The Oxford history of India : from the earliest times to the end of 1911 1923

Front matter

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Preface To The Second Edition

THE work of revision has consisted chiefly in correcting errors and adding information which has become available since Mr. Vincent Smith’s death. My thanks are due to Dr. W. Crooke, C.I.E., for various suggestions, and to Mr. William Foster, C.I.E., for kindly permitting me to embody in the text various amendments which his expert knowledge of the British period had shown to be necessary. The brief account of the Coorgs on page 660 has been entirely rewritten in the interests of accuracy ; the narrative and chronology of the later period have been carried forward to the end of 1921.

S. M. E.

LONDON, 1922.

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Preface To The First Edition

THE purpose of this book is to provide in one volume of moderate - bulk and price a compendious up-to-date History of India as a whole, based on the results of modern research and extending from the earliest times to the end of 1911. It has been designed with the desire to preserve due proportion throughout in the Ancient, Hindu, Muhammadan, and British Periods alike, the space being carefully allotted so as to give prominence to the more significant sections. The author has sought to attain scrupulous accuracy of statement and impartiality of judgement, so far as may be. The subject has engaged his attention for nearly half a century.

While foot-notes have been confined within narrow bounds, the authorities used are indicated with considerable fullness. The lists of authorities are not intended to be bibliographies. They merely mention the publications actually consulted. Chronological tables, maps, and other aids for the special benefit of professed students have been provided, but it is hoped that the volume may prove readable by and useful to all persons who desire to possess some knowledge of Indian history and do not find a mere school-book sufficient. No book on lines at all similar is in existence. The older works of Meadows Taylor, Marshman, and other authors are necessarily useless for the Hindu Period, which was treated consecutively and critically for the first time in the Early History of India, published originally in 1904, and revised in subsequent editions. The accounts of the Muhammadan Period in the writings of Elphinstone and in other books now current are inadequate and out of date, being far behind the present state of knowledge in every section. In the present work much unfamiliar material concerning that period has been utilized, as explained in the second section of the Introduction. The British Period, the subject of innumerable books, offers less opportunity for novelty or originality of treatment.

Notwithstanding the obvious truism that no man can be master in equal degrees of all the parts of India’s long story, it is desirable in my opinion that a general history should be the work of a single f- J

~

PREFACE author. Composite histories, built up of chapters by specialists, suffer from the lack of literary unity and from the absence of one controlling mind so severely that their gain in erudition is apt to be outweighed by their dullness.

The memorable visit of Their Majesties the King-Emperor and his consort at the close of 1911 seems to be the best stopping-place for the narrative. The years since that event have been passed for the most part under the shadow of the Great War, with which history cannot yet dare to meddle. A bare list of some of the happenings during those terrible years is appended.

The spelling of Asiatic words and names follows the principle observed in my work on Akbar, with, perhaps, a slight further indulgence in popular literary forms. The only diacritical mark used as a general rule is that placed over long vowels, and intended as a guide to the approximate pronunciation. Consonants are to be pronounced as in English. Vowels usually have the Italian sounds, so that Mir is to be read as ‘Meer’ and Muail- as ‘ Mool-’. Short a with stress is pronounced like u in ‘ but’, and when without stress as an indistinct vowel like the A in ‘ America’. The name Akbar consequently is pronounced ‘ Ukbur’ or ‘ Ukber ’. No simpler system is practicable, for we cannot revert to the barbarisms of the old books.

Much research and care have been devoted to the collection and reproduction of the numerous illustrations.

My acknowledgements are due to the Secretary of State for India for general liberty to use illustrations in official publications; to B. Lewis Rice, Esq., C.I.E., for the use of two illustrations from Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions; and to K. Panikkar, Esq., for the loan of an engraving of Mahadaji Sindia. A few coins have been copied from the Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by permission.

Copyright extracts are reproduced by permission of Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. (from Gover) ; Mr. William Heinemann (from Professor Macdonell) ; Robert Sewell, Esq., 1.C.S. Retired (Vijayanagar) ; and the India Society (from version of Kabir).

