines. In is our only surviving type, by precisely the same spite of occasional dialectic differences, and alprocesses as those by which the Romance group though a gradual modernization of style and in Europe has cvolved itself from the Latin. vocabulary is discernible in them, these poets We see in both groups exactly parallel develop- are all of one typo as regards grammatical conmonts, marvellously synchronous, and precisely struction, and general characteristics. And this similar in point of structure. So also with the type is about the most enigmatical that can Gernian group; readers of Grimm might alınost l'ossibly be imagined take his rules and the skeleton of his German In the first place, as though peculiarities of Grammar, and fill up the details with examples grammar and syntax were not enough to bedrawn from Hindi, Marathi, and other Indian wilder the student, a mechanical stumbling-block languages.. Inasmuch then, as what we want, of the gravest description meets him at the outmore especially in philology at present, is an sct. All the words in one line are written toabsolute parallclism of all developements in gether without any break; thusgroups of languages of the same family, to
साकुनकलाक्रीडनवितार ॥ onable us to give to our science that mathemati
Chand. cal precision which it is at present reproached
नितनईसेजसिंगारवनावै॥ with lacking, there can be few more important
Kabir. lines of study for the enquirer to follow, than a wliich is much as if one should writo in one thorough clucidation of the principles of development of the Aryan languages of India. The
Godlikeerectwithnativehonourclad.
. Milton. first requisite for this taske is, that there should
This is the unirersal custom in Indian manuexist an accessible and trustworthy series of
scripts of all ages, but in Sanskrit tho practice texts. As long as the Indian authors remain in
causes no difficulty, because the inflexional terinanuscript, no real work can be done. We must
mination of the words themselves supply & have Chand in print, just as readily procurable guide to their proper division. as Otfriod or Notker, so that he may be analyzed In old Hindi, however, the inflexional terniand commented upon, and the lessons which his
nations of nouns and verbs (a point to be noticed rude style teaches, as fully understood as those
presently more in detail) have almost entirely of the old and middle-German writers.
disappeared; so, that, we have frequently no clue It is generally supposed, that, to translate an
at all to help us in dividing the words. Take old lindi work, is as easy as it is to translate a
for instance the following lines from Cland :modern German or French novel. This is a very great mistake, and entails much undesery
छत्रंजामदंगंधरागरुचयंम्रलिभारिआछादिता ॥ od neglect and some little contempt, upon scholars पारासरजोपुत्तविहासह । who undertake the task. I wish therefore,
सिवपरसतसवसुषभयो । as one who has had occasion to spend many a wenry hour over the dark and mystic pages of
The above lines are not consecutive, but are taken these knotty old poets, to say a few words with
at random, from different parts of the poem. It il view to putting the importance and difficulty of
will be observed, that each one of them admits thest studies in a truer light, and winning some
of being divided in more than one way; as, for sympathy and recognition for those who are
instance, the first from a hymn in praise of Sarasengaged in, what seems to them at present, a
wati. We may take it thustask of almost disheartening difficulty.
* TT, HET ETT &c. The earliest Hindi poem extant, as far as we “Wbose is the umbrella, holder of the dran." know nt present, is the great epic of CHAND BARDAI, [Buroth] called the Prithiraja Rásau,
(मदंगं for मृदंग a common change), or wo may which was written about A.D. 1200, and records
perhaps more correctly dividekhe life and exploits of Prithiraja of the Chauhin |
छत्र जामदगंध संग रुचर्य
so Garcla de Tasay's valuable Istola de la Literatuc Klandorle und Rindouatanic, vol. I. pagalm.
