THE ELEMENTS OF THE DEVANĀGARI CHARACTER. ३७।०। ६ङ००८ ८०८०७ दन्दम्टलर 6&5 NUMERICAL FIGURES . 2 १२३४५६७ 2 3 5 ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR OF THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE, PARTLY IN THE ROMAN CHARACTER, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO A NEW THEORY, IN REFERENCE ESPECIALLY TO THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGES: With short Extracts in easy Prose. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SELECTION FROM THE INSTITUTES OF MANU, WITH COPIOUS REFERENCES TO THE GRAMMAR, AND AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION. BY MONIER WILLIAMS, M. A. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ONE OF THE PROFESSORS OF SANSCRIT IN THE EAST-INDIA COLLEGE, OTHE LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 7, LEADENHALL STREET. M DCCCXLVI. 536. PREFACE. SIR WILLIAM JONES has said of the Sutras of Panini that they are "dark as the darkest oracle ;" and COLEBROOKE, in one of his Essays, has given a list of about one hundred and forty Indian grammarians and commentators who have followed in the footsteps of the great Patriarch of Sanscrit Grammar, and endeavoured to throw light upon the obscurity of his aphorisms. In this endeavour they have succeeded rather in shewing the depth of their own knowledge, than in making the subject more accessible to the generality of European students; and the explanations which they offer are sometimes more unintelligible than the original itself. Happily, however, a writer has arisen in our own country competent to elucidate most thoroughly the difficulties of this subject. Professor Wilson, the greatest Sanscrit scholar of the present day, whose name the University of Oxford is proud to associate with its own, in the excellent Grammar which he has given to the public has added to his high reputation by his graceful adaptation of the English language to the exposition of the native system of grammatical teaching. It may be said of all this author's numerous works, that, as they abound in indications of surpassing genius, so they offer to the student of Oriental Literature the most valuable information on every topic of inquiry. But notwithstanding the advantages thus afforded for the study of a language so interesting in its affinities, so rich in its literature, and so important in its bearing upon our interests in the East, it is remarkable that the greater part of the |