similar. Both thrive by plundering and robbery. The aim of the Political Department is to exterminate all the Native States in the country." Assuredly such preposterous language does not help to promote a friendly understanding. In answer to the allegation, I need only recall your attention to the policy laid down by Sir Charles Wood, and to the fact that there exist to-day more than 600 Native States in India, and I cannot recall a single instance of annexation, despite severe provocation, during the last thirty years. Every effort has been made to educate young chiefs for the discharge of their high positions, and if you want to know the spirit in which that duty has been undertaken, read the lecture delivered by the late Mr. Chester Macnaghten, the single-hearted earnest principal of the Chiefs' College at Rajkote. This is what he, a servant of the British Government, and servant, too, of a higher Master, wrote to the Maharaja of Idar when he left college to rule his State: "The life which is opening before you is a great one. But greatness and glory are not born of ease, and in proportion to your high responsibility will be the height and breadth of your duty. It is not easy, or perhaps wise, to give maxims of general behaviour, but there are in the Old Testament of my Bible a few short sentences which to me appear to suggest all that is best for my pupils in this college. I do not think you will value them less on account of the source from which they are taken. "The Lord hath showed thee, oh man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.' That your future life may be a noble and a good one, and therefore a happy one, is the sincere wish of your college friends, and of no one more truly than myself." Are these the words of a man employed by Government to undermine the Native States, and to plunder and rob them? Has the account I have here given given ground to make you doubt the sincerity of the British Government, or its fidelity to the directions of the Secretary of State, whose words I quoted at the beginning of my paper? I have no fear as to the honest reply to those two questions. ANCIENT INDIA BY TRIMBAKRAI JADAVRAI DESAI (Of Limbdi State, Kathiwar) I Do not propose in this article to write a history of ancient India. Mr. Romesh C. Dutt, in his two volumes on "Civilisation in Ancient India," has narrated that history from the earliest times to the advent of the Mohamedans. I propose only to give an abstract of the admirable work of Mr. Dutt, and to condense in one short article all that I can from what has been written by him. He divides the history of ancient India into five periods. The Vedic period extends from 2000 B.C. to 1400 B.C.; the Epic period from 1400 B.C. to 1000 B.C.; the Rationalistic period from 1000 B.C. to 320 B.C.; the Buddhist period from 320 B.C. to 500 A.D.; the Purânic period from 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D. We quote below from Mr. Dutt's book a table of dates for the different epochs, premising that the dates should be taken as only approximately correct, and that the earlier dates are supposed to be correct only within a few centuries. EPOCH I.-VEDIC PERIOD, 2000 B.C. TO 1400 B. C. Aryan settlements in the Indus Valley; composition of Rig Veda Hymns, 2000 B.C. to 1400 B.C. EPOCH IL-EPIC PERIOD, 1400 B.C. TO 1000 B.C. Aryan settlements in the Ganges Valley, 1400 B.C. to 1000 B.C. Lunar Zodiac fixed, astronomical observations, compilation of the Vedas, 1400 B.C. to 1200 B.C. Flourishing period of the Kurus and the Panchâlas, 1400 B.C. to 1200 B.C. Kuru-Panchâla war, 1250 B.C. Flourishing period of the Kosalas, the Kâsis, and the Videhas, 1200 B.C. to 1000 B.C. Composition of the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, 1300 B.C. to 1100 B.C. Composition of the Upanishads, 1100 B.C. to 1000 B.C. EPOCH III-RATIONALISTIC PERIOD, 1000 B.C. TO 320 B.C. Aryan conquest of all India, 1000 B.C. to 320 B.C. Yâska, ninth century B.C. Pânini, eighth century B.C. Sûtra Schools, 800 B.C. to 400 B.C. Sulva Sutras (Geometry), eighth century B.C. Kapila and Sankhya Philosophy, seventh century B.C. Other Schools of Philosophy, 600 B.C. to the Christian Era. Bimbisâra, King of Magadha, 537 B.C. to 485 B.C. Ajâtasatru, 485 B.C. to 453 B.C. First Buddhist Council, 477 B.C. Second Buddhist Council, 377 B.C. Nine Nandas, Kings of Magadha, 370 B.C. to 320 B.C. EPOCH IV.-BUDDHIST PERIOD, 320 B.C. TO 500 A.D. Chandragupta, King of Magadha, 320 B.C. to 290 B.C. The Maurya Dynasty in Magadha ends, 183 B.C. The Gupta Emperors, 300 A.D. to 500 A.D. The Bactrian Greeks invaded India, second and first centuries B.C. The Yu-chi invaded India, first century A.D. Kanishka, the Yu-chi King of Kashmira, founded the Saka Era, 78 A.D. The Shah Kings ruled in Saurâshtra, 150 A.D. to 300 A.D. EPOCH V.-PURANIC PERIOD, 500 A.D. TO 1000 A.D. Vikramaditya of Ujjayin and Northern India, 500 A.D. to 550 A.D. Kâlidâsa, Amarasinha, Vararuchi, &c., 500 A.D. to 550 A.D. Bhâravi, about 550 A.D. to 600 A.D. Aryabhatta, founder of modern Hindu Astronomy, 476 A.D. to 530 A.D. Varâhamihira, 500 A.D. to 550 A.D. Silâditya II., Emperor of Northern India, 610 A.D. to 650 A.D. Bânabhatta and Subandhu, Bhartrihari and the Bhattikâvya, 610 A.D. to 650 A.D. Bhavabhuti, 700 A.D. to 750 A.D. Sankaracharya, 788 A.D. to 850 A.D. The Dark Ages in Northern India, 800 A.D. to 1000 A.D. FIRST EPOCH (2000 B.C. TO 1400 B.C.) The Rig Veda has frequent allusions to the Aryan settlements on the banks of the Indus and its five branches. Like all conquerors, the Aryans were full of youthful vigour. They worshipped nature, and fought many a hard fight with the natives of the soil, whom they drove before them. There was no caste at this time, no temples, and no idols. Sacrificial fires were kept in every household, and oblations offered to the "bright" gods. Chiefs of tribes were kings, and had professional priests to perform sacrifices and utter hymns for them; but there was no priestly caste, and no royal caste. The people were free, enjoying the freedom which belongs to vigorous pastoral and agricultural tribes. Among the warlike kings of the age, Sudas finds a prominent mention in the Rig Veda, and he defeated the Bharatas and other allied tribes who came to attack him. |