Hindu Civilization

The present work has been suggested by the needs of study and teaching at the Universities of a subject which, for the period dealt with, is necessarily somewhat nebulous, indefinite, and, sometimes, speculative and highly controversial. It intends to bring together the results of specialized study of the different aspects of a vast subject as parts of an organic whole. The task of writing such a work has been considerably lightened by the publication of the Cambridge History of India,...
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The present work has been suggested by the needs of study and teaching at the Universities of a subject which, for the period dealt with, is necessarily somewhat nebulous, indefinite, and, sometimes, speculative and highly controversial. It intends to bring together the results of specialized study of the different aspects of a vast subject as parts of an organic whole. The task of writing such a work has been considerably lightened by the publication of the Cambridge History of India, to which my obligations are both general and specific. But perhaps I may claim that the Indian point of view has received its due scope in the work and constitutes its chief justification. That has naturally suggested the value and use of some neglected texts, some new points of interest in known and familiar documents, or some new relations of old facts. The work has also followed its own method of building up history, as far as possible, in terms of original sources or texts, on the basis of what may be called the " key-words " in which are locked up its essence, its vital elements, its characteristic features. Such " key-words" are the clues to forgotten national traditions. They open up the buried past and breathe life into its dead bones. They give body and form, flesh and blood, to the dry skeleton of history. The past is thus seen in its proper setting, in its true colours and perspective. It speaks through its own language, wherever possible.