Nore.—As the book probably will be used in colleges, it seems well to say that the two sections of the Introduction are not intended for junior students, who may leave them unread. |

Introduction

SECTION PAGE 1. The geographical foundation ; diversity in unity and unity in diversity ; the scenes and periods of the story; sea- Ne forms of government ; the history of thought : ; i

2. The Sources, or the Original Authorities . : : f Re. 4

BOOK I. ANCIENT INDIA CHAP. 1. Prehistoric India ; the elements of the population . : ; baa

2. Literature and Civilization of the Vedic and ane Periods ; the Puranas ; caste . : ; 4 LO

3. The pre-Maurya states ; the rise of Jainism and Buddhism ; the invasion of Alexander the Great; India in the fourth century B.C. : 2 ‘ : é ‘ ; : : 43

BOOK II. HINDU INDIA FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY IN 322 B.C. TO THE SEVENTH CENTURY A.C.

1, Chandragupta Maurya, the first historical ganas of pies ee and his institutions ; Bindusara . 72 —

2. Asoka Maurya and his institutions ; diffusion of Buddhism; end of the Maurya dynasty ; the successors of the Mauryas. eo ime 8. The Indo-Greek and other foreign dynasties of north-western India;

the Kushans or Indo-Scythians; Greek influence ;_ foreign ed

commerce ; beginning of Chola history . : ’ 5 dg A V8

4. The Gupta period ; a golden age ; literature, art, and science ; Hindu renaissance ; the Huns ; King Harsha ; the Chalukyas ; disorder in northern India. ; : s : ree aN,

BOOK Ill. THE MEDIAEVAL HINDU KINGDOMS FROM THE DEATH OF HARSHA IN A.D. 647 TO THE MU- HAMMADAN CONQUEST

1. The transitional period; Rajpits ; the Himalayan kingdoms and their relations with Tibet and China. : : ‘ Rack

, j

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

2. The northern and western kingdoms of the plains. : . 180

3. THE KINGDOMS OF THE PENINSULA f Section 1. The Deccan Proper and Mysore : : ‘ eg RY oe Section 2. The Tamil Powers of the Far South. : : . 205

BOOK IV. THE MUHAMMADAN POWERS OF NORTHERN INDIA

1. The Rise of the Muhammadan Power in India and the Sultanate of Delhi, a. p. 1175-1290 5 f ; iit ee . go SEE

2. The Sultanate of Delhi continued ; a. p. 1290 to. 1340; the Kili and Tughlak dynasties ; 230

3. The Decline and Fall of the Sultanate of Delhi, a. p. 13840-1526 ; the Tughlak dynasty concluded ; Timir ; the Sayyids the Lodi dynasty ; ; Islam in Indian life 4 242

4, The Muhammadan kingdoms of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and Kashmir. : ; : 5 . ‘ : A . 263

BOOK V. THE SOUTHERN POWERS

1. The Bahmani Dynasty of the Deccan, 1347-1526 : , ie 653 2. The Five Sultanates of the Deccan, and Khandésh, from 1474 to

the seventeenth century , 286 3. The Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, from a. p 1336 to 1646. . 299

BOOK VI. THE MOGUL EMPIRE 1. The Beginnings of the Mogul are Babur, Humayin, and the

2. The Early European Voyages to and Settlements in India; the Kast India Company from 1600 to 1708 . 5 : : . 330 . Akbar, 1555-1605. : E : ; x : : . 3843 . Jahangir : : , ; ‘ : z ‘ | , oe

- Shahjahan and the War of Succession ; climax of the Mogul Empire 391

Oo Oo Be

7. The Later Moguls; decline of the empire ; the Sikhs and Marathas 452

CONTENTS

BOOK VII. THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY ae or

TO 1818 CHAP. PAGE The South ; French and English ; Haidar Ali and Mysore... 469 2. Bengal affairs ; Siraju-d daula ; battles of Plassey and Buxar ;

the ‘ double government ’ ; the famine of 1770 ‘ . 487

. Warren Hastings as governor of Bengal, 1772-4 ; the Rohilla war ;

_ the Regulating Act : : é : : 4 , .. 510

. Warren Hastings as Governor-general ; the policy and character of

Hastings ; Sir John Macpherson . : : : : . 523

- Lord Cornwallis ; reforms ; the third Mysore war; the ‘ permanent settlement’; Sir John Shore, a man of peace . ; . 556

