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There is no proof that we ought to place either the development of tliat system earlier than Cum^rila, (A. D. 700,) or the spread of the Arian race in India earlier than the dynasty of Cyrus in Persia. Nor would it surprise me, if tlieir immigration about that period should turn out to be the vague foundation of fact, for what was afterwards expanded into the Great War of tlie sons of P^ndu and Kuru." Thus far Wolff stated his objections in a peremptory sort of manner, without noticing, perhaps, how much several of his hearers seemed to be disturbed by hia discourse. When he had finished, however, Blancombe said, " It always appears to me, that whoever rejects exaggerated claims, should be careful to allow what is just in them ; otherwise, he only falls into an opposite error. Tlius, if we are bound to make large deductions from the swollen chronology of the Hindtis, we should not the less admit their claims to a very early civilisation and a most interesting literature. In the first place, the origin of Buddhism can be fixed beyond reasonable doubt. Even the Christian saint, Clement of Alexandria*, mentions the worship of Buddlia within the second century of our era. Legends respecting him are appealed to as ancient by St Jerome t- The date of Asoca, in whose reign the Bauddha faith prevailed greatly, is not doubtful ; for we have seen it fixed by inscriptions, and by the synchronism of Chandragupta. But when Buddhism began, Brahmanism had been before it ; for the early Bauddha books are full of terms, such as Brahmacharya {devotion), borrowed t from the older ritual. Sdkya himself had been the pupil of * Strom. I. If indeed he is not quoting the words of Megasthenes. Cf. Frag, xlui. Sohwanb. f Hieron. c. Jovin. I. 44. X £. Bumouf, Buddkwne, where the question of priority is weU argued. SIGNS OF INDIAN ANTIQUITY. 265 Brahmans. One of his most characteristic doctrines was a protest against the inexorable perpetuity of caste ; which must therefore have been of far older date. This renders it unne- cessary to examine what is pretended about the Greek authors not mentioning caste ; though I think it clear that they do, for they speak of it as a thing of birth, or generation*. The negro hair and features ascribed to Buddha seem to me most easily explained by the circumstance that his doctrine of the equality of souls tended to raise the earlier races, and hence he was con- sidered their patron. Thus it was in the reign of Asoca, the grandson of a man of mixed blood, and who had been preceded by a Sudra dynasty, that the Bauddha faith became established at Palibothra. Thus too, the language f may naturally have been Pali; that is, not the language of a Brahmanical caste, though akin to Sanscrit, and not of any necessity prior to it; for rudeness is far from implying priority in linguistic development, but still the language of the lower classes, or of the people. K, however, as has been strangely suggested, Pali had been the language of the older races only, (whether they are to be called Dasyus or Nish&das},) it would never have been so nearly akin through Sanscrit $ to Persian and Zend, which are manifestly Arian tongues. All that shew of philology, therefore, goes for nothing. As to alphabets, I am willing to wait for more light on that difficulty : but there is no reason why alphabets should not have changed often, as we know they have in Europe, and even with the Jews, a people not easily given to change. We may admit that an air of uncertainty hangs over much of Sanscrit literature. Yet, certainly, it implies vast periods, not only of literary develop- • yewiar ArriaD, Hist. Ind. Sykes, p. 365. Schwanbeck, pp. 41 — 49. t But Tomoiir, on the Mahawansa, may be compared with Lassen, B. n. pp. 490— 493- t Basyus seems to me the Vedic term. NishiSdas has been recently proposed in Bunsen's Laietl Iteaearches, Ac. It seems taken from the R^bn^yana. — Lassen, R n. pp. 534— 797, but may be older in a different sense. § Le Pali est ddriv6 du Sanscrit il n'est pas besoin d'admettre llnflu- enoe d'aucun idiome Stranger. Bumouf and Lassen, Euai sur le Pali, pp. 138 — 9. (Paris, 1826.) 266 SIGNS OF INDIAN ANTIQUITlf, ment, but of religious and social change. Things which are late in its course, are yet early, if tried by the history of many nations. The poets of the Augustan age in Latium mention the burning of Hindd widows ; yet all this custom is a modem innovation upon the Vedas. The Periplus of Nearchus mentions the name of C. Comorin ; and this comes from Cumdri, a name of DurgA ; but her worship, (even if the Ach&rya will not let me say the same of her consort Siva,) is, if compared to the Ycdas, quite modem. There has been an allusion to the expedition of Alexander. The Greek writers who describe either that, or the voyages subsequent to it, give glimpses of a picture of India, such as one might conjecture to follow not very remotely upon the laws of Manu. It is beyond fair doubt that they speak of caste, though not perhaps* in its most rigid form. But over how many a generation must have extended the growth of that system, which SAkya, in the middle of the sixth century before Christ, found overshadowing the energies of human life ! Then, again, we saw that his system had been partly borrowed, though with an infusion of a mystical glow of his own, from the S^khya philosophy. But philosophy belongs not to the infancy of lite- rature. Both Capila and Patanjali must come long after the Vy&a of the Vedas. By reasoning of this kind we may cer- tainly shew that Sanscrit literature is not a thing of a day's growth, whatever uncertainty may rest on portions of it. If our tests cannot always be minute, they become more so in pro- portion as our materials increase. K the Jesuits forged a Pur&na, which they called a Veda, the forgery was found out ; and if a higher date than ought to be is claimed for some to which we would not apply so harsh a name, the contents will often enable us to bring them down. But that the Aryan race had extended itself in India as early as a thousand years before Christ, is clearly demonstrated by the Hebrew Scriptures. For when we read of king Solomon's trade with Ophir (1st Kings ix. 26—28; x. 11, 12; 22, 23), we find the wares mentioned * Compare Elphinitone, Appendix, Vol. I. NOTWITHSTANDING OBSCURITIES. 267 are ailgumimy and Tcophim^ and tuchim; but these are in effect * Sanscrit words for sandal-wood, and apes, and peacocks. There- fore the speakers of Sanscrit had been settled in India long enough to organise a trade in the native wares of the country. Here is a strong confirmation from independent witnesses of the claims made by Hindds to at least a far older civilisation than the extreme school of sceptics is willing to allow. How much may be exaggerated in those claims, is a different question ; and why the name of Vicram&ditya is omitted in some genealogies, is for our Hindd friends to explain. But whether he is suffi- ciently fixed by the chronicle of the kings of Cashmir, which he is said to have conquered, or whether there is a possible con- fusion between him and the later Bhojaf king of the same name, we may here accept the date usually current for his era. Nor have I ventured to approach the earlier dynasties of kings other- wise than in a spirit of conjecture. But surely E&ma lived and conquered Ceylon, as even the great Epic of Valmiki, after allow- ance for its poetical form, may convince us. If he did not, some one did ; and that other one may as well be called B4ma. There is nothing gained for true philosophy by approaching even dim traditions in a spirit of unreasonable scepticism. We have proved at least a Brahmanical period long prior to Buddhism ; and both its duration and its features may be understood better by who- ever will examine critically the various stages of Sanscrit lite- rature. Our own business is to proceed with such an outline of chronology, as may serve for a scaffolding to the religious edifice we have yet to raise." Vidyach&rya seemed to be rather re-assured by parts of Blancombe's speech ; and Sad&nanda, as before, asked how he proposed to proceed. " I conceive," replied Blancombe, " we are sufficiently agreed as to the great landmarks of the stream from about the Christian * Lassen, I, A, R, n. p. 538. t Compare Lassen, B. n. p. 409, and p. 760, with Weber, VwUtungtnf pp. 188 — o6. 268 LEADING DATES. era to otir own time.