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 OPINIONS. 4 Sanskrit degenerated into loose Prakrit dialects, so with the revival of Hinduism, the modern Languages of India recover- ed much of the dignity and classical correctness of Sanskrit. In this part of his work, the writer makes copious use of the researches of European scholars, and especially of Dr. Heernle and Dr. Grierson, which do in fact shew that the Bengali and its cognate dialects are the survivals through Prakrit of the speech of the first Aryan invaders of India. The writer, however, in his patriotic zeal, goes further than this, and practically denies the existence of any indigenous influence at all. He traces all Bengali inflections, all Bengali metres to Sanskrit origins, and though he admits the existence of a few words which cannot ‘be traced to Sanskrit originals, he regards these simply as unwelcome intrusions into a literature from verbal expressions. In short, his history is one of literary Bengali which is even more highly sanskritiz- ed now than English was latinized in the 18th century. Even if we do not accept all the writer’s conclusions, we cannot help seeing how natural it is that so enthusiastic a scholar should recognise the importance of upholding the dignity and value of a literature which has been too little studied even by Bengalis. No student of the modern languages of India can read this part of Babu Dines Chander Sen’s work without profit and enjoyment, so obvious is the scholarly zeal with which it is written. The second part of the book is entirely original, and is a record of the author’s search for manuscripts of works written before the British occupation of India. We have here a description not only of the standard works which every student of Bengali reads, but of works of about a hundred authors hitherto forgot- ten. To the European reader, it is interesting to note that all this is Hindu literature. It was a literature of revolt against Muslim tendencies and has no trace of Mahomedan influence. Some day, Babu Dines Chunder Sen may write,