- Lord Wellesley ; the fourth and last Mysore war; annexations ;

treaty of Bassein and the second Maratha war : pene and achievement ; ; : : > : a) AS

. Reaction ; peace at any price policy of Lord Cornwallis in his second administration and of Sir George Barlow ; Lord Minto’s strong foreign and cautious internal policy 2 ; ‘ : . 607 Fh ail . The Marquess of Hastings ; Nepalese, Pindari, and Maratha wars ; establishment of British ‘supremacy in 1818. : ; . 620

BOOK VIII. THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY

1. The Marquess of Hastings continued ; reconstruction and internal

4, reforms ; Mr. Adam and the ees Lord Amherst ; the first Burmese War. : ; ; : . 637

Lord William Cavendish-Bentinck ; reforms ; relations with native states ; abolition of suttee ; suppression ‘of tmugeee + renewal of charter ; Sir Charles Metcalfe ‘ : : . 655

Lord Auckland and Lord Ellenborough ; the first Afghan War ; annexation of Sind; affairs of Gwalior; abolition of slavery 672

Sir Henry (Lord) Hardinge ; first Sikh War ; treaties of Lahore ; Lord Dalhousie ; second Sikh War; second Burmese War ; annexations : reforms : : ; ; : : |, 689

5. Lord Canning ; the Mutiny ; the Queen’s Proclamation and the passing of the East India Company ; ‘ 710

CONTENTS

_ BOOK IX. INDIA UNDER THE CROWN; THE VICEROYS FROM 1858 TO 1921

CHAP. . PAGE 1. Lord Canning continued ; reconstruction ; Lord Elgin I; Lord Lawrence ; Lord Mayo; and Lord Northbrook ; from 1858 to 1876, a period of almost unbroken peace : ; 732 2. Lord Lytton; Royal Titles Act ; famine ; finance; Vernacular Press Act; second Afghan. War; Lord Ripon; reversal of Afghan policy ; internal administration; Lord Dufferin ; Panjdeh incident ; third Burmese War; Tenancy Acts . . 746 3. Lord Lansdowne ; frontier defence; Manipur; exchange and currency; Lord Elgin IL; Chitral and Tirah campaigns; plague and famine ; Lord Curzon ; famine ; foreign affairs and frontier arrangements; internal administration; Lord Minto II; anarchist conspiracy ; Lord Hardinge of Penshurst ; visit of Their Majesties ; constitutional reforms. 5 : A - 64

APPENDIXES

A. East India Company . ; ; : : : : - 783 B. Governors-general and Viceroys : : , ; 3 Sig Ae

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE The Taj Mahal . Frontispiece Burial urn, Tinnevelly ‘ 3 Copper axe (celt) : : 4, Copper harpoon . f 5 Kushan (Kanishka) coin ; 9 Kharoshthi script on silver

scroll : . . 46 Mahavira Vardhamana 50 Gautama Buddha (Sarnath,

fifth century) : 51 Coins of Taxila . , rol Po6ros medal ‘ 63 Ancient Indian arms “(Cun-

ningham) ; . 64 Alexander the Great. . 66 Punch-marked coins . sep) 69 Four-horsed chariot of sun . 82 Boys armed as soldiers . 88 Veddah bow : 84.

Coin of Ptolemy Philadelphos 97 The Bo-tree at Anurajapura. 99 Asoka’s inscription on the

Rummindei Pillar. Sie AOD Capital, Sarnath . 112 Great Stipa, Sanchi (restored) 113 Inscription of Dasaratha eoaul RY Andhra coin ! 119 Coins of Diodotos IT, Euthy-

demos, and Demetrios . 123 Heliodoros Column : 124.

Coins of Eukratides, Menander, Antialkidas, ‘and Heliokles ‘ 125 Coins of Hermaios and Gon-

dophernes : . . 126 Ancient cross, Kottayam mee Coin of Kadphises I... . 128 Coin of Kanishka i . 130 Buddha coin of Kanishka . 132 A Kushan king, Mat . . 135 Head of Bodhisattva . . 186 Bodhisattva ; ; wee yi Gandhara frieze .- ; . 188 Medallion, Amaravati . 139 Coins of Huvishka and Vasu-

deva 140 Coins of Pantaleon, Agatho-

kles, and Nero ; 141 Coin of Chandragupta I . 148 Coin of Samudragupta: horse-

sacrifice type . 148

Coin of Samudragupta: lyrist type F : : 151

Coin of Chandragupta IT

Coin of Ujjain —.

