A History of Sanskrit Literature

Appendix on Technical Literature

Law.

On Sanskrit legal literature in general, consult the very valuable work of Jolly, Recht und Sitte, in Bühler’s Encyclopædia, 1896 (complete bibliography). There are several secondary Dharma Sūtras of the post-Vedic period. The most important of these is the Vaishṇava Dharma Çāstra or Vishṇu Smṛiti (closely connected with the Kāṭhaka Gṛihya Sūtra), not earlier than 200 A.D. in its final redaction (ed. by Jolly, Calcutta, 1881, trans. by him in the Sacred Books of the East, Oxford, 1880). The regular post-Vedic lawbooks are metrical (mostly in çlokas). They are much wider in scope than the Dharma Sūtras, which are limited to matters connected with religion. The most important and earliest of the metrical Smṛitis is the Mānava Dharma Çāstra, or Code of Manu, not improbably based on a Mānava Dharma Sūtra. It is closely connected with the Mahābhārata, of which three books alone (iii., xii., xvi.) contain as many as 260 of its 2684 çlokas. It probably assumed its present shape not much later than 200 A.D. It was ed. by Jolly, London, 1887; trans. by Bühler, with valuable introd., in the Sacred Books, Oxford, 1886; also trans. by Burnell (ed. by Hopkins), London, 1884; text ed., with seven comm., by Mandlik, Bombay, 1886; text, with Kullūka’s comm., Bombay, 1888, better than Nirn. Sāg. Pr., ed. 1887. Next comes the Yājnavalkya Dharma Çāstra, which is much more concise (1009 çlokas). It was probably based on a Dharma Sūtra of the White Yajurveda; its third section resembles the Pāraskara Gṛihya Sūtra, but it is unmistakably connected with the Mānava Gṛihya Sūtra of the Black Yajurveda. Its approximate date seems to be about 350 A.D. Its author probably belonged to Mithilā, capital of Videha (Tirhut). Yājnavalkya, ed. and trans, by Stenzler, Berlin, 1849; with comm. Mitāksharā, 3rd ed., Bombay, 1892. The Nārada Smṛiti is the first to limit dharma to law in the strict sense. It contains more than 12,000 çlokas, and appears to have been founded chiefly on Manu. Bāṇa mentions a Nāradīya Dharma Çāstra, and Nārada was annotated by one of the earliest legal commentators in the eighth century. His date is probably about 500 A.D. Nārada, ed. by Jolly, Calcutta, 1885, trans. by him in Sacred Books, vol. xxxiii. 1889. A late lawbook is the Parāçara Smṛiti (anterior to 1300 A.D.), ed. in Bombay Sansk. Series, 1893; trans. Bibl. Ind., 1887. The second stage of post-Vedic legal literature is formed by the commentaries. The oldest one preserved is that of Medhātithi on Manu; he dates from about 900 A.D. The most famous comm. on Manu is that of Kullūka-bhaṭṭa, composed at Benares in the fifteenth century, but it is nothing more than a plagiarism of Govindarāja, a commentator of the twelfth century. The most celebrated comm. on Yājnavalkya is the Mitāksharā of Vijnāneçvara, composed about 1100 A.D. It early attained to the position of a standard work, not only in the Dekhan, but even in Benares and a great part of Northern India. In the present century it acquired the greatest importance in the practice of the Anglo-Indian law-courts through Colebrooke’s translation of the section which it contains on the law of inheritance. From about 1000 A.D. onwards, an innumerable multitude of legal compendia, called Dharma-nibandhas, was produced in India. The most imposing of them is the voluminous work in five parts entitled Chaturvarga-chintāmaṇi, composed by Hemādri about 1300 A.D. It hardly treats of law at all, but is a perfect mine of interesting quotations from the Smṛitis and the Purāṇas; it has been edited in the Bibl. Ind. The Dharmaratna of Jīmūtavāhana (probably fifteenth century) may here be mentioned, because part of it is the famous treatise on the law of inheritance entitled Dāyabhāga, which is the chief work of the Bengal School on the subject, and was translated by Colebrooke. It should be noted that the Indian Smṛitis are not on the same footing as the lawbooks of other nations, but are works of private individuals; they were also written by Brahmans for Brahmans, whose caste pretensions they consequently exaggerate. It is therefore important to check their statements by outside evidence.

