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The Acalis, when the prayers are finished, desire the council to be seated. They sit down, and the cakes being uncovered are eaten of by all classes of Sikhs; those distinctions of original tribes, which are on other occasions kept up, being on this occasion laid aside, in token of their general and complete union in one cause. The Acalis then exclaim, " Sirdars ! (chiefs) this is a Gurumatfi. " (a great assembly); on which prayers are again said aloud. The chiefs, after this, sit closer, and say to each other : ** The sacred Granth (book) is betwixt us, let us swear by our scriptures to forget all external disputes, and to be united." * ' Asiatic Researches, xi. 255. 514 THE INTBODUCTION OF WRITING. several minor points connected with the signing (chihnita) of papers, and the treatment of witnesses who cannot write (alipijna). But I have found no such traces of written documents in any of the ancient Dharmas^tras. The words for ink (masi^j kM^ mela^ gold) and pen {kalama) ^, have all a modern appearance ; and, as to KdyasthUj the name of the writer-caste, proceeding from a Kshatriya father and a Siidra mother, it does not even occur in Manu. Another class of words which would be likely to contain aUusions to writing are those used for the va- rious subdivisions of literary compositions : but these too point to a literature kept up by oral tradition ^^^^^T We observed before that a lecture (adhydya) consiste of sixty questions or pra'snas. We find these very words used instead of chapters and paragrapbs^^ ,^ Sanhit&s, Brfthmanas, and SAtras. In tb^ ^^^"^'^r^u- we have the ancient division into sMtas^ b^^^^ ' dalas, vdkasj chapters {i. e. repetition) ; and ^^^arqa^i books {i.e. cycles) : and the later division ^^^grAoads. classes; adhyAyas, lectures; ^xiA AsJxtaha^'^ Andik^ In the Taittinyaka, the division is * itvt^ la ^^^ (sections), ajiuvdkasj pra'maSj and ctshtalclf^^' t\^ stKA- K&thaka we have granthas, compositloTi^f Jhtaarittia wato, places, Thename ofthcA^atajoci^A lyf ^hash'i' derived from its 100 pathos or Waller • * ^^ Iks or patha is used for a work consisting ^^ *• ^ <r . ^h- chapters. Other words of the sattxo "U- ^^ t"^ ^^ \ thaka, a reading, a lecture; dhnikj^^^^ ^f0 ^^7 parvan, a joint, &c. We look in va.!-.^ ? ^^^ h ^^ 1 Lalita Vistara, adhyaya, ix. p, 1 ^c^ 2 Unadi-siitraa, iv. 84. calamus, ^ • 1- 17, THE INTRODUCTION OF WRITING. 513 nails to scratch the letters on it. This is clearly writ- ing. In the VikramorvaSl, again, Urva6i, not daring to face her lover, writes a letter (lekka) on a birch- leaf (bMrjapatra). The king, who sees it, calls it bMrjagato aksharaviny&sa^ " letters put down on a birch leaf; " and when he reads it, he is said to make the leaf speak (vdchayati). The leaf (patra) is used here not in the sense in which we found it in the Sa- kuntala, as the leaf of a tree, but as a leaf or sheet of paper. This paper was made of the bark of the birch- tree ; and hence, when the; queen picks up the love- letter, she thinks " it is a strip of fresh bark which the south wind has blown thither." ^ Passages like these, to which we might add the well- known introduction to the Mah&bli&rata, leave little doubt that, at the time when these modern plays were composed, writing was generally practised by women as well as men. Why should there be no such pas- sage in any of the genuine early Sanskrit works, if writing had then been equally known ? In Manu's Code of Laws we read (viii. 168.) : " What is given by force, what is by force enjoyed, by force caused io be written {lekhita)^ and all other things done by force, Manu has pronounced void." Here again we have clearly writing. But this is only another proof that this metrical paraphrase of the laws of the Manavas is later than the Vedic age. In the Laws of Ylljnavalkya also written docu- ments are mentioned; and the Commentator (ii. 22.) quotes N&rada and other authorities, all in Slokas, on 1 There are, I believe, but two Sanskrit MSS. in Europe which are written on birch bark ; one in the Royal Library of Berlin^ the other in the Library of All Souls College, Oxford. L L 514 THE IHTBODUCTION OF