Coin of Kumaragupta I ;

Lauriya-Nandangarh Pillar .

Monkeys, Ajanta. ‘

Woman and child, Ajanta

Column, Gupta Period

Hippogryph, Gupta

Coin of Toramana

Signature of Harsha

Girkha coin

Tibetan bronze

Martand Temple .

Ahém coins ; : f

Tibetan bronze: Kuvera and Sakti

Coin of Adi Varaha (Bhoja) .

Sculpture, Pala Period ;

Temple, Khajuraho

Coin of Sabuktigin

Coin of Govindachandra

Face of Gomata, Sravana Belgola ;

Punch-marked coin ; "Early Chalukya coin . ‘ :

A copper-plate grant

Pallava coin (?) .

Ganesa Ratha : ;

Muktesvara Temple, Kanchi

Coin of Rajaraja . : :

Pandya coin

Chera coin .

Minaret at Ghazni

Coin of Paramarddi

Great arch, Kutb Mosque

Coin of Tltutmish 4

Coin of Raziyya .

Coin of Balban .

Coin of Alau-d din Khilji

Coin of Tughlak Shah .

Tomb of Tughlak Shah

Bengal coin of Fakhru-d din

Khalif coin of Muhammad bin Tughlak

A jaital ;

Coin of Firdz Shah

Coin of Ibrahim of Jaunpur .

A bahlolt :

Khilji coin of Malwa

Coin of Mahmid Bigarha

Panel, Adalaj Wav, “Ahmadabad :

183 184: 185 187 190 195

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Kashmir coin of Zainu-l ’Abidin ;

Coin of Fir6dz Bahmani

Dargah of Amir Barid Shah, Bidar ‘

Tombs in Golkonda style, Bijapur :

Coin of Krishna deva Raya :

Portrait image of Krishna deva Raya

Coin of Babur

Tomb of Babur

Babur ;

Tomb of Shér Shah.

Rupees of Shér Shah and Islam Shah

Albuquerque :

Indo-Portuguese coin .

Indo-Dutch coin .

Indo-Danish and Indo-French coins :

Portcullis coin of Elizabeth, for India 4 :

Early Bombay coin ,

Bombay Fort, from the sea .

Dutch epitaph, Sadras

Rana Partap Singh

Gold coins of Akbar

Akbar

Jahangir

Abu-l Fazl .

Raja Birbal ‘

Coin of Jahangir and Nirjahan

The Rev. Edward Terry

Jahangir.

Tomb of Itimadu-d Daula, Agra ;

Rupee of Murad Bakhsh

Shahjahan .

A minar or pillar of dead men’s heads :

Fathpuri | Mosque. at Taj entrance :* «:, : ;

Rupee of Shahjahan

Shayista Khan

Sivaji

Aurangzeb .

Rupee of Aurangs, éb Alamgir

Nadir Shah

La Bourdonnais .

Nawab Muhammad Ali

Stringer Lawrence

Trichinopoly Fort

Autograph of Clive

PAGE [

273 277

298 303

329 333 335 336

377 382 383 |

ALT

Dupleix

Gheria Fort

Clive .

Warren Hastings ‘(as a young man i

Sir William Jones

Sir Philip Francis

Sir Elijah Impey

Gwalior Fort :

Count de Boigne

Haidar Ali .

Warren Hastings ‘(in old age)

William Pitt the Me aa

Lord Cornwallis .

Mahadaji Sindia -

Sir John Shore

Marquess Wellesley

Napoieon

Seringapatam in 1792 .

Tippoo Sultan

Nana Farnavis

Baji Rao Péshwa

Gateway, Gawilgarh

Bhurtpore Fort

Marquess Wellesley

Lord Minto ‘

Marquess of Hastings .

A Nepalese stockade

Colonel Tod and his Jain Pundit .

