foremost place. This is more than what can be said of any other nation. You may find a nation great in arms or commerce; you may find a people eminent in philosophy, in poetry, in science or in arts; you may find a race great politically but not equally so morally and intellectually. But you do not find a race which was or is pre-eminent in so many departments of human activity as the ancient Hindus.

The ancient Hindus were "a poetical people," they were essentially "a musical race," and they were "a commercial people." They were "a nation of philosophers;" "in science they were as acute and diligent as ever." "Art seems to have exhausted itself in India." "The Hindu is the parent of the literature and the theology of the world." His language is the best and the most beautiful in the world. The national character of the ancient Hindus as regards truthfulness, chivalry and honour was unrivalled; their colonies filled the world, their kings "are still worshipped as the gods of the sea," "their civilization still pervades in every corner of the civilized world and is around and about us every day of our lives."

It may be urged that in the picture of Hindu civilization painted in the book, only roseate hues have been used, that while lights are purposely made prominent the shadows are conspicuous by their absence, and that most has been made of the best points of Hinduism. Such critics will do well to remember that the mountains are measured by their highest peaks and not by the low heights to which they here and there sink; that the first rank among the mountains is assigned to the Himalayas

by Mounts Everest, Dhavalgiri and Kanchanjanga, and not by the lower heights of Mussoorie and Darjeeling, and that the patches of level ground here and there found enclosed within this gigantic range are justly ignored.

It may also be remarked here that the object of this book being to enable men to appreciate the excellencies of Hindu civilization-by giving them an idea of the character and achievements of the ancient Hindus, who were the creatures of that civilization, which has admittedly seen its best days-any discussion of modern India for its own sake is without the scope of this book. Wherever, therefore, any fact relating to the society, religion, literature or character of the Hindus of the present day, or their capacities and capabilities is mentioned it has reference only to the elucidation of some feature of that civilization as illustrated in the life, work or character of the people of ancient India.1

It is the inherent truth of Hinduism, the vitality and greatness of the Hindu civilization that have en

It is no part of the plan of this book to run down any creed or nationality. Consequently, whenever any other religion or race is mentioned, it is only for the elucidation of some point of Hinduism, or to show the comparative excellence of some feature of Hindu civilization. Thus, whenever the oppressive nature of the rule of some of the Mohamedan Emperors is mentioned, or the havoc caused by some of the invaders from the North-Western frontier of India is described, it is not to emphasize that fact itself, but to iliustrate, explain, or elucidate some feature of the character of the Hindus or their literature and society. It may also be remarked that the evils of the rule of the Afghans, Turks, and others were due not to the religion they professed but to their ignorance and backwardness in civilization. The Arabs, though professing the same religion as the Afghans and the Moghals, kept the lamp of knowledge and science lit in Europe and Western Asia during the middle ages. The work of Al-Beruni, Abdul Fazal, Faizi and others in India pulls to pieces the theory that whatever evils there were in Mohamedan rule were due to the religion of the rulers.

abled the Hindus yet to preserve their existence as such, despite all the political cataclysms, social upheavals, and racial eruptions the world has seen since the Mahabharata. These calamities overwhelmed the ancient Egyptians and the Phoenicians and destroyed the empires of ancient Greece, Persia and Rome.

Compared to the sun of Hindu civilization giving a constant and steady stream of beneficent light, which penetrates the farthest nooks and corners of the world, carrying comfort and contentment to mankind, these civilizations were like brilliant meteors that appear in the skies lighting the while, with their short-lived lustre, the heavens above and the earth below.

Then let me dive into the depths of time,

And bring from out the ages that have rolled,
A few small fragments of those wrecks sublime,
Which human eye may never more behold;
And let the guerdon of my labour be,

My b'loved country! one kind wish for thee,

CONSTITUTION.

Clime of the unforgotten brave!
Where land from plain to mountain cave
Was freedom's home or glory's grave;

Shrine of the mighty! Can it be

That this is all remains of thee?

-BYRON: Giaour,

No one acquainted with the history of the ancient Indians can reasonably deny the great merits of their ancient Constitution, which combined happiness with activity, tranquility with progress "one lesson which in every wind is blown"-and conservation with advancement. Their astonishing subjective capacities and their extraordinary powers of observation and generalization led them irresistibly to trace Nature in all her multifarious solemn workings. They followed her in every thing they did, and hence the halo of reality and conservation which surrounds their work. It is this reality and conservation, the happy results of following Nature-"which is wisdom without reflection and above it "that have imparted that polish to Hindu Laws and Institutions which makes them at once durable and brilliant.

There was, anciently, an adjustment of forces which enabled each institution to describe its peculiar orbit and work in its own sphere, without interfering with the

others; but now, alus! owing to the long-continued and unabated pressure of hostile circumstances, that adjustment is being broken, and the forces are being let loose so as to bring the different institutions together. Their foundations, however, are still intact, owing to their exceeding firmness.

The turning point in the history of Ancient India was the Mahabharata, the Great War between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. This momentous event decided the future of Ancient India, as it closed the long chapter of Hindu growth and Hindu greatness. The sun of India's glory was at its meridian about the end of Dwapar, and, following the universal law of Nature, with the beginning of the Kaliyuga, it turned its course towards the horizon, where it set on the plains of Thaneshwar amidst the romantic splendour of Sanjugta's love and Pithora's chivalry. As the Mahabharata marked the zenith of Hindu greatness, Shahabud-din's victory at Thaneshwar marked the sinking of the great luminary below the horizon. The nadir was reached several centuries later, when the armies under Bajai Rao were routed on the same sacred, fateful plains by the Durrani host. The great war which, as will be seen hereafter, influenced so powerfully the destiny of nations was, in reality, the beginning of the end of Hindu greatness, and it was at this period that the political and social Constitution of India began to yield to those innovations which, by their very contrast to the fundamental principles of that Constitution, are so prominent now.