অসমীয়া ব্যাকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব | This is a theory. The morphological and phonological considerations on which it is based is not of universal application. It will appear that the theory cannot be acepted as clearly established. The difference in the Indian vernaculars derived from the Indo-Aryan stock may be due to various causes; e.৪. immization of the Aryans across the castern fronters of Assam, or the difference in dialects of the various waves of Aryan immigration at different times. A wave of Aryan immi- gration over the Himalayan passes across Tibet or through the eastern gorge from western China into Assam is not merely a fanciful idea. The predominant religion.of Assam, viz. Vaisnavism, the germs of which could be traced to the Visanins of the Rigveda, the Bihu festivals of Assam which are connected with the sacrificial session of a year's duration and customs which are but emnants of the Vedic and pre-Vedic customs of the Aryans, the Assamese dress, ornaments and utensils which may be traced back to the vedic times, the peculiar Assamese pronunciation of the sibilants which may be connected with that of the Perso-Aryans and Greeks, some grammatical pecularities of Assamese which are to be found only in the Vedas and end-Avesta and several other characteristics of the Assamese indicate a state of Aryan civilization in Assam which dates back to the prevedic time. They are peculiar to Assam and point to the conclusion, viz, that the Aryan civilization spread into Assam probably before the composition of the Rig-Veda. I shall rever to this subject later on. For the present let us review the growth of the Indo-Aryan speech in India. 1. The Primar Prir | The oldest specimen of the Indo-Aryan language, so far known, has been preserved in the hymns of the Rig-Veda, which were, in all pro- bability, omposed about 1500 B.C. Its subsequent development, in the Vedic period, is marked by three stages, viz. (1) of the Vedic hymns, (2) of the Brahmanas and (3) of the Sutras. The Vedic hymns were in verse while the Brahmanas were in prose and the language underwent great changes from the one to the other. When it came to the stage of the Sutras the old vedic forms were almost completely gone and the language came under somekind of grammatical rules of Api-sali and Panini. The vedic hymns were preserved for enturies by oral tradition as writing was mmown till a little before the birth of Gautama, the Buddha, in the 6h century before Christ. The imorance of the art of writing led to the dvise of preserving the pronunciation of words in what is nown as the Pritisakhya. In the course of time the literary cutivation of a particular dialect produced the Vedic language of the priestly class. | Hoeinh: Comparative Grammar, Pp. XXVII-xxx. R. V 1,122 S. of which the god is Venu.