History.

No work of a directly historical character is met with in Sanskrit literature till after the Muhammadan conquest. This is the Rājatarangiṇī, or “River of Kings,” a chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, begun by its author, Kalhaṇa, in 1148 A.D. It contains nearly 8000 çlokas. The early part of the work is legendary in character. The poet does not become historical till he approaches his own times. This work (ed. M. A. Stein, Bombay, 1892; trans, by Y. C. Datta, Calc., 1898) is of considerable value for the archæology and chronology of Kashmir.

Grammar.

On the native grammatical literature see especially Wackernagel, Altindische Grammatik, vol. i. p. lix. sqq. The oldest grammar preserved is that of Pāṇini, who, however, mentions no fewer than sixty-four predecessors. He belonged to the extreme north-west of India, and probably flourished about 300 B.C. His work consists of nearly 4000 sūtras divided into eight chapters; text with German trans., ed. by Böhtlingk, Leipsic, 1887. Pāṇini had before him a list of irregularly formed words, which survives, in a somewhat modified form, as the Uṇādi Sūtra (ed. by Aufrecht, with Ujjvaladatta’s comm., Bonn, 1859). There are also two appendixes to which Pāṇini refers: one is the Dhātupāṭha, “List of Verbal Roots,” containing some 2000 roots, of which only about 800 have been found in Sanskrit literature, and from which about fifty Vedic verbs are omitted; the second is the Gaṇapāṭha, or “List of Word-Groups,” to which certain rules apply. These gaṇas were metrically arranged in the Gaṇaratna-mahodadhi, composed by Vardhamāna in 1140 A.D. (ed. by Eggeling, London, 1879). Among the earliest attempts to explain Pāṇini was the formulation of rules of interpretation or paribhāshās; a collection of these was made in the last century by Nāgojibhaṭṭa in his Paribhāshenduçekhara (ed. by Kielhorn, Bombay Sansk. Ser., 1868 and 1871). Next we have the Vārttikas or “Notes” of Kātyāyana (probably third century B.C.) on 1245 of Pāṇini’s rules, and, somewhat later, numerous grammatical Kārikās or comments in metrical form: all this critical work was collected by Patanjali in his Mahābhāshya or “Great Commentary,” with supplementary comments of his own (ed. Kielhorn, 3 vols., Bombay). He deals with 1713 rules of Pāṇini. He probably lived in the later half of the second century B.C., and in any case not later than the beginning of our era. The Mahābhāshya was commented on in the seventh century by Bhartṛihari in his Vākyapadīya (ed. in Benares Sansk. Ser.), which is concerned with the philosophy of grammar, and by Kaiyaṭa (probably thirteenth century). About 650 A.D. was composed the first complete comm. on Pāṇini, the Kāçikā Vṛitti or “Benares Commentary,” by Jayāditya and Vāmana (2nd ed. Benares, 1898). In the fifteenth century Rāmachandra, in his Prakriyā-kaumudī, or “Moonlight of Method,” endeavoured to make Pāṇini’s grammar easier by a more practical arrangement of its matter. Bhaṭṭoji’s Siddhānta-kaumudī (seventeenth century) has a similar aim (ed. Nirṇaya Sāgara Press, Bombay, 1894); an abridgment of this work, the Laghu-kaumudī, by Varadarāja (ed. Ballantyne, with English trans., 4th ed., Benares, 1891), is commonly used as an introduction to the native system of grammar. Among non-Pāṇinean grammarians may be mentioned Chandra (about 600 A.D.), the pseudo-Çākaṭāyana (later than the Kāçikā), and, the most important, Hemachandra (12th cent.), author of a Prākrit grammar (ed. and trans. by Pischel, two vols., Halle, 1877–80), and of the Uṇādigaṇa Sūtra (ed. Kirste, Vienna, 1895). The Kātantra of Çarvavarman (ed. Eggeling, Bibl. Ind.) seems to have been the most influential of the later grammars. Vararuchi’s Prākṛita-prakāça is a Prākrit grammar (ed. by Cowell, 2nd ed., 1868). The Mugdhabodha (13th cent.) of Vopadeva is the Sanskrit grammar chiefly used in Bengal. The Phiṭ Sūtra (later than Patanjali) gives rules for the accentuation of nouns (ed. Kielhorn, 1866); Hemachandra’s Lingānuçāsana is a treatise on gender (ed. Franke, Göttingen, 1886). Among European grammars that of Whitney was the first to attempt a historical treatment of the Vedic and Sanskrit language. The first grammar treating Sanskrit from the comparative point of view is the excellent work of Wackernagel, of which, however, only the first part (phonology) has yet appeared. The present writer’s abridgment (London, 1886) of Max Müller’s Sanskrit Grammar is a practical work for the use of beginners of Classical Sanskrit.

