Page:A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of the District, or Zila, of Dinajpur.djvu/95

Rh few Pandits that are thinly scattered through the country, and to some of the religious mendicants. Probably one in the thousand may understand it; but men qualified to hold any office superior to a common clerk (mohurer) cannot be found in the district, which is of course invaded by strangers, from the principal officers of law, to the agent of the Calcutta merchant, most of them rapacious as kites, and eager to accumulate a fortune, in order to be able to retire to their native country.

The Prakritos of India being the only dialects, except Songskrito, in which any books have been composed, many have been led to consider them as the proper dialects of the different nations, by which that country is occupied; and on this basis, has it probably been, that the Songskrito has been considered as the source, from which all Indian languages have been derived. Every opobhasha no doubt contains many Songskrito words, perhaps as many as English does words derived from the Latin; but still, so far as I can learn, each has a copious vocabulary of words peculiar to itself; nor can I hope for any considerable improvement in the education of Indian youth, until each popular language has obtained some books fitted to render the vulgar wiser and better. I have no doubt, but that they would be read with avidity, yet great difficulty would arise in the composition. The taste of both Hindús and Muhammedans is so pedantic, so fond of learned ornaments and of the marvellous, that it would be difficult to find a person qualified to write plain common sense; besides the vulgar are held in such contempt by the Brahmins, that it would be difficult to find a man of any education, who would become their instructor. Translations from the European languages, or compositions by Europeans, would be attended with still greater difficulty; as it would be almost impossible to separate them from the idea of religious innovation, which both sects watch with anxious terror. The books wanted for this district should be composed by Muhammedans, as the bulk of the people, and those most in want of instruction are of that faith, and persons abundantly willing to compose them might readily be procured at Calcutta, (where the exuberance of their erudition and imagination might be curtailed according to the narrow measure of European criticism.)

Notwithstanding Muhammedans form the greater part of the population of this district, the Indian dialect, adopted by that people, although pretty generally understood, is not the native language of the vulgar, who have universally either adopted or never relinquished the opobhasha of Bengal; neither is the Hindústani dialect taught in any school, nor is the Persian character usually employed to write it in any of the Pathsals. The people of higher rank however commonly teach this to their children, who also learn to speak a higher style, which may be compared to the Prakrito of the Hindús, and consists almost as entirely of Arabic and Persian, as the other does of Songskrito.

The number of Muktubkhanas or schools, where Persian literature is taught, as will appear from the general statistical table, No. 1. is very small. They are nearly as much frequented by Hindús as by Muhammedans; for the Persian language is considered as a necessary accomplishment for every gentleman, and it is absolutely necessary for those who wish to acquire a fortune in the courts of law. The number of pupils however in this district is very small, and most of the people of any rank or wealth are instructed by private tutors, who are procurable on the most moderate terms. There is reason however to fear, that their learning is not extensive, nor their taste correct; and so far as I could learn, the studies usually pursued, are forms for correspondence, or processes of