Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/455

How long it will continue, and which of you will come to the front, is more than I can say, but I may state that it is incumbent on you all at such a time to aid the diffusion of knowledge and the revival of literature which must precede the inauguration of lasting reform in every progressive society. Your duty in this direction consists in paying special attention to the develop- ment of the vernacular prose literature, and in infusing into it the elements of modern culture, and in presenting to the public through the medium of the vernacular the mechanism and the advantages of a progressive social system as contrasted with an imperfect social structure which confines progress within pre- scribed limits. In the later stages of the history of the vernacular literature in this country, it was corrupted by a desire for writing verses and by a preference to a style which the learned alone could understand ; and the inevitable result was the partial exclusion of the middle classes from the light and the benefit of such knowledge as existed in the country. It is therefore a source of particular gratification to me to find that, during the last ten years, there have issued from the Press about 800 original works and 400 translations besides 3,500 re-publications of old authors. These figures show something like literary activity, and I would ask you to co-operate with those who are already in the field and add to the number of really original publications and useful trans- lations, and to see that you gain a step in advance every year in the development and enrichment of the vernacular literature. I would ask you to remember at this very early stage of your career in life that the usefulness to your country of the liberal education you have received consists not in writing bad manuals in English, but in writing good vernacular books on the models furnished by English authors. Whilst on this subject I must allude to a matter which has not hitherto attracted the attention it deserves. The study of Sanscrit and the revival of Sanscrit literature are of importance to you, not simply because Sanscrit is your classical language,, but also because it contains the key to the history, the philosophy and the principles which lie behind and sustain the outer forms and visible signs of your social and family life. Whatever has hitherto been done towards the revival of Sanscrit learning, has been done principally in Europe, and not in this country. But as you examine the structure of Sanscrit as a language, its capacity for brevity and expansion, the facilities it affords for translating new notions into idioms suited to the country, and the classic modes in which it has been handled by such men as Yalmeeki, Kalidas and Bhava Buti and others, you will cease to ridicule the tradition which speaks of it as the language of the Gods.