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Author’s Preface

The method by which this work has been written is very simple. My principal object has been to furnish the general reader with a practical and handy work on the Ancient History of India – not to compose an elaborate work of discussions on Indian antiquities. To study clearness and conciseness on a subject like this was not, however, an easy task. Every chapter deals with matters about which long researches have been made and various opinions recorded. It would have afforded some satisfaction to me to have given the reader the history of every controversy, the account of every antiquarian discovery, and the pros and cons of every opinion advanced. But I could not yield to this temptation without increasing the work greatly in bulk and thus sacrificing the very object with which it is written. To carry out my purpose, I have avoided every needless controversy and discussion, and I have tried to explain as clearly, concisely, and distinctly as I was able, each succeeding phase of Hindu civilization and Hindu life in ancient times.

But, while conciseness has been the main object, I

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have also endeavoured to tell my story so that it may leave some distinct memories in the minds of my readers after they have closed the work. For this reason I have avoided details as far as possible and have tried to develop, fully and clearly, the leading facts and features of each succeeding age. Repetition has not been avoided, where such repetition seemed necessary to impress the cardinal facts – the salient features of the story of Hindu civilization.

The copious extracts which I have given (in translation) from the Sanskrit works may, at first sight, seem to be inconsistent with my desire for conciseness. Such extracts, however, have been advisedly given. In the first place, on a subject where there is so much room for difference of opinion, it is of the highest importance to furnish the reader with the text on which my conclusions are based, to enable him to form his own judgment, and to rectify my mistakes if my conclusions are erroneous. In the second place, it is a gain to the cause of historical knowledge to familiarize the reader with the texts of these ancient authors. It is scarcely to be hoped that the busy student will spend much of his time in reading the ancient and abstruse works in the original, or even in learned translations, and the historian who seeks to familiarize his readers with some portions at least of these ancient works, adds in so far to the accurate knowledge of his readers on this subject. And lastly, it has been well said, that thought is language, and language is thought; and if it be the intention of the historian to convey an idea

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of ancient thought – of what the ancient Hindus felt and believed – he cannot do this better than by quoting the words in which that ancient people expressed themselves. Such brief extracts very often give the modern reader a far more realistic and intimate knowledge of ancient Hindu society and manners and ways of thinking than any account that I could give at twice the length. And it is because I have desired the modern reader to enter into the spirit and the inner life of the ancient Hindus, that I have tried to bring the old composers of hymns and sutras face to face with the reader, and allowed them to speak for themselves. Such an intimate grasp of the inner life and feelings of the ancients is the very kernel of true historical knowledge, and I have felt it a hopeless task to impart this knowledge more accurately or more concisely than in the words of the ancients. It is for this reason mainly, and consistently with my anxiety to be concise, that I have quoted extensively from ancient works.

R. C. Dutt.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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