WRITIKG. several minor points connected with the signing (ckihnita) of papers, and the treatment of witnesses who cannot write (alipijna). But I have found no such traces of written documents in any of the ancient Dharmas^tras. The words for ink (ma8i\ kSMj mela^ gold) and pen (kalama) 2, have all a modern appearance ; and, as to Kdyastha^ the name of the writer-caste, proceeding from a Kshatriya father and a S^dra mother, it does not even occur in Manu. Another class of words which would be likely to contain allusions to writing are those used for the va- rious subdivisions of literary compositions : but these too point to a literature kept up by oral tradition only. We observed before that a lecture {adhydya) consisted of sixty questions or prcdsnas. We find these very words used instead of chapters and paragraphs in the Sanhitas, Br&hmanas, and SAtras. In the Rig-veda we have the ancient division into si^ktas^ hymns ; anu- vdkasj chapters {i. e. repetition) ; and mandalaSj books {%. e. cycles) : and the later division into vargaSj classes ; adhydyas^ lectures ; and Ashtakas^ Ogdoads. In the Taittiriyaka, the division is into Kandikds (sections), anuvdkas^ pramaSj and ashtakas. In the K&thaka we have granthas, compositions, and sthd^ nakasy places. The name of the jSatapatha-brdhmana is derived from its 100 pathos or walks ; and ShashH- patha is used for a work consisting of sixty walks or chapters. Other words of the same kind are prapd- fhakuj a reading, a lecture ; dhnika^ a day's work ; parvan, a joint, &c. We look in vain for such words 1 Lalita Yistara, adhjaya, ix. p. 139. 1. 17. ^ Un^i'SdtraSy iv. 84. calamus, reed. THE INTRODUCTION OF WRITING. 515 as volumerij a volume, liber^ i. e. the inner bark of a tree ; or ^IpKo^^ i. e. fivfiXosj the inner bark of the papyrus ; or bookj i. e. beech-wood. It is clear, from the evidence which we have exa- mined, that it is far easier to prove the absence of writing during the early period of Sanskrit literature, than to discover any traces of writing even at the time when we are inclined to suppose that it was known in India. Writing was practised in India before the time of Alexander's conquest ; and, though it may not have been used for literary purposes, we can hardly doubt that a written alphabet was known during the greater part of the SAtra period. The Greek writers tell us exactly what we should expect under these circumstances. Megasthenes declared that the Indians did not know letters, that their laws were not written, and that they administered justice from memory.^ This is perfectly true, if, as has been pointed out^, we restrict their ignorance of letters to the fact that they did not employ them for literary purposes. Strabo himself, when quoting the state- ment of Nearchus that the Indians wrote letters on cotton that had been well beaten together, points out the contradiction between this author and others (z. e. Megasthenes), who declared that the Indians used no letters at all.^ There is, however, no real contra- diction between these two statements, if we only dis- tinguish between the knowledge of letters and their use as a vehicle of literature. Nearchus fully agrees * Strabo, xv. 53. : .... 'Aypa^ig koI ravra yofioiQ xpiafiivoie. OvU yap ypafifiara tlliyai avrowc, aW cltto firilfiric EKaara ^louciiadau * Schwanbeck, Megasthenis Fragmenta, p. 50. Strabo, xv. 67. : 'EirtcrroXac 3c ypa^civ ey triUtri \lay KiKpoTfi' fiiycucy Twy &\\wy yp&fXfiaaty avrovs firi 'xpfi<rdai ^a^cVwv. L L 2 516 THE INTRODUCTION OB^ \rBXTTJ^ , t the la^^ ^^ with Megasthenes ; for he also states tn^ ^ ^^^ j^jg. the Indians were not reduced to iBvritiBg* gtows gasthenes agrees with Nearchus ; fov t^ -^^i. ^^jg himself perfectly acquainted ^w^itli the 1^ -wtones, Indians used letters for inscriptions on ^ -KjQilxing indicating the resting-places and clistati^^^* ooiiii^^ could offer a stronger confirixiation of on ^^^ that the Indians had become acquainted ^^ ^^ of writing during the SAtra peiriod ^° . -i ^^^ conquest of Alexander, but that tliey abstaine using it for literary purposes, tliaii this ^PP^^'^^ ^g. tradiction in the accounts of INearchus ^^^ . . sthenes. Curtius, differing from l!