Lexicography.

Zachariæ in Die indischen Wörterbücher (in Bühler’s Encyclopædia, 1897) deals with the subject as a whole (complete bibliography). The Sanskrit dictionaries or koças are collections of rare words or significations for the use of poets. They are all versified; alphabetical order is entirely absent in the synonymous and only incipient in the homonymous class. The Amarakoça (ed. with Maheçvara’s comm., Bombay), occupies the same dominant position in lexicography as Pāṇini in grammar, not improbably composed about 500 A.D. A supplement to it is the Trikāṇḍa-çesha by Purushottamadeva (perhaps as late as 1300 A.D.). Çāçvata’s Anekārtha-samuchchaya (ed. Zachariæ, 1882) is possibly older than Amara. Halāyudha’s Abhidhānaratnamālā dates from about 950 A.D. (ed. Aufrecht, London, 1861). About a century later is Yādavaprakāça’s Vaijayantī (ed. Oppert, Madras, 1893). The Viçvaprakāça of Maheçvara Kavi dates from 1111 A.D. The Mankha-koça (ed. Zachariæ, Bombay, 1897) was composed in Kashmir about 1150 A.D. Hemachandra (1088–1172 A.D.) composed four dictionaries: Abhidhāna-chintāmaṇi, synonyms (ed. Böhtlingk and Rieu, St. Petersburg, 1847); Anekārtha-saṃgraha, homonyms (ed. Zachariæ, Vienna, 1893); Deçīnāmamālā, a Prākrit dictionary (ed. Pischel, Bombay, 1880); and Nighaṇṭu-çesha, a botanical glossary, which forms a supplement to his synonymous koça.

Poetics.

Cf. Sylvain Lévi, Théâtre Indien, pp. 1–21; Regnaud, La Rhétorique Sanskrite, Paris, 1884; Jacob, Notes on Alamkara Literature, in Journal of the Roy. As. Soc., 1897, 1898. The oldest and most important work on poetics is the Nāṭya Çāstra of Bharata, which probably goes back to the sixth century A.D. (ed. in Kāvyamālā, No. 42, Bombay, 1894; ed. by Grosset, Lyons, 1897). Daṇḍin’s Kāvyādarça (end of sixth century) contains about 650 çlokas (ed. with trans. by Böhtlingk, Leipsic, 1890). Vāmana’s Kāvyālaṃkāravṛitti, probably eighth century (ed. Cappeller, Jena, 1875). Çṛingāra-tilaka, or “Ornament of Erotics,” by Rudrabhaṭa (ninth century), ed. by Pischel, Kiel, 1886 (cf. Journal of German Or. Soc., 1888, p. 296 ff., 425 ff.; Vienna Or. Journal, ii. p. 151 ff.). Rudraṭa Çatānanda’s Kāvyālaṃkāra (ed. in Kāvyamālā) belongs to the ninth century. Dhanaṃjaya’s Daçarūpa, on the ten kinds of drama, belongs to the tenth century (ed. Hall, 1865; with comm. Nirṇaya Sāgara Press, Bombay, 1897). The Kāvyaprakāça by Mammaṭa and Alaṭa dates from about 1100 (ed. in the Pandit, 1897). The Sāhityadarpaṇa was composed in Eastern Bengal about 1450 A.D., by Viçvanātha Kavirāja (ed. J. Vidyāsāgara, Calcutta, 1895; trans. by Ballantyne in Bibl. Ind.).