Murshidabad half-rupee

Sir Thomas Munro

Bandila’s armed observation post

Lord William Cavendish- Bentinck

’ Sir William Sleeman

Bala Hissar, Kabul

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Lord Dalhousie

Sir Henry Lawrence

Lord Canning

The Residency, Lucknow (before the Mutiny) :

The well and Big Cawnpore 3

Sir Jung Bahadur

Bahadur Shah II :

East India House, 1858

Sir John Lawrence

Lord Mayo .

Lord Lytton

Lord Dufferin. :

Council Chamber, Mandalay.

Lord Curzon of Kedleston

PAGE ATG 490 506

53 be

632 64.1 645

758 762 769

MAPS AND PLANS

PAGE India, Physical . : j : : : : : ; é ii Changed course of Sdn : ‘ ‘ : : Vv North-western Physical Features . . e 3 : ; : vi North-western Passes and Countries. : : ; t ok pale Kurukshetra. stro Alexander’s Route fein the Hindu Kush to the Hyphasis and back to Jhelum . : a= 100 The Empire of Asoka, 250B.c . ; ; , : d 5. LOS Bactria, &c. F 122 The Conquests of Samudragupta, AY IY; 340, and the Gupta Empire, A.D. 400. 150 India, a. D. 640 . 166

The Bahmani Kingdom, as in A: D. 1480 ; Khandésh and the five Sultanates of the Deccan ttle ee Bidar, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, and Berar) as in A. D. 1566. : 287 India in 1561. 349 Sketch map to illustrate Akbar’s campaigns in . Rajputana and

Gujarat : : é é ; : : é : . 853 India in 1605. : f : Sed Plan of the battle of Panipat, by Casi Ram . A ; : . 463 Plan of the battle of Plassey (Rennell) . ‘ : : - . 493 Map to illustrate Mysore history to 1799 : : ; . 588 Map to illustrate Lord Lake’s Campaigns, 1804-6 . ; : . 603 French and British Islands in the Indian Ocean . : ; . 616 Malay Peninsula, &c., 1914. : : : ; : : GLa Sind : , ; : : . 676 Ranjit Singh’s Dominions in 1839 : ; 4 . : . 691 The Burmese wars, 1826, 1852, 1885 _ . 5 ; : 703 Indian Empire, showing Political Divisions . : : . facing 785

ABBREVIATIONS

A. c.—After Christ.

A. D.—Anno Domini.

A. H.—Anno Hijrae (Hegirae).!

Ain.—Ain-i Akbari, by Abu-l Fazl, transl. Blochmann and Jarrett.

A.S.—Archaeological Survey.

A. 8S. B.—Asiatic Society of Bengal.

As. Res.—Asiatic Researches.

A.S. W. I.—Archaeological Survey of Western India.

A. V.—Atharvaveda.

B. c.—Before Christ.

B. M.—British Museum.

E. & D.—The History of India as told by its own Historians, by Sir H. M.— Elliot and Professor John Dowson, 8 vols., 1867-77.

E. H. I.—The Early History of India, by Vincent A. Smith, 4th ed. (Oxionis ! Clarendon Press, 1923). :

E. I. Co.—East India Company.

Ep. Ind.—Epigraphia Indica, Calcutta, in progress.

Gaz.—Gazetteer. |

H. F. A.—A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, by Vincent A. | Smith (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1911).

I. G.—Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907, 1908). |

Ind. Ant.—Indian Antiquary, Bombay, 1872 to date. ~~

I. O.—India Office, London.

J. A. O. S.—Journal of the American Oriental Society.

J. & Proc. A. S. B.—Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. |

J. As.—Journal Asiatique, Paris.

J. A. S. B.—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta.

J. Bom. Br. R. A. S.—Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic | Society.

J. B. O. (or J. B. & O.) Res. Soc.—Journal of ihe Bihar and Orissa Research | Society. .

J.P. H. S.—Journal of the Panjab Historical Society.

J. R. A. S.—Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London.

J. U. P. H. S.—Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society.

MM.—Mahamahopadhyaya, a title.

N. S.—New style.

N. W. P.—North- Western Provinces.

O. S.—Old style.

Prog. (Progr.) Rep.—Progress Ree

R. A. S.—Royal Asiatic Society.

R. I.—Rulers of India Series.

R. V.—Rigveda.

S. B. E.—Sacred Books of the East.

U. P.—United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. | oo oTE.—An index number above the title of a book indicates the edition ; , Annals of Rural Bengal’ means the 7th\edition of that work.

