he first, and that
even that first period presents us with a collection, and a systematic
collection of Vedic hymns, I think you will agree with me that it is
from no desire for an extreme antiquity, but simply from a respect for
facts, that students of the Veda have come to the conclusion that
these hymns, of which the MSS. do not carry us back beyond the
fifteenth century after Christ, took their origin in the fifteenth
century before Christ.

* * * * *

One fact I must mention once more, because I think it may carry
conviction even against the stoutest skepticism.

I mentioned that the earliest inscriptions discovered in India belong
to the reign of King A_s_oka, the grandson of _K_andragupta, who
reigned from 259-222 before Christ. What is the language of those
inscriptions? Is it the Sanskrit of the Vedic hymns? Certainly not. Is
it the later Sanskrit of the Brahma_n_as and Sutras? Certainly not.
These inscriptions are written in the local dialects as then spoken in
India, and these local dialects differ from the grammatical Sanskrit
about as much as Italian does from Latin.

What follows from this? First, that the archaic Sanskrit of the Veda
had ceased to be spoken before the third century B.C. Secondly, that
even the later grammatical Sanskrit was no longer spoken and
understood by the people at large; that Sanskrit therefore had ceased,
nay, we may say, had long ceased to be the spoken language of the
country when Buddhism arose, and that therefore the youth and manhood
of the ancient Vedic language lie far beyond the period that gave
birth to the teaching of Buddha, who, though he may have known
Sanskrit, and even Vedic Sanskrit, insisted again and again on the
duty that his disciples should preach his doctrines in the language of
the people whom they wished to benefit.

* * * * *

And now, when the time allotted to me is nearly at an end, I find, as
it always happens, that I have not been able to say one half of what I
hoped to say as to the lessons to be learned by us in India, even with
regard to this one branch of human knowledge only, the study of the
origin of religion. I hope, however, I may have succeeded in showing
you the entirely new aspect which the old problem of the _theogony_,
or the origin and growth of the Devas or gods, assumes from the light
thrown upon it by the Veda. Instead of positive theories, we now have
positive fac