Page:A view of the history, literature, and mythology of the Hindoos (Vol. I).djvu/685

Rh understand them very imperfectly. Fifty of this thousand may read the Shrēē-Bhagŭvŭtŭ and some of the pooranŭs. Those who study the védŭ and the dŭrshŭnŭs are considered as the most learned. The next in rank are those who study the smritees.

In general men of learning possess from ten to twenty Sŭngskritŭ books. A few of the most learned possess not less than a hundred volumes. Of late several Hindoos have begun to form pretty large collections of Sŭngskritŭ works. In the library of Shrēē-Ramŭ-Hŭree-Vishwasŭ, a kayŭst’hŭ, of Khŭrduh, near Serampore, not less than one thousand volumes are found, and perhaps nearly the same number in that of raja Nŭvŭ-Krishnŭ of Calcutta.—The shastrŭs have not the title of the book at the beginning, but at the end of each volume. At the commencement of the work is a salutation to the guardian deity of the author, and at the close the name of the work and of the writer.

Among the works found in the library of a Hindoo of some learning are the following: one of the grammars, a dictionary, the roots of the Sŭngskritŭ, a comment on some grammar, five or six volumes of the poets for the use of the young, among which are the Bhŭttee of Bhŭrtree-Hŭree, and the Koomarŭ and Rŭghoo-Vŭngshŭ of Kalēē-Dasŭ; one or two law books, with some comment; part or the whole of some popular work on astronomy; a chapter or two of some pooranŭ; a few abridgments on the common ceremonies, and a copy of the Chŭndēē, a popular work on the wars of Doorga, extracted from the Markŭndéyŭ pooranŭ, and containing 700 verses. Those persons in whose libraries copies of any of the dŭrshŭnŭs are found, are considered as very learned. Books which have been preserved through five or six generations are found in some families.

In the houses of the bramhŭns who do not pursue learning, a few forms of praise to the gods, and formulas of worship, in Sŭngskritŭ, drawn up or copied on loose leaves of paper by some neighbouring bramhŭn, may be found; and this too is the amount of what is seen in the houses of the most respectable fiLoodros. In the dialects of the country, however, very many persons of this degree of rank preserve copies of the Ramayŭnŭ, the Mŭhabharŭtŭ, the Vidya-Soondŭrŭ and the Chŭndēē; and in some houses may be found