points, Pāli retains to some extent the morphological structure of the Vedic speech, I refer here to some scholaily remarks of V. Fausboll, as appear in his preface to "Sutta Nipāta" (S. B. E., Vol. IX). He has shown with reference to the oldest portions of the Sutta Nipāta, that those richer forms of Vedic language which we find wanting in the Classical Sanskrit, were in use in the oldest Pāli. The great scholar has pointed out, that we meet with in Pāli, "the fuller Vedic forms of nouns and verbs in the plural, the shorter Vedic plurals, and the instrumental singular of nouns, Vedic infinitives, and many other Vedic forms and words."
The position of Sanskrit as a literary language, in its relation with Chhāndasa on the one side, and with the Prākṛta speeches on the other, has been discussed in several lectures from various view points. The relation of Pāli however, with several provincial Prākṛtas of the Post-Mauriyan times, is not easy to determine. I discuss some facts which show how this investigation is involved in difficulties: (1) Pāli was retained and used as a literary language by the Buddhists when it actually became an obsolete speech; (2) Sanskrit, though an artificial literary language ceased, at one time, to be a purely hieratic speech, and having become the vehicle of thought of all men, dealing with different branches of knowledge, it exercised such an influence in the country, that the living speeches which succeeded Pali, could not become respectable enough to leave literary monuments for us; (3) To ensure intelligibility in all provinces of India, the Prākṛta books (very limited in number), were composed in such an unreal generalized form, as does not help us to reconstruct the living speeches of old days. I notice the significance of all the points briefly below.
Pāli, a literary speech.—We clearly see, why Gotama Buddha insisted upon getting his teachings recorded in
