Life In Ancient India in The Age Of Mantras

Through this rare work of a series of monographs on the history of the Indian people, in which the author has made an elaborate attempt to reconstruct the life of the people of India, age by age, from Indian literature, epigraphically works, and records of foreign travellers. This is a work that can best be done by Indian writers trained in methods of critical investigation; foreign scholars can scarcely do it well, for they have not that intimate knowledge of Indian life as it is today, especially in villages which are remote from the railway and the telegraph and the influence of European commerce and where are still preserved most of the customs described in the book; and without such knowledge, work of this kind cannot be well done. Every statement is substantiated by quotations from the Mantras in this book; and as far as possible the excellent translations of wellknown authors have been quoted. He translated this book on his own. In the case of most technical terms of the Vedic Age, he has given the Sanskrit words in brackets; for many of these words have either dropped out, or acquired other meanings in later Sanskrit and this prominent mention of them may prove of interest to Indian readers.