Mathematics and Astronomy.

The only work dealing with this subject as a whole is Thibaut’s Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, in Bühler-Kielhorn’s Encyclopædia, 1899 (full bibliography). See also Cantor, Geschichte der Mathematik, pp. 505–562, Leipsic, 1880. Mathematics are dealt with in special chapters of the works of the early Indian astronomers. In algebra they attained an eminence far exceeding anything ever achieved by the Greeks. The earliest works of scientific Indian astronomy (after about 300 A.D.) were four treatises called Siddhāntas; only one, the Sūryasiddhānta (ed. and trans. by Whitney, Journ. Am. Or. Soc., vol. vi.), has survived. The doctrines of such early works were reduced to a more concise and practical form by Āryabhaṭa, born, as he tells us himself, at Pāṭaliputra in 476 A.D. He maintained the rotation of the earth round its axis (a doctrine not unknown to the Greeks), and explained the cause of eclipses of the sun and moon. Mathematics are treated in the third section of his work, the Āryabhaṭiya (ed. with comm. by Kern, Leyden, 1874; math. section trans. by Rodet, Journal Asiatique, 1879). Varāha Mihira, born near Ujjain, began his calculations about 505 A.D., and, according to one of his commentators, died in 587 A.D. He composed four works, written for the most part in the Āryā metre; three are astrological: the Bṛihat-saṃhitā (ed. Kern, Bibl. Ind., 1864, 1865, trans. in Journ. As. Soc., vol. iv.; new ed. with comm. of Bhaṭṭotpala by S. Dvivedī, Benares, 1895–97), the Bṛihaj-jātaka (or Horā-çāstra, trans. by C. Jyer, Madras, 1885), and the Laghu-jātaka (partly trans. by Weber, Ind. Stud., vol. ii., and by Jacobi, 1872). His Pancha-siddhāntikā (ed. and for the most part trans. by Thibaut and S. Dvivedī, Benares, 1889), based on five siddhāntas, is a karaṇa or practical astronomical treatise. Another distinguished astronomer was Brahmagupta, who, born in 598 A.D., wrote, besides a karaṇa, his Brāhma Sphuṭa-siddhānta when thirty years old (chaps. xii. and xviii. are mathematical). The last eminent Indian astronomer was Bhāskarāchārya, born in 1114 A.D. His Siddhānta-çiromaṇi has enjoyed more authority in India than any other astronomical work except the Sūrya-siddhānta.

Medicine.

Indian medical science must have begun to develop before the beginning of our era, for one of its chief authorities, Charaka, was, according to the Chinese translation of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka, the official physician of King Kanishka in the first century A.D. His work, the Charaka-saṃhitā, has been edited several times: by J. Vidyāsāgara, 2nd ed., Calcutta, 1896, by Gupta, Calcutta, 1897, with comm. by C. Dutta, Calcutta, 1892–1893; trans. by A. C. Kaviratna, Calcutta, 1897. Suçruta, the next great authority, seems to have lived not later than the fourth century A.D., as the Bower MS. (probably fifth century A.D.) contains passages not only parallel to, but verbally agreeing with, passages in the works of Charaka and Suçruta. (The Suçruta-saṃhitā, ed. by J. Vidyāsāgara, Calcutta, 3rd ed., 1889; A. C. Kaviratna, Calcutta, 1888–95; trans. by Dutta, 1883, Chaṭṭopādhyāya, 1891, Hoernle, 1897, Calcutta.) The next best known medical writer is Vāgbhaṭa, author of the Ashṭānga-hṛidaya (ed., with comm. of Aruṇadatta, by A. M. Kunte, Bombay, Nir. Sāg. Press, 1891). Cf. also articles by Haas in vols. xxx., xxxi., and by A. Müller in xxxiv. of Jour. of Germ. Or. Soc.; P. Cordier, Études sur la Médecine Hindoue, Paris, 1894; Vāgbhaṭa et l’Aṣṭāngahṛidaya-saṃhitā, Besançon, 1896; Liétard, Le Médecin Charaka, &c., in Bull. de l’Ac. de Médecine, May 11, 1897.

