Indian Antiquary Vol 15

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 40

32
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1886.
me that Reinaud's extracts have by no means exhausted all the interesting information contained in Bêrunt's book. On the contrary, there is not a branch of Indology-with, perhaps, the single exception of Vedic studies which will not gain very considerably by its publication Bêrani was himself a Sanskrit scholar. He studi. ed some Sastras, especially astronomy and mathematics, deeply, possessed a superficial knowledge of others, and made careful inquiries among the best Pandits of his time, regarding the remainder and regarding the geography and the history of India. Though he complains of the want of communicativeness on the part of the Brihmans, which he ascribes partly to their ar. rogant contempt for all but their own caste. fellows, and partly to their hostility towards the Muhammadan invaders of their country, he has nevertheless collected more, and more correct, information than any foreigner who wrote before the great opening-up of Brahmanical India under British rule. His wide culture, his high scientific attainments, and his full acquaintance with the literature of the Western nations, enabled him to estimate Hinda science and learning at their proper value, and permitted him to draw interesting parallels. Both the accounts left us by the Greeks and by the Chinese pilgrims read, by the side of Bêrani's work, like children's books, or the compi. lations of uneducated and superstitious men, who marvelled at the strange world into which they had fallen, but understood its true character very little. Böranf's style is somewhat stiff and quaint, and he often devotes much space to very abstruse matters yet his book will possess considerable interest even for the general reader, and many passages will be found to be highly amusing. In order to show how much the specialist may gain from a careful study of the Indica, I may give, as an instance, the remarks on the Sikhita of Ugrabhati, which explains the Kdtantra Grammar. It is the last on the list of Indian grammatical compositions, and Bêrant adds the following account of the manner in which it became famous :-Ugrabhati, he says, was, according to common report, the spiritual guide and teacher of the reigning Shah, Anandap&la, the son of Jayapala. When he had composed his work, he sent it to Kasmir for the approval of the learned. The latter," being haughtily conservative," re- jected it as useless, and refused to study it. Thereupon he moved his royal pupil to forward" 200.000
dirhams and presents of equal value," to be distributed among those who would learn and teach it. The consequence was that the Kasmirians, "showing the meanness of their avarice," immediately recanted their former opinion, and not only adopted the Sikhitd as their class-book, but wrote numerous commentaries on it. Now this story, which, at first sight, reads like a spiteful anecdote, can easily be shown to be quite true, and it enlightens us on various difficult points. As it is the custom in Northern India to pronounce sa instead of ba and kha instead of sha, it is evident that the Sikhita is the Sishyahita commentary on the Katantra, copies of which I brought from Kasmir in 1875. The first service which Beruni does us is that he gives us its date, the beginning of the 11th century. But he teaches us still more. The Sishyahitd is at present only found in Kasmir, where several commentaries on it, written by Kasmirians are extant, and where it is a favourite class-book. To any one acquainted with the literary history of Kasmir, it must be clear that the Katantra was not the gram. mar originally studied in the valley, but that in earlier times the works of Paniņi's school alone were studied and commented on. This struck me very much at the time of my visit, and I inquired in vain for the causes of the change. Bêrani's story now furnishes an easy explanation, and its truth is confirmed by the state of things in Kasmir. The same story teaches us further that royal favour and liberality were employed in the interests of mere school-books, and that the needy Pandits easily succumbed to such influences. Ugrabhati's CARA WA nrobably not the only on of its kind, and it will be well for the historian of Sansksit literature if he does not trust too exclu. sively to the theory of natural development, but is also in other cases on the look-out for similar external influences, which the anecdotes of the Pandits mention not rarely. Finally, the assertion, made in Jaina and Brahmanical Prabandhas, that, during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, the sabhds of the Kaśmirian Pandita were considered literary courts of appeal, becomes now credible. The same story is told regarding the Naishadhiya, which its author is said to have taken to Kasmir, and to have placed in the lap of the goddess Sårada. Hitherto, I must confess, I doubted that this narrative had any foundation in truth, but now it seems very probable.
G. BÜHLER.