proficiency in many of the ornamental and useful arts of life."" As regards dyeing, Mr. Elphinstone says: The brilliancy and permanence of many of the dyes, have not yet been equalled in Europe." He adds: "The brilliancy of their dyes is remarked on as well as their skill in manufactures and imitations of foreign objects. Dr. Tennent and even Mr. James Mill admit that the Indian colours are the most brilliant on earth. The Hindus were the earliest nation who discovered the art of extracting colours from plants. The names by which several plants are known in foreign countries bear testimony to this fact. Indigo is so called after India. Pliny used to write indico.* After mentioning that Varahmamihra gives recipes for artificial imitations of natural flower scents, etc., Dr. Ray says: "To these classes of professional experts were due three of the great Indian discoveries in the chemical arts and manufactures which enabled India to command for more than a thousand years the markets of the East as well as the West, and secured to her an easy and universally recognised pre-eminence among the nations of the world in manufactures and exports.' 115 Bancroft gives much praise to the "natives of India for having so many thousand years ago discovered means by which the colourable matter of the plants might be extracted exygenated and precipitated from all other matters combined with it." Even Mill is constrained to say: "Among the arts of the Hindus, that of printing and dyeing their cloths has been celebrated; and the beauty and brilliancy, as well as durability of the colours they 'Mill's History of India, Vol. II, p. 233. "History of India, p. 164. History of India, p. 243. Soe Strabo, lib. xv, p. 493. 4 He says: "Cast the right indico upon the live coals, it yieldeth a flame of most excellent purple. "-Manning's Ancient and Medieval India, Vol. II, p. 355. "History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. II, p. 133, produce, are worthy of particular praise." Mr. Elphinstone says: "The taste for minute ornaments fitted them to excel in goldsmiths' work."" Professor Heeren says: "The art of working in ivory must have attained a high degree of perfection." What is most remarkable, however, is the simplicity of their processes and the exceedingly small number of the instruments with which they work. Stavorinus writes: "Their artificers work with so little apparatus and so few instruments, that an European would be astonished at their neatness and expedition." Dr. Mann, Principal, Agricultural College, Poona, found the mortar used in an ancient column near Bhilsa "to be lime mortar of the best kind." "This analysis," he says, "gives the idea of a well-made mortar, prepared with a full recognition of the purpose served by sand and clayey matter in making the material as well as lime. In this respect it appears to be far an advance of many Phoenician and Greek mortars, which contain far too little sand for the best results." Mr. Bhandarkar further says: This was another startling discovery, as all archæologists were convinced that the old Hindus did not know the use of lime mortar. This was believed to have been first introduced into India by the Muhammadans, and to hold therefore that it was known to them at such an early period as B.C. 250, to which time the brick wall has to be ascribed, was considered to be a mere figment of the imagination. Dr. Mann's analysis, however, 'Mill's India, Vol. II, p. 21. "In some of the delicate manufactures, however," says Mill, "particularly in weaving, spinning, and dyeing, the Hindus rival all nations as in the fabrication of trinkets too. Professor Heeren says: "The dress of the Hindus seemed extraordinary white to the Greeks."-Historical Researches, Vol. II, p. 272. Elphinstone's History of India, p. 164. "The Hindus cut the precious stones, polish them to a high degree of brilliancy and set them neatly in gold and silver."-Mill's History of India, Vol. II, p. 30. Stavorinus' Voyage, p. 412. Foster was astonished to see their instruments and their simple processes.-Asiatic Researches, Vol. II, p. 272. destroys another cherished belief.""" Dr. Royle is of opinion that the system of rotation of crops has been derived from India. The Hindu farmer understands extremely well how to maintain the productive power of his land.' Professor Wilson says: "The use of glass for windows is a proof of civilization that neither Greek nor Roman refinement presents." Pliny says that the best glass ever made was India glass.