6

PREFACE.

Cambridge , have rendered important aid at later stages of thework.

This volume is the result of a long process of continuouscondensation. But continuous condensation, although con-venient to the reader, has its perils for the author. ManyIndian topics are still open questions, with regard to whichdivergences of opinion may fairly exist. In some cases I havebeen compelled by brevity to state my conclusions withoutsetting forth the evidence on which they rest, and without anyattempt to combat alternative views. In other matters I havehad to content myself with conveying a correct general im-pression, while omitting the modifying details. For I hereendeavour to present an account, from original sources, ofa continent inhabited by many more races and nations thanEurope—races in every stage of human development, from thepolyandric tribes and hunting hamlets of the hill jungles, to themost complex commercial communities in the world. When Ihave had to expose old fables, or to substitute truth for long-accepted errors, I clearly show my grounds for doing so. Thus,in setting aside the legend of Mahmud the Idol-Breaker, I traceback the growth of the myth through the Persian Historians, tothe contemporary narrative of A 1 Biruni (970-1029 A.D.). Thecalumnies against Jagannath are corrected by the testimony ofthree centuries, from 1580 when Abul Fazl wrote, down to thelocal police reports of 1870. Macaulay’s somewhat fancifulstory of Plassey has been told afresh in the words of Clive’sown despatch. His more serious misrepresentations of Warren Hastings are set right from the contemporary records of theGovernment of India, lately edited by Mr. George Forrest .

But indeed almost every period of Indian history forms anarena of controversy. Thus, in the early Sanskrit era, eachdate is the result of an intricate process of induction. Thechapter on the Scythic inroads has been pieced together from