Page:Kings of Kashmira Vol 1 (Rajatarangini of Kalhana).djvu/6

 preface. iii

possess, an attempt to write a history, in its usual sense, of Iudia, musUftt present remain a hopeless task.

While* so much dearth prevails in the department of Indian history, an account of a people who lived from , the earliest period in a corner of India, may not, it is hoped, be unacceptable. The present work, it should be "Stated, pretends to bo nothing more than a faithful render- ing into English of a history which already exists in the Sanskrita language.* The first part of the book,^the Rajataraiiggini,"ha8 been written by Kahlana Pandita, son of Champaka. It embraces the history of the country from tho earliest period to the time of the author, A.D. 1148. The next part entitled Rajabali has been written by Jonaraja, and brings tho history down to A.D. 1412 ; and this again has been coutiuued under the name of Jainarijatasanggini by bis pupil Sri Vara Pandita to A.D. 1477. The fourth and last part, the Rajfivalipitaka, brings down the history of the country to the time of its conquest by Akbar, and was written by Prajya Bhatta at the time of that emperor. The present translation em- braces the history of the country from the earliest times to the reign of king Harsha, A.D. 1101, about one- half of t&e w<%k»of Kahlana Pandita. It is the intention of the Translator to bring down the history in two more volumes to the period of the oonqnest of the vfllley by

from the tegt such stories as relate to superhuman agencies, ^pd to give them in the form of appendix, in order to preserve the continuity of historical narration.
 * The Translator has howevernihought it necessary to omit