Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/46

24 its capital Ujjain, which still retains its ancient name unchanged.

The works of ancient Indian writers from which our historical data are extracted do not profess to be histories, and are mostly religious treatises of various kinds. In such compositions the religious element necessarily takes the foremost place, and the secular

affairs of the world occupy a very subordinate position. The particulars of political history incidentally recorded refer in consequence chiefly to the countries most prominent in the development of Indian religion.

The systems which we call Jainism and Buddhism had their roots in the forgotten philosophies of the prehistoric past, but, as we know them, were founded respectively by Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama