Volume 1

The annals and antiquities of Rajasthan, or The central and western Rajpoot states of India / by Lieutenant Colonel James Tod.

  • James Tod
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The annals and antiquities of Rajasthan, or The central and western Rajpoot states of India / by Lieutenant Colonel James Tod. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/660 page 1
    INTRODUCTION. Much disappointment has been felt in Europe at the sterility of the historic Muse of Hindusthan. When Sir William Jones first began to explore the vast mines of Sanskrit literature, great hopes were entertained that the history of the world would acquire considerable accessions from 6his source. The sanguine expectations that were then formed have not been realized ; and, as it usually happens, excitement has been succeeded by apathey and indiffer- ence. It is now generally regarded as an axiom, that India possesses no national history; to which we may oppose the remark of a French Orientalist, who ingeniously asks, whence Abul Fazil obtained the materials for his out- lines of ancient Hindu history?* Mr. Wilson has, indeed, done much to obviate this prejudice, by his translation of the Raj Tarangini, or the History of Cash- mere,'f which clearly demonstrates that regular historical composition was an art not unknown in Hindusthan, and affords satisfactory ground for conclu- ding that these productions were once less rare than at present, and that further exertion may bring more relics to light. Although the labours of Colebrooke, Wilkins, Wilson, and others of our own countrymen, emulated by many learned men in France and Germany:]: have revealed to Europe some of the hidden lore of India ; still it is not pretended that we have done much more than pass the threshold of Indian science ; and we are consequently not competent to speak decisively of its extent or its character. Immense libraries, in various parts of India, are still intact, which have survived the devasta- tions of the Islamite. The collections of Jessulmeer and Puttun, for example, escaped the scrutiny of even the lynx-eyed Alla, who conquered both these kingdoms, and who would have shewn as little mercy to those literary trea- sures, as Omar displyed towards the Alexandrine library. Many other minor * M. Abel Remusat, in his Melanges Asiatiques, makes many opposite and forcible re- marks on this subject, which, without intern ion, convey a just reproof to the lukewarmness of our countrymen. The institution of the Royal Asiatic Society, especially that branch of it devoted to Oriental translations, may yet redeem this reproach. + Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. % When the genius and erudition of such men as Schlegel are added to the zeal which characterizes that celebrated writer, what revelation may we not yet expect from the culti vation of Oriental literature ?
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