পৃষ্ঠা:অসমীয়া ব্যাকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব.djvu/২৭

NiRODUCTION pretension of the Hindu literature about the universal use of Sanskrit as the only literary language of India. Vardhamana Jnataputra (Mahabira), the founder of Jainism, probably lived from 599 to 522 B.C. and Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, from about 563 to 483 Bc. Before and after the rise of Buddhism there was a class of men nown as the Wanderers (Paribrajaka) who were greatly respected throughout the country. “They were teachers or sophists, who spent eight or nine months of every year wandering about precisely with the object of engaging in conversational discussions on matters of ethics and philosophy, nature's lore and mysticism”. These wanderers met one another in the halls and palaces set apart for them by the kings and noblemen as well as in the sheds erected by the villagers on the roadside for travellers. In their wanderings they used also to call on the local wanderers and learned men to discuss such matters and for interchange of opinion. | It is clear, in the first place, that there was no obstacle, arising from diversity of language, to intercourse—and that not merely as regards ordinary conversation about the ordinary necessities of daily life, but as regards philosophical and religious discussions of a subtle and earnest kind. The common language thus widely understood-used from the land of the Kurus in the west to Magadha in the east, northwards at savatthi and Kusinara in the Nepal hills, and southwards in One direction as far as Ujen-could not have been Sanskrit. Classical Sanskrit was not yet in existence : and the language used in the Brahmanas was neither sufficiendy known outside the widely scattered schools of Brahmans, nor of a nature to lend itself easily to such discussions...... | “The only reasonable and probable explanation is that the Wanderers talked in a language common among the cultured faity (officials, nobles, merchants and others) which bore to local dialects much the same rela- tion as the English of London in Shakespeare's time bore to the various dialects spoken in Somersetshire, Yorkshire and Essex. The rise and development of this language of the Wanderers is due to two causes, (1) one political, and (2) the other religious. (1) PoLITICAL :-Before the rise of Buddhism in the seventh and sixth centuries there were four monarchies in power, viz. the great kingdoms of Magadha, kosala, Vamsas or Vatsas and Avanti,-- () Magadha with its capital at Rajagoha ( afterwards Pataliputra) and King Bimbisara, (i) Kosala with its capital at Savatthi and King Pasenadi and later his son Viddabha. (ii) vamsas with capital at Kosambi on the Jumna and King Udena son of Parantapa and (iv) Avanti with capital Ujjeni and King Pajjota. In the course of time the kingdom of Kosala came to be of immense power extending over the whole of the United Province and 1 See--"Buddhist India"-by Rhys Davids. p. 141. 2 see--"Buddhist India"---by Rhys Davids, pp. 146-147.