THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
OF
SANSKRIT LITERATURE.
CHAPTER I.
THE ANTIQUITY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE.
JHE sacred literature of India, inferior to none in variety Or extent, is superior to all others in nobility of thought, " in sanctity of spirit and in generality of comprehension. In beauty or prolixity, it can vie with any other literature ancient or modern. Despite the various impediments to the steady development of the language, despite the successive disturbances, internal and external, which India had to encounter *: ever since the dawn of history, she has successfully held up to the world her archaic literary map, which meagre outline alone favourably compares with the literature of any other nation of the, globe. The keenest researches of modern1 scholars have not enlightened the dark recesses of India's early literary history. "The beginnings of her civilization are yet In obscurity. Relatively to any other language of the ancient world, the antiquity of Sanskrit has an unquestioned priority.resent the book to the judgment of the literary world.