since the history of that race goer;the furthest back and
it is by means ofisit that we gain an > insight into 'the
ancient state of India. I shall endeavour to trace a brief
outline of their history. I shall then proceed to the civilised
nations of the Dekhan and afterwards to survey the
tribes of aboriginal mountaineers. In a future part of this
chaptér I shall examine the history of the nations belonging
to the Indian race; who are. spread through the Himalayan
border of Hindustan.
S e c t io n II.—Outlrne óf the History of the Hindoos.
Paragraph 1.—:Sonrces of Information.
In the great mass of ancient literatureppseryed by the
Hindoos a principal part is formed by poetical narratives
which are considered by the^Brahmans as a: sort,.of. sacred
history. These are chiefly the two-great epic or. .hofoieal
poepns^ the Ramayana aud^the Mahabharata* and the Pu-'
ranas, termed by Mr. Golebrooke* one of the most learned
critics of Indian literature, the theogonies of the HindpoSi
In these works are related the fabulous adYentures.-of^gods
and heroes or incarnate gods, and the history of long.linel'
of princes who claimed a descent from the: Sun and Moon,
and some of whose reigns lasted several thousand years.
The two epic poems are among the most aneientof Sanskrit
compositions; their relation to the history of thè Hindoos
has been happily illustrated by the Honourable Mouiitstuart
Elphinstone, by an allusion to the early poems of Greece.
The Ramayana celebrates, with many fabulous. inventions,
the victories which Rama, champion of religion and civilisation,
gained over monsters and barbarous men; it is compared
to the Grecian legends of the adventures of Hercules;
while the Mahabharata, like the Iliad, in assembling the
princes of many states in a common national enterprise,
throws a ray of light over the co-existing. dynasties of the
time, and displays some synchronisms in lines of princes,
which would otherwise be without relation to each other.
But all Indian chronology is matter of doubtful computation,
and e'vtemfof conjecture, down to the period when the
history of the Hindook comes into contact with that of Europe.
As in the history of Egypt, Babylon, Media, Persia,
so in that of Indian the earliest periods on which a clear
and steady light is diffused, are those in which a synchronism
can be certainly established with tho -authentic chronology
of the- Greeks. Among ^fie' contemporary dynasties of
Indian kings, in the?several series descended from the,heroes
of the Mahabharata, one of the most powerful was that of
Magadha. Its princes reigned over a considerable part of
the Gangetic country, including Bengal and the Behar. One
among the sovereigns of this country, namely, Chandragupta,
^has-been identified by a variety of coincidences, with the
S^ndracottuajcr SandraCoptuS; well-known to us through
the Greeks as a .contemporary .of fhe. first Seleucus; and
thus, a date in Indian history* is ascertained,.from whieh we
may compute• backwards as well as forwards with some
degre^of confidence§| Events of importance to the internal
history of India ^ditoeCt themselves* with the period shortly
after following. Among them, rs'the^introduction of Bud--
dhism and its spreadxpvfir a,.g^eat.part of India, in the reign -
qf Asoka, the third prince in succession from Chandragupta.
TEis date ^S "their history being determined; the records of
the Buddhists, before and after that event, become available
for the purposes of history and chronology.+ Another fortunate
circumstance is that a great pdrtinn. of the inscriptions
discovered in "various parts of India, on monuments of
different kinds, and. decyphered and read- by the late Mr.
Prinsep are found to relate to the times of this same Asoka.
The contents of these inscriptions are important in an histo-
* The identification' of Chandragupta with Sandracottus was