and popular education is based on 'popular' literature, 'popular' philosophy and 'popular' science, the 'popular' tongue being the common medium of communication and instruction.
As in England, so in France and America the language of books is approximated to the language current among the educated people.
But in India the birthright of the people to acquire knowledge through their own familiar language is not fully recognized: consequently the vernaculars have not been well cultivated and the people have long been illiterate. The exclusive spirit of the Brahmans is responsible for this. Their monopoly of learning was maintained for a long time by the reverence which the learned men inspired for the language of the gods (as sanskrit is called) in which divine knowledge is embodied. The large-hearted Gautama Buddha revealed all his knowledge to the masses in their own tongue; and his disciples, unlike the Brahman priests, recorded in the popular language all the learning they acquired. The highest truths taught by the Lord were spread throughout the country by the Buddhist Emperor, Asoka by means of his proclamations composed in the most familiar language and indelibly inscribed on rocks and pillars situated in the most frequented places. Thanks to the liberal