* Dr. Forbes Watson says: The study of Indian art might in numberless ways improve the character of the everyday articles around us (Englishmen)."5 Chamber's Encyclopædia says: "In manufacture, the Hindus attained to a marvellous perfection at a very early period, and the Courts of Imperial Rome glittered with gold and silver brocades of Delhi. The muslins of Dacca were famous ages ago throughout the civilized world. In the International Exhibition of 1852, splendid specimens of gorgeous manufactures and the patient industry of the Hindus were displayed. Textile fabrics of inimitable fineness, tapestry glittering with gems, rich embroi deries and brocades, carpets wonderful for the exquisite harmony of colour, enamel of the most brillant hue, inlaid wares that require high magnifying power to reveal their minuteness, furniture most elaborately carved, sword of curious forms and excellent temper are amongst the objects that prove the perfeclion of art in India." 1 1 Progress Report of the Archæological Survey of India, Western Circle, for the year ending March 1915, p. 60. Dr Roxburgh fully approves of the Hindu system of agriculture. Sir T. Munro calls it "a good system." Mill's India, Vol. II, p. 46. Ray's History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. II, p. 223. "Lenses and mirrors of various kinds are mentioned, the spherical, oval being well known." Б -p. 223. 5 Lord Dufferin once said: "The West has still much to learn from the East in matters of dress." Of the much-dispised dhoti, Mrs. Manning says: "Any dress more perfectly convenient to walk, to sit, to lie in, it would be impossible to invent."-Ancient and Medieval India, Vol. II, p. 358. Chamber's Encyclopædia, p. 543. COMMERCE AND WEALTH. 1.-COMMERCE. But chief by numbers of industrious hands -DYER: Fleece. THOUGH Indians have practically no hand now in the commerce of the world, yet there was a time when they were the masters of the seaborne trade of Europe, Asia and Africa. They built ships, navigated the sea, and held in their hands all the threads of international commerce, whether carried on overland or by sea. As their immense wealth was in part the result of their extensive trade with other countries, so were the matchless fertility of the Indian soil and numberless products of Hindu arts and industries the cause of the enormous development of the commerce of ancient India. As Cowper says: "And if a boundless plenty be the robe, Trade is a golden girdle of the globe." India, which, according to Chamber's Encyclopædia, "has been celebrated during many ages for its valuable natural productions, its beautiful manufactures and costly merchandise," " was, says the Encyclopædia Britannica, "once the seat of commerce." 1 2 Mrs. Manning says: "The indirect evidence afforded by 1 Chamber's Encyclopædia, Vol. V, p. 536. 2 Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol, XI, p. 446. 1 the presence of Indian products in other countries coincides with the direct testimony of Sanskrit literature to establish the fact that the ancient Hindus were a commercial people." She concludes: "Enough has now been said to show that the Hindus have ever been a commercial people." 2 Dr. Caldwell says: "It appears certain from notices contained in the Vedas that Aryans of the age of Solomon practiced foreign trade in ocean-going vessels." " Professor Heeren says: "The Hindus in their most ancient works of poetry are represented as a commercial people.” * In the Rig Veda, a passage (I. 25.7) represents Varuna having a full knowledge of the sea routes, and another (I. 56.2) speaks of merchants going everywhere and frequenting every part of the sea for gain. The Ramayana refers to the Yavan Dvipa and Suvarna Dvipa (Java and Simatra) and to the Lohta Sayara or the Red Sea, यत्नवन्तो यवद्वीपं सप्तराज्योपशोभितम् । सुबर्णरूप्यकद्वीपं सुवर्णाकरमण्डितम् ॥ ततो रक्तजलं भीयं लोहितं नामसागरम् | The late Professor Buhler says: "References to sea voyages are also found in two of the most ancient Dharma Sutras." The dramas Sakuntala, Ratnavali of king Harsha, Sisupalvadha of Magha, relates stories of sea voyages of merchants and others, and the fabulous literature of India is replete with stories of sea voyages by Hindus. The author of Indian Shipping recently published, says:5 "For full thirty centuries India stood out as the very heart of the old world and maintained her position as one of the foremost 1 Ancient and Medieval India, Vol. II, p. 353, 3 Grammer of the Dravidian Languages, p. 122. |