VII. The common Bengal language: a wretched dialect, corrupted in the utmost degree. It has no _V_, and instead of it employs the _B_; so that instead of _Ved_ you must write _Beda_. It is spoken at Calcutta, and in Bengal on the banks of the Ganges. VIII. The Devangaric or Hindostan language; called by some _Nagru_, _Nagari_, and also _Dèvanagari_. It is spoken at Benares or Venares, and consists of fifty-two characters, with which you can write the Samscred. Its mode of writing has been introduced into all the northern part of India. A specimen of it may be seen in the first volume of the Asiatic Researches. IX. The Guzaratic, which has been introduced not only into the kingdom of Guzarat, but also at Baroche, Surat, Tatta, and the neighbourhood of the Balangate mountains. Its characters are little different from those of the Devanagaric. X. The Nepalic, which is spoken in the kingdom of Nepal, and has a great similarity to the _Dèvanagaric_. Of all these languages a more particular account may be found in my Samscred grammar, in which I have clearly proved that they all proceed from the Samscred, though Mr. Wilkins and Sir William Jones maintain that the _Nagru_, or _Devanagari_, makes properly the original and true character of the Samscred language, and that it is by no means of Indian extraction, but was transplanted to India from Persia. The most important book of all those written in the Samscred language is the _Vèda_. This word, which has been changed by the English very improperly into _Bed_, or _Beadh_, does not signify exclusively a sacred book; but implies in general as much as a _sacred law_, whether observed by the Indians or other nations. Thus, for example, the law or religious system of the so-called Nazarenes, or Christians or St. Thomas, is named _Nasrànni Vèda_, and the Jewish law _Judhavèda_. That this word is used, in other respects, in a very extensive sense, seems to appear from various circumstances, and, in particular, from the following fable: “The god Brahma, at the time of the general deluge, having fallen asleep, the wicked dæmon, called _Hayagriva_, stole from him the _Veda_, and threw it into the sea. It would then have been infallibly lost, had not the god _Vishnu_ instantaneously transformed himself into a fish, and gone in search of it. As soon as he found it, he gave it to the man who had saved himself, with king _Menu_, in the _Yanapatra_ or floating vessel.” It is very evident that this fable cannot allude to the present _Vèda_; but if we admit that the word, as is actually the case, signifies the _law of nature_, this ingenious allegory may be easily explained. The Brahmans wished to signify by it, that the natural order and connexion of the elements, which at the time of the flood were totally destroyed, had been again restored by _Vishnu_[184]. The other Indian books held in high estimation are: