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INTRODUCTION
European and Indian both, to show that traces of Sanskrit derivation are to be found in the different languages in a great many countries of the world. Now, some of these investigators thought that the home of the Aryan race must have been somewhere in Central Asia to enable the subsequent divergences to spread out in all directions. The argument does not appeal to my mind, and has not appealed to the minds of many another thinker. There is no place in Central Asia (indeed, anywhere outside India) which can be put down as the home of Sanskrit or of any other language capable of giving birth to it. India, on the other hand, actually is the home of Sanskrit even to-day! The other consideration which I regard as conclusive is what I have termed mythological. This is based upon the undoubted presence in the mythologies of the world of the “grain of Truth,” that is to say, of the Tirthamkara's teaching about the nature of the soul, about its inherent divinity, about transmigration and karma, and about the soul's ability to obtain nirvana. Now, it is certain that in no other part of the World than India was this teaching given out. In other countries you come across mythology, not science; and a Tirthamkara would never preach mythology or resort to mythological language to spread His doctrine. This is so