Arts.

On Indian music see Rāja Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Hindu Music from various Authors, Calcutta, 1875; Ambros, Geschichte der Musik, vol. i. pp. 41–80; Day, The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan, Edinburgh, 1891; Çārngadeva’s Saṃgītaratnākara, ed. Telang, Ānand. Sansk. Ser., 1897; Somanātha’s Rāgavibodha, ed. with comm. by P. G. Ghārpure (parts i.–v.), Poona, 1895.

On painting and sculpture see E. Moor, The Hindu Pantheon, London, 1810; Burgess, Notes on the Bauddha Rock Temples of Ajanta, Bombay, 1879; Griffiths Paintings of the Buddhist Cave Temples of Ajanta, 2 vols., London, 1896–97; Burgess, The Gandhāra Sculptures (with 100 plates), London, 1895; Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship (illustrations of mythology and art in India in the first and fourth centuries after Christ), London, 1868; Cunningham’s Reports, i. and iii. (Reliefs from Buddha Gayā); Grünwedel, Buddhistiche Kunst in Indien, Berlin, 1893; Kern, Manual of Buddhism, in Bühler’s Encyclopædia, pp. 91–96, Strasburg, 1896; H. H. Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, London, 1841.

On Indian architecture see Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, London, 1876; The Rock-Cut Temples of India, 1864; Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes, or Buddhist Monuments of Central India, London, 1854; Reports of the Archæological Survey of India, Calcutta, since 1871; Mahābodhi, or the great Buddhist Temple under the Bodhi tree at Buddha Gayā, London, 1892; Burgess, Archæological Survey of Western India and of Southern India; Daniell, Antiquities of India, London, 1800; Hindu Excavations in the Mountain of Ellora, London, 1816; R. Mitra, The Antiquities of Orissa, Calcutta, 1875.

On Technical Arts see Journal of Indian Art and Industry (London, begun in 1884).

Bibliographical Notes

On the history of Sanskrit studies see especially Benfey, Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft, Munich, 1869. A very valuable work for Sanskrit Bibliography is the annual Orientalische Bibliographie, Berlin (begun in 1888). Page 1: Some inaccurate information about the religious ideas of the Brahmans may be found in Purchas, His Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages, 2nd ed., London, 1614; and Lord, A Discoverie of the Sect of the Banians [Hindus], London, 1630. Abraham Roger, Open Deure, 1631 (contains trans. of two centuries of Bhartṛihari). Page 2, Dugald Stewart, Philosophy of the Human Mind, part 2, chap. i. sect. 6 (conjectures concerning the origin of Sanskrit). C. W. Wall, D.D., An Essay on the Nature, Age, and Origin of the Sanskrit Writing and Language, Dublin, 1838. Halhed, A Code of Gentoo [Hindu] Law, or Ordinations of the Pandits, from a Persian translation, made from the original written in the Shanscrit language, 1776. Page 4: F. Schlegel, Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Inder, Heidelberg, 1808. Bopp, Conjugationssystem, Frankfort, 1816. Colebrooke, On the Vedas, in Asiatic Researches, Calcutta, 1805. P. 5: Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda, Stuttgart, 1846. Böhtlingk and Roth’s Sanskrit-German Dictionary, 7 vols., St. Petersburg, 1852–75. Bühler’s Encyclopædia of Indo-Aryan Research, Strasburg (the parts, some German, some English, began to appear in 1896). Page 6: See especially Aufrecht’s Catalogus Catalogorum (Leipsic, 1891; Supplement, 1896), which gives a list of Sanskrit MSS. in the alphabetical order of works and authors. Adalbert Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers, 1849; 2nd ed., Gütersloh, 1886. Page 11: A valuable book on Indian chronology (based on epigraphic and numismatic sources) is Duff’s The Chronology of India, London, 1899. On the date of Buddha’s death, cf. Oldenberg, Buddha, Berlin, 3rd ed., 1897. Page 13: Fa Hian, trans. by Legge, Oxford, 1886; Hiouen Thsang, trans. by Beal, Si-yu-ki, London, 1884; I Tsing, trans. by Takakusu, Oxford, 1896. Führer, Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni’s Birthplace, Arch. Surv. of India, vol. xxvi., Allahabad, 1897; Albērūnī’s India, trans. into English by Sachau, London, 1885. Page 14: Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. i., 1877, vol. iii., 1888, Calcutta. Epigraphia Indica, Calcutta, from 1888.

