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^earchus, m^^^ that they wrote on the soft rind of trees ^ ^ f ^^ which we saw preserved in the p>la.Y of Urvafei* can hardly believe that the Indiaxis could have used skins for writing. And, though IN icolaus DamasceflUS declares that he saw the anxbassad^ors of Potus pre- sented to CfiBsar Augustus in Antioohia and that they brought a letter written a/ 8^<^^^c>cx^ we luust remem- ber that this letter was writt^ix ixi. Treelc^ and that the word hi<f^0€pa may have beeix x^sed for paper in general.* We shall not be able to traoes the Indian alphabet back much beyond Alexander's LrxA^asion. It existed, however, before Alexander. U^hi^ ^^ ^„^,, from * Strabo, xv. 66. : Ncapxoc ^c wepl 7-<^^ ^ Oi ayopapo^oi . . . olowoiovais jccic ridiaai rac etcrpovac ical rit Statrr^/iarci S^x^^^^** ^**^** (rralia ^9Ai|>', ^ Curtius, 8, 9. "Libri arborum ^^n^x^^^^^^" literarum notas capiunt." * "a.ud secus quam ciarte < Strabo, xv. 73. Ti^v Sc eviaroK^^ ^ ^ Herodotas, v. o8. THE INTBODUCTION OF WRITING. 517 Nearchus himself, who ascribes to the Indians the art of making paper from cotton. Now, in looking for traces of writing before Alexander's time, we find in the Lalita-vistara, which contains the life of Bud- dha, that the young l^&kya is represented as learn- ing to write. Though the Lalita-vistara cannot be regarded as a contemporaneous witness, it is never- theless a canonical book of the Buddhists, and, as such, must be ascribed to the third council. It was trans- lated into Chinese 76 a. d. As we have seen, before, the system of instruction practised in the lecture- rooms of the Brahmans, it will perhaps be of interest to glance at the schools in which Buddha was educated, or supposed to have been educated. " When the young prince had groSvn, he was led to the writing-school (lipi6fi,l&).^ We may leave out all the wonderful things that happened on this occa- sion, how he received a hundred thousand blessings, how he was surrounded by ten thousand children, preceded by ten thousand chariots full of sweetmeats, of silver and gold ; how the town of Kapilavastu was cleansed, how music sounded everywhere, and showers of flowers were poured from the roofs, windows, and balconies ; how, not satisfied with this, celestial ladies walked before him to clear the road, and the daugh- ters of the wind scattered celestial flowers, besides other fabulous beings who all came to honour the Bodhisatva as he went to school. These marginal illustrations may be dropped in all Buddhist books, though they leave but little room for the text. When ^ Lalita-vistara, Adhyaya, x. This work has lately been edited and partially translated by Babu Bajendralal Mitrn, one of the most distinguished Sanskrit scholars in India. hh 3 518 THE INTRODUCTION OF WRITING, Buddha entered the school, ViSvamitra, the school- master (d&rak&chfi,rya), unable to bear the majesty of the Bodhisatva's presence, fell to the ground," and had to be lifted up by an angel, named l§ubh&nga. After the king Suddhodana and his suite had left, the nurses and attendants sat down, and the Bodhisatva took a leaf to write on (lipiphalaka) made of sandal-wood (uraga- sd^rachandana-mayam). He then asked Yi&v&mitra what writing he was going to teach him. Here fol- low sixty- four names, apparently names of alphabets,^ all of which the Bodhisatva is acquainted with, whereas Vi6vfi,mitra is obliged to confess his ignorance. Never- theless the Bodhisatva stays at school, and learns to write, together with ten thousand boys.^ ^ The most interesting names are Anga (Bhagalpnr), Banga (Bengal), Magadha, Dravida, Dakshina (Dekhan), Darad% Khasja (Cassia hills), China (Chinese), Hiina, Deva (DeFanagari), Bhau- madeva (Brahman), Uttarakurus, anudruta (cursive). ^ The following passage from the Eyangelium Infantise (ed. Sike, p. 143.) offers a carious parallel : " Eratporro Hierosoljmis quidam Zachseus nomine, qui juventutem erudiebat. Dicebat hie Josepho : Quare non mittis ad me Jesum, ut literas discat ? An- nuebat illi Josephus, et ad Divam Mariam hoc referebat. Ad magistrum itaque ilium ducebant ; qui simulatque eum conspezerat Alphabetum ipsi conscripsit, utque Aleph diceret prscepit £t cum dixisset Aleph, magister ipsum Beth