2 2 The word hijra is rendered Dyes withdrawal’ more precisely than by | ‘ flight ’, the equivalent usually given. , ms .

INTRODUCTION SECTION 1

The geographical foundation ; diversity in unity and unity in diversity ; the scenes and periods of the story ; sea-power ; forms of government ; the history of thought.

The geographical unit. The India of this book is almost exclusively the geographical unit called by that name on the ordinary maps, bounded on the north, north-west, and north-east by mountain ranges, and elsewhere by the sea. The extensive Burmese territories, although now governed as part of the Indian empire, cannot be described as being part of India. Burma has a separate history, rarely touching on that of India prior to the nineteenth century. Similarly, Ceylon, although geologically _ a fragment detached from the peninsula in relatively recent times, always has had a distinct political existence, requiring separate _ historical treatment. The island is not now included in the Indian empire, and its affairs will not be discussed in this work, except incidentally. Certain portions of Baléchistan now administered or controlled by the Indian Government lie beyond the limits of the geographical unit called India. Aden and sundry other outlying dependencies of the Indian empire obviously are not parts of India, and the happenings in those places rarely demand notice.

Vast extent of area. Formal, technical descriptions of the geographical and physical features of India may be found in many easily accessible books, and need not be reproduced here. But certain geographical facts with a direct bearing on the history require brief comment, because, as Richard Hakluyt truly observed long ago, °‘ Geographie and Chronologie are the Sunne and the Moone, the right eye and the left eye of all history.’ The large extent of the area of India, which may be correctly designated as a sub-continent, is a material geographical fact. The history of a region so vast, bounded by a coast-line of about 3,400 miles, more or less, and a mountain barrier on the north some 1,600 miles in length, and inhabited by a population numbering nearly 300 millions, necessarily must be long and intricate. The detailed treatment suitable to the story of a small country cannot be applied in a general history of India. The author of such a book must be content to sketch his picture in outlines boldly drawn, and to leave out multitudes of recorded particulars.

Continental and peninsular regions. Another geographical

_ fact, namely, that India comprises both a large continental, sub- _ tropical area, and an approximately equal peninsular, tropical area, has had immense influence upon the history.

Three territorial compartments. Geographical conditions 1976 b il . INTRODUCTION divided Indian history, until the nineteenth century, into three well-marked territorial compartments, not to mention minor distinct areas, such as the Konkan, the Himalayan region, and others. The three are: (1) the northern plains forming the basins of the reset rt IT Td

Saray i (Siteres] KS Sei <I aa Ue

Rime Seue oot.

EES ore: . oe aepares init ees e Poach Gary oe arginine eal one % 3s re I Aid 7. 6 tINe I 2 aoa : 5.579 ‘ Sy roe pare es) = °° . Ng Seciele e230 he! ~ raN s . ee oe « a a oe aan Cae & a 5 ee wees x a! ¥ a ae 8 A Ss eietie elena sin “VA rt Se Raise = esse Sty BES . ci ele i

(ER pall wee”

ez O 200

OQ 200400 600 do i000 Km. : INDIA PHYSICAL.

Indus and Ganges; (2) the Deccan plateau\lying to the south of the Narbada, and to the north of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers ; and (3) the far south, beyond those rivers, comprising the group of Tamil states. Ordinarily, each of those three geographical compartments has had a distinct, highly complex story of

DOMINANCE OF THE NORTH lil its own. The points of contact between the three histories are not very numerous.

Dominance of the north. The northern plains, the Aryavarta of the old books, and the Hindostan of more recent times, always _ have been the seat of the principal empires and the scene of the events most interesting to the outer world. The wide waterways of the great snow-fed rivers and the fertile level plains are natural advantages which have inevitably attracted a teeming population from time immemorial. The open nature of the country, easily accessible to martial invaders from the north-west, has given frequent occasion for the formation of powerful kingdoms ruled by vigorous foreigners. The peninsular, tropical section of India, isolated from the rest of the world by its position, and in contact with other countries only by sea-borne commerce, has pursued its own course, little noticed by and caring little for foreigners. The historian of India is bound by the nature of things to direct his attention primarily to the north, and is able to give only a secondary place to the story of the Deccan plateau and the far south.

