reached its highest degree of perfection.

The chronology of these periods varies according to the systems of
different orientalists. It is, however, admitted that the Vedas are the
first literary productions of India, and that their origin cannot be later
than the fifteenth century B.C. The period of the Vedas embraces the other
sacred books, or commentaries founded upon them, though written several
centuries afterwards. The second period, to which belong the two great
epic poems, the "Ramayana" and the "Mahabharata," according to the best
authorities ends with the sixth or seventh century B.C. The third period
embraces all the poetical and scientific works written from that time to
the third or fourth century B.C., when the language, having been
progressively refined, became fixed in the writings of Kalidasa, Jayadeva,
and other poets. A fourth period, including the tenth century A.D., may be
added, distinguished by its erudition, grammatical, rhetorical, and
scientific disquisitions, which, however, is not considered as belonging
to the classical age. From the Hindu languages, originating in the
Sanskrit, new literatures have sprung; but they are essentially founded on
the ancient literature, which far surpasses them in extent and importance,
and is the great model of them all. Indeed, its influence has not been
limited to India; all the poetical and scientific works of Asia, China,
and Japan included, have borrowed largely from it, and in Southern Russia
the scanty literature of the Kalmucks is derived entirely from Hindu
sources. The Sanskrit literature, known to Europe only recently, through
the researches of the English and German orientalists, has now become the
auxiliary and foundation of all philological studies.

4. THE VEDAS AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS.--The Vedas (knowledge or science) are
the Bible of the Hindus, the most ancient book of the Aryan family, and
contain the revelation of Brahm which was preserved by tradition and