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 216 INDIA (RACES AND LANGUAGES) Murdook estimates the aboriginal tribes of the northeast at about 300,000, those of central India at about 7,000,000, and the hill tribes of southern India at about 700,000. Altogeth- er the population of India comprises more than 50 different races, and is characterized by the greatest diversity of appearance, man- ners, language, and religion. In 1871 the British-born inhabitants, exclusive of soldiers, numbered 64,061. The main division of the native people as to religion is into Hindoos, who form the bulk of the population, and Mo- hammedans, of whom the estimated number in the entire country is 40,000,000. There are also several millions of Buddhists and about 200,000 Parsees. The Mohammedans are chief- ly found in the plain of the Ganges, where for several centuries they held dominion as conquerors and masters of the country, un- til their power was overthrown by the Eng- lish. They entered Hindostan in the begin- ning of the llth century from Afghanistan, and their numbers were, swelled by successive invasions for several centuries afterward. In i character the Mohammedans are distinguished from the Hindoos, and especially from the Hindoos of Bengal, by greater energy and frankness, by pride and arrogance, and by their luxurious and dissolute habits. They are of a hasty, revengeful, and fanatical disposition, and do not submit with patience to the domination of their English conquerors. The Parsees are but little darker in complexion than the in- habitants of the south of Europe. They are descendants of the ancient fire worshippers, who fled from Persia several centuries ago in consequence of persecution by the Mohamme- dans, and are now numerous in Bombay and in some other cities in western India. They form an intelligent, enterprising, and prosper- ous portion of the native population. The Sikhs, a peculiar religious sect, are numerous in the northwest, and have acted an important part in the history of India. After an exist- ence of 400 years, their numbers are only es- timated at from half a million to a million. (See SIKHS.) The estimated number of Jews in India is 10,000 ; some of those who inhab- it Malabar have perfectly black complexions. There is also a large body of native Christians in Malabar, who are believed to be descended from converts made at a very early period of our era. (See CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS.) The native Protestant converts to Christianity in India probably exceed 250,000; and accord- ing to a statement prepared for the council of the Vatican in 1870, there are 1,076,102 Roman Catholics in India. The number of Christians in the provinces directly subject to British control is 197,880, according to the latest enu- merations, which were made from 1867 to 1872 inclusive. For special accounts of some other classes of the people of India, see FAKIRS, PA- RIAHS, and THUGS. For an account of the di- vision of the people into castes, see INDIA, RELIGIONS AND RELIGIOUS LITERATURE or. LANGUAGES. The early Aryan invaders spoke a language which has been preserved in the Vedas, and which bears the name of Sanskrit (safiskrta, perfect), as it is considered to be the most cultivated and perfected. (See SAN- SKRIT.) When this language came to be spe- cially used for literary purposes, colloquial speech soon departed from the standard which was set up for it. It is probable that even in the most remote historical age of the Aryan people different tribes were characterized by dialectical differences of speech. These uncul- tivated forms of the language received from the Hindoos the name of Prakrit (prakrti, nature), in distinction from Sanskrit. Pra- krit is therefore the general term for the va- rious dialects which arose during the cen- turies immediately preceding our era. The rock inscriptions of King Asoka, which record names of Greek princes of about 200 B. C., and the legends on the bilingual coins of Bactria, are written in this language. It also plays an important part in ancient Hindoo dramas ; for while the heroes speak Sanskrit, the women and attendants use various forms of the popular dialects, which again appear more or less regular, or like the literary lan- guage, according to the rank of the speaker. In course of time it became customary to put the same dialectical variation always into the mouths of certain classes of the population. Whether these dialects were used on the stage in imitation of the real speech of the people, and whether they were strongly intermixed with Sanskrit in order to make them more easily understood by the public, cannot be de- cided. The rise of Buddhism, which was main- ly a religion of the people, rendered one of the popular dialects spoken by Buddha himself of special importance. This Prakrit language is called Pali, but the precise meaning of this word is not known. Pall has long ceased to be spoken, but is still used in the Buddhist scrip- tures of Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam. "PrA- krit," says E. B. Cowell, "almost always uses the Sanskrit roots ; its influence being chiefly restricted to alterations and elisions of certain letters in the original word. It everywhere substitutes a slurred and indistinct pronuncia- tion for the clear and definite utterance of the older tongue." All the modern Sanskrit idi- oms of India are related to the Prakrit dialects, and they differ from the ancient mother tongue rather in grammatical forms than in roots and themes. Fr. Muller classifies them into six groups. The eastern group comprises Bangal! or Bengalee, the language of the province of Bengal, Assami or Assamese, and Oriya. To the northern group belong the Nipali or Nepaulese, the language of Nepaul, Kacmiri or Cashmerian, and Panjabi or Punjaubee, the language of the Punjaub. The western group embraces the Sin- dhi, which is spoken in the valley of the lower Indus, the Multani, and several minor idioms. The central group includes the Hindi, the lan- guage of the native Hindoo population of tho