Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/37

Rh recording a considerable mass of ancient tradition, which would have been lost but for his care to preserve it. The Life of Hiuen Tsang, composed by his friend Hwui-li, contributes many details supplemental to the narrative in the Travels.

The learned mathematician and astronomer, Alberuni, almost the only Mohammedan scholar who has ever taken the trouble to learn Sanskrit, essentially a language of idolatrous unbelievers, when regarded from a Moslem point of view, entered India in the train of Mahmud of Ghazni. His work, descriptive of the country, and entitled "An Enquiry into India" (Tahkik-i-Hind), which was finished in 1031, is of high value as an account of Hindu manners, science, and literature, but contributes little information which can be utilized for the purposes of political history.

The visit of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, to Southern India in 1294-5 comes just within the limits of this volume.

The Mohammedan historians of India are valuable authorities for the history of the conquest by the armies of Islam.

The monumental class of archaeological evidence, considered by itself and apart from the inscriptions on the walls of buildings, offers little direct contribution to the materials for political history, but is of high illustrative value and greatly helps the student in realizing the power and magnificence of some of the ancient dynasties.

Unquestionably the most copious and important