ASSAMESE GRAMMAR
AND
ORIGIN OF THE ASSAMS INGUAGE
INTRODUCTION
SECTION I
ORIGIN OF THE ASSAMESE LANGUAGE
The origin and growth of the Assamese language are not so simple and clear as we generally suppose. There are writers who think that it is a daughter of Sanskrit. It is even supposed that it is a daughter of the language of the Vedic singers. But its source is not to be found in the Sanskrit or Vedic literature any more than the sources of Italian are to be traced to the classical literature of Rome. Its origin is to be found in the popular dialects of Assam or of a part of India. It is a branch of the living speech of India springing from the same source from which Sanskrit itself sprang when it first assumed its literary independence. Like Hindusthani Assamese is Vedic or pre-Vedic Sanskrit in a new form although it has greatly assimilated various other elements into its body notably of the Bodo group of the Tibeto-Burman family.
The history of the ancient form of speech from which the modern vernaculars of India sprang up can be reconstructed from materials supplied by the literature and written documents such as inscriptions on stone, copper-plates and such other relics. But these were not existing before the Aryan invasion of India over the north-western passes. Such relics bear with the Vedas.
The home of the Aryan family is supposed by different scholars to be in different places. Some say it was on the highest elevation of Central Asia1, while others locate it in Southern Russia2. It is supposed
1 Max Muller's-“Science of Language", Vol. I, p. 289.
2 George Howell'—“Soul of India", p. 28.
