Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/147

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The History of India.

INTRODUCTION.

The history of India is not only important trout . the point of view of mininrative eivilization. hut irom its length and the variety of its vicissitudes, it may Well lay claim to the appreciation 0! all Intelligent readers {or its own sake. Although India must yield to (him. Egypt and Ass-win. in the antiquityol itshistorienl data. yet its records extend hack to a period oi more than three thourund years. and its early literature is both more lull und more valuable to humanity than that at any other ancient people. The- early history of most maples is a coulqu and broken nu‘tntnl of wars and dynasties. The same chromlogieal se- quence may exist. yet the greater nnmlver ot thaw Kings Wllt’lﬂl‘ conquests and glories are extolled in stone are little more than names. and the internal eonditions oi their kingdoms are «ill more nlN'ure. .\'o rou- nccted history. {or in-itanee. oi anrient Egyptian eivilizntion and thought is dedurihli- lrorn the mono. merits in the valley ol the Nile. But Indian history is iii :1 different and :i rarer kind. Inscriptions at "u. earner periods are practically nomexistent. and no connected chronological history-is tnssilile [or at haunt the first thousand Years at Aryan civilization in l ndin. But. as n cnmpt’nsnliun. in- have records at a {at more valuable character. Thon- exist literary

remains which carry us bark at least fifteen centuries helore the Christian era. From this early date. and trorn each succeeding period. an abundance oi literary Worke survive. in ﬁrst handed down by oral tradition, later committed to writing. nll hearing the stamp of the age in which they were composed. all therefore oi supreme interest and importance as the reflection of the thoughts and leelings at early mun. Amongst the Aryans of India alone can We trace clearly the gradual progress oi the liumnn mind from its lile rude but “mutant-om ettirsions to the iirtitii'ial composi- tions 0| .1 highli- organised vivilimtinn. Tints the story at llindn t’l\'lltl.’lliﬂll. religion and thought is longer and more instntrtive than any other human story. "It is nutrhle‘e in its routinuity. its tulness and its philosophic truth." It is .i rompiete history in itself. but it is not the whole oi Indian h‘uitory. About the 53"“. m".- that the Normans rottqueretl England the Ancient Hindu Civilization lieng to corm- imdcr the rule oi .“Ollq‘lﬂllnﬂlélll inmdero. Finally. the Moham- medan Empire. alto-r 3 period of settlement Ivy various European wwers. gave place to the British rule which endures to-dnt'. [hell «I these lx‘riods, the Moham- medan and the British, has its own particular character. istios and its aim complete history.

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