No southern power ever could attempt to master the north, but _ the more ambitious rulers of Aryavarta or Hindostan often have extended their sway far beyond the dividing line of the Narbada. When Dupleix in the eighteenth century dreamed of a Franco- Indian empire with its base in the peninsula he was bound to fail. The success of the English was dependent on their acquisition of rich Bengal and their command of the Gangetic waterway. In a later stage of the British advance the conquest of the Panjab was conditioned by the control of the Indus navigation, previously secured by the rather unscrupulous proceedings of Lords Auckland and Ellenborough. The rivers of the peninsula do not offer _ similar facilities for penetration of the interior.

Changes in rivers. The foregoing general observations indicate broadly the ways in which the geographical position and configuration of India have affected the course of her history. But _ the subject will bear a little more elaboration and the discussion of certain less conspicuous illustrations of the bearing of geography upon history. Let us consider for a moment the changes in the great rivers of India, which, when seen in full flood, suggest thoughts of the ocean rather than of inland streams. Unless one has battled in an open ferry-boat with one of those mighty masses of surging water in the height of the rains, it is difficult to realize their demoniac power. They cut and carve the soft alluvial plains at their will, recking of nothing. Old beds of the Sutlaj can be traced across a space eighty-five miles wide. The Indus, the Ganges, the Kosi, the Brahmaputra, and scores of other rivers behave, each according to its ability, in the same way, despising all barriers, natural or artificial. Who can tell where the Indus flowed in the days of Alexander the Great ? Yet books, professedly learned, are not afraid to trace his course minutely through the Panjab and Sind by the help of some modern map, and to offer pretended identifications of sites upon the banks of rivers which certainly iv INTRODUCTION were somewhere else twenty-two centuries ago. We know that they must have been somewhere else, but where they were no man can tell. So with the Vedic rivers, several of which bear the ancient names.

The rivers of the Rishis were not the rivers of to-day. The descriptions prove that in the old, old days their: character often differed completely from what it now is, and experience teaches that their courses must have been widely divergent. Commentators in their arm-chairs with the latest edition of the Indian Atlas opened out before them are not always willing to be bothered with such inconvenient facts. Ever since the early Muhammadan invasions the changes in the rivers have been enormous, and the contemporary histories of the foreign conquerors cannot be understood unless the reality and extent of those changes be borne constantly in mind. One huge riversystem, based on the extinct Hakra or Wahindah river, which once flowed down from the mountains through Bahawalpur, has wholly disappeared, the final stages having been deferred until the eighteenth century. Scores of mounds, silent witnesses to the existence of numberless forgotten and often nameless towns, bear testimony to the desolation wrought when the waters of life desert their channels. A large and fascinating volume might be devoted to the study and description of the freaks of Indian rivers. Position of cities. In connexion with that topic another point may be mentioned. The founders of the more important old cities almost invariably built, if possible, on the bank of a river, and not only that, but between two rivers in the triangle above the confluence. Dozens of examples might be cited, but one must suffice. The ancient imperial capital, Pataliputra, represented by the modern Patna, occupied such a secure position between the guarding waters of the Sdn and the Ganges. The existing city, twelve miles or so below the confluence, has lost the strategical advantages of its predecessor. Historians who forget the position of Pataliputra in relation to the rivers go hopelessly wrong in their comments on the texts of the ancient Indian and foreign authors. Changes of the land. Changes in the coast-line and the level of the land have greatly modified the course of history, and must be remembered by the historian who desires to avoid ludicrous blunders. The story of the voyage of Nearchos, for instance, cannot be properly appreciated by any student who fails to compare the descriptions recorded by the Greeks with the surveys of modern geographers. When the changes in the coast-line are understood, statements of the old authors which looked erroneous at first sight are found to be correct. The utter destruction of the once wealthy commercial cities of Korkai and Kayal on the Tinnevelly coast, now miles from the sea and buried under sand dunes, ceases to be a mystery when we know, as we do, that the coast level has risen. In other localities, some not very distant from the places named, the converse has happened, and the sea has advanced, or, in other words, the land has sunk. The careful investigator of ancient history needs to be continually on his guard