Important Oriental journals are: Indian Antiquary, Bombay; Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Leipsic; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London (with a Bengal branch at Calcutta and another at Bombay); Journal Asiatique, Paris; Vienna Oriental Journal, Vienna; Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven, Conn. On the origin of Indian writing (pp. 14–20), see Bühler, Indische Palæographie, Strasburg, 1896, and On the Origin of the Indian Brāhma Alphabet, Strasburg, 1898. Page 18: The oldest known Sanskrit MSS., now in the Bodleian Library, has been reproduced in facsimile by Dr. R. Hoernle, The Bower Manuscript, Calcutta, 1897. The Pāli Kharoshṭhī MS. is a Prākrit recension of the Dhammapada, found near Khotan; see Senart, Journal Asiatique, 1898, pp. 193–304. Page 27: The account here given of the Prākrit dialects is based mainly on a monograph of Dr. G. A. Grierson (who is now engaged on a linguistic survey of India), The Geographical Distribution and Mutual Affinities of the Indo-Aryan Vernaculars. On Pāli literature, see Rhys Davids, Buddhism, its History and Literature, London, 1896. On Prākrit literature, see Grierson, The Mediæval Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, trans. of 7th Oriental Congress, Vienna, 1888, and The Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, Calcutta, 1889.

On the text and metres of the Rigveda see especially Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des Ṛigveda, vol. i., Prolegomena, Berlin, 1888; on the accent, Wackernagel, Altindische Grammatik, vol. i. pp. 281–300 (full bibliography), Göttingen, 1896; on the Rigveda in general, Kaegi, The Rigveda, English translation by Arrowsmith, Boston, 1886. Editions: Saṃhitā text, ed. Max Müller, London, 1873; Pada text, 1877; Saṃhitā text (in Roman characters), ed. Aufrecht, Bonn, 1877 (2nd ed.); Saṃhitā and Pada text with Sāyaṇa’s commentary, 2nd ed., 4 vols., by Max Müller, London, 1890–92. Selections in Lanman’s Sanskrit Reader (full notes and vocabulary); Peterson’s Hymns from the Rigveda (Bombay Sanskrit Series); A. Bergaigne and V. Henry’s Manuel pour étudier le Sanskrit Védique, Paris, 1890; Windisch, Zwölf Hymnen des Rigveda, Leipzig, 1883; Hillebrandt, Vedachrestomathie, Berlin, 1885; Böhtlingk, Sanskrit-Chrestomathie, 3rd ed., Leipsic, 1897. Translations: R. H. T. Griffith, The Rigveda metrically translated into English, 2 vols., Benares, 1896–97; Max Müller, Vedic Hymns (to the Maruts, Rudra, Vāyu, Vāta; prose), in Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxxii., Oxford, 1891; Oldenberg, Vedic Hymns (to Agni in Books i.–v.: prose), ibid., vol. xlvi., 1897; A. Ludwig (German prose), 6 vols., Prag, 1876–88 (introduction, commentary, index). Lexicography: Grassmann, Wörterbuch zum Rigveda, Leipsic, 1873; the Vedic portion of Böhtlingk and Roth’s Lexicon and of Böhtlingk’s smaller St. Petersburg Dictionary (Leipsic, 1879–89); Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford, 1899; Macdonell, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (for selected hymns), London, 1893. Grammar: Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar, 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1896; Wackernagel, op. cit., vol. i. (phonology); Delbrück, Altindische Syntax (vol. v. of Syntaktische Forschungen), Halle, 1888; Speijer, Vedische und Sanskrit Syntax in Bühler’s Encyclopædia, Strasburg, 1896.