pronunciare jabebat. Cui Dominus Jesus : Die mihi prius significationem liters Aleph, efc tum Beth pronunciabo. Cumque magister verbera ipsi inten- taret, ezponebat illi Dominus Jesus signiflcationes literarum Aleph et Beth ; item, quasnam literarum figurae essent recte, quaenam obliquce, qusenam duplicatsB^ quse punctis insignitse, quas iisdem carentes ; quare una litera aliam precederet; aliaque plurima enarrare coepit et elucidare, quae magister ipse nee audiverat un- quam nee in libro ullo legerat. Dixit porro magistro Dominus Jesus : Attende, ut dicam tibi, ccspitqiie clare et distincte reci- tare, Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, usque ad finem Alphabet]. Quod miratus magister, Hunc, inquit, puerum ante Noachum THE INTEODUCTION OF WRITING. 519 The alphabet which he learns is the common Sans- krit alphabet, with the omission of the letters 1, ri, and ri. It consists of 45 letters, and, as in our own primers, every letter is followed by a word containing that l^tcr at the beginning or in the middle. These words in the Lalita-vistara are so chosen as to illustrate some of the chief points of Buddha's own doctrines. The alphabet is : — a, &, i, S, u, il, e, ai, o, au, am, ah ; k, kh, g, gh, n ; ch, chh, j, jh, a ; t, th, d, dh, n ; t, th, d, dh, n ; p, ph, b, bh, m ; y, r, V ; 6, sh, s, h, ksh. Though the further education of Buddha is not fully described, we see him soon afterwards, in a general competition, the most distinguished scholar, arithmetician, musician, and everything else.^ This comprehensive system of education, through which Buddha is here represented to have passed, is the very opposite of that followed by the Brahmans. We nowhere meet in the Buddhist literature with those strong imprecations against book-learning which we found among the Brahmans, and which may be heard, I believe, even at the present day. If, thus, the first, though rather legendary, trace of writing, as a part of the elementary education in India, is 2 discovered in the life of Buddha, it is curious to Datum esse existimo ; conyersusque ad Joseph um, Adduxisti, ait, ad me erudiendam puerum, magiatris omnibus doctiorem. Divae quoque Marie inquit: Filio tuo nulla doctrina opus est.** The Gospel of Thomas the Israelite, or the Book of Thomas the Isra- elite, the philosopher, concerning the acts which the Lord did, when a child, was most popular in the east. ^ Among the subjects in which he shows his learning, figure Nirgbantu, Nigama, Purana, Itihasa, Veda, Yj&karana, Nirukta, Siksha^ Chhandas, Ealpa, Jjotisha, Sankhja, Yoga, Vaideshika. ' In an ancient inscription of Khandgiri (Journal of the Asiat. L z. 4 520 THE INTHODUCTION OP WRITIHG. observe that the first actual writing, the first well authenticated inscription in India, is likewise of Bud- dhist origin. There are no Brahmanic inscriptions eariier than the Buddhist inscriptions of A6oka on the rocks of Kapurdigiri, Dhauli, and^irnar. They be- long to the third century before Christ. They call themselves lipij a writing \ or dharmalipi \ a sacred writing ; and they mention the writer or engraver by the name of lipikara.^ This last word lipikara is an important word, for it is the only word in the SAtra3 of Pa.nini which can be legitimately adduced to prove that P&nini was acquainted with the art of writing. He teaches the formation of this word, iii. 2, 21- There is indeed another passage, which has frequently been quoted, where P&nini teaches the formation o the adjective yavandni. This is simply the femini of yavana^ as Indrdnt is of Indra. ^^^^. t^at however, and the Commentator, both mavnta^^ ^^^^ yavandrA is used as a name of lipi^ and t^*^ ^ Aovib^ the writing of the Yavanas. I see no rea^^^ -Lx Cotn- that most of the examples which we find. ^^. • an^ ^ mentaries go back to the very time of p^^^^ U^ rule am quite willing to admit that Pltnini u!^ vJOtA as on yavandnt simply in order to explaixi tP'^^A^xs^^ ^^ the name of a certain alphabet. But I xxxvi^^ tjjB youA Soc. of Bengal, vi. 318.), a king is mentioned -^v-'u iA ligation* learned to write, and was taught, besides, ai*it.i* ^- ^^ituvisi* commerce, and law (" tato likhar^pagana u&va. ^ ^tic> ^ja radena"). ^^^P&ri> 1 Et&ya athaya iyam lipi likhitA ; for this on,^ t^^ ^^ ' U written.