LOANWORDS IN SANSKRIT 376 linguistic complication in India which has receded before the advance of Indo-Aryan. These few examples serve to illustrate the composite nature of the Sanskrit vocabulary, and the total number of such extraneous words is very large. Their source is mainly to be found in pre-Aryan languages of India. It is likely that there existed in India various linguistic groups which have been totally extinguished by the advance of Indo-Aryan, and in so far as Sanskrit has drawn words from such sources, their origin must remain for ever unknown. On the other hand those non- Aryan languages which have maintained their independent existence form a valuable source for the investigation of the extraneous elements in Sanskrit. It will therefore be conven- ient to enumerate the various groups involved, and to examine what contribution each has to make to the investigation of the problem. On its northern and eastern frontiers Indo-Aryan is con- tiguous with Tibeto-Burman languages and a number of such dialects' are spoken within the political frontiers of India. In spite of this contact no evidence of influence from this side on Indo-Aryan has been produced. This linguistic family has always remained essentially external to India proper. Further- more it appears that on the Eastern frontiers of India these peoples have displaced earlier Austro-Asiatic populations and that their contact is not very ancient. It is possible that a few Sanskrit words may eventually be traced to this origin, but at present no satisfactory evidence of such influence is available. In the extreme North-West of India there is found Buru- shaski, a language which so far stands on its own. A connection between Burushaski and certain of the Caucasian languages has been suggested, but not proved, though it is possible that further work in this direction might be fruitful. An earlier form of this language must have existed in this region before the Aryan in- vasion, and it is likely to have occupied a more extensive terri- tory. Evidence that Sanskrit has been influenced from this source has not been produced. It is a border language and such influence would only have been possible in the very earliest period of Indo-Aryan, since from the Vedic period it must have existed much as it does now, an isolated unit in a remote mountain tract. In Eastern India there is found a family of languages which
