PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. IN putting forth this third edition of my Sanskṛit Grammar I am bound to confess that the great general development of Sanskrit learning, since the last edition, has compelled me almost to re-write the work for the third time. Any one who compares the present Grammar with its predecessor will see at once the difference between the two, not indeed in its structure and arrangement, nor even in the numbering of the rules*, but in the fuller and more complete explanation of points of detail. Thanks to the criticisms of other scholars, (generally tendered in that tone of courtesy and spirit of humility which always characterize true learning,) I have been enabled to correct the errors which, notwithstanding all my efforts, unassisted as I was in the work of revision, crept into my last edition. But I dare not even now hope to have attained the standard of perfection. Sanskrit is far too vast and intri *In some few instances I have been forced to vary slightly the numbering of the rules; but as my edition of 'the Story of Nala' is more than half exhausted, and as Professor Johnson's references to my Grammar in 7 his new 'Hitopadeśa' are to my present edition, the variation will not be of much importance. b cate a subject, and has still too many untrodden fields of labour, to admit of such pretensions. All I can with truth affirm is, that I have done what I could to bring the present edition up to the level of the scholarship of the day; and that if my life be spared to complete any further editions that may be required, it will be my duty to apply my energies again towards the same object. In deference to the increasing attention given by Continental scholars to the study of the Veda, I have introduced more notices of Vedic peculiarities in the present work; and I have to thank my friend Dr. Kielhorn for his aid in adding to these notices, and in revising the proof-sheets as they issued from the press. Respect for the views of German scholars, to whose laborious research we English students of Sanskrit cannot be too grateful, has also induced me to make more references to the great native grammarian Páṇini, and generally to add more allusions to the technical phraseology of Indian grammatical writers than in my last edition. Nevertheless, I do not venture to hope, that my method of teaching Sanskrit, addressing itself especially to the English mind, will ever approve itself to Continental students, any more than the Sanskrit Grammars published by German scholars commend themselves to my judgment. But doctors may disagree and yet respect each other's opinions. The public, at least, must be the sole judge of the merits of opposite systems; and harsh censure of each other's statements in publications which are competing for public favour, is not only unproductive of good, and unbefitting the character of true scholars, but discreditable to the quarter whence such censure emanates. I therefore decline all controversy; nor will I enter on the profitless task of defending my own theories against the attacks of rival grammarians, but simply say that my sole aim as Boden Professor is the promotion of a more general and critical knowledge of the Sanskrit language among my own fellow-countrymen, to whose rule a vast Eastern Empire has been committed, and who cannot hope, except through Sanskrit, to know the spoken dialects of India, or to understand the mind, read the thoughts, and reach the very heart and soul of the Hindús themselves. OXFORD, June 1864. M. W. |