About the Book The ancient books of India comprise such an enormons mass of literature that the labour of a single lifetime would not suffice for the mastery of their contents and a solution of the problems which they present.. In a field so vast it is only by a division of labour that satisfactory results can be accomplished, and hence an effort has been made in the present volume, to give the chronology of these ancient books, showing where they belong in the world's history together with a resume of their teachings and specimens of their literary style. The work has been done as briefly as was consis tent with accuracy, in the belief that an intelligible idea of Hindu literature in a condensed form would be acceptable to many readers. Beginning with the earliest composition of the Aryan-race, the current of Brahmanic thought has been traced down through their most important works, which have been considered in chronological order from the earliest, i.e. from Rig-Veda to the latest Puranas.
Preface THE ancient books of India comprise such an enormous mass of literature that the labor of a single lifetime would not suffice for the mastery of their contents and a solution of the problems which they present; yet such has been the progress of Ori ental philology during the last decade, that an intel ligent survey of this great field of research is quite possible to the student.
A careful study of the Puranas alone in the origi nal Sanskrit would occupy half a century, but a valnable series of extracts and analyses can be found. in twenty-six large folio volumes of manuscripts in the library of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, and a year of patient work devoted to Professor Wilson's translations gives one an intelligible idea of their contents.
Colonel Colin Mackenzie occupied his leisure time for years in collecting and arranging thirty-four large folio volumes of manuscripts, aud his careful methods were of great value to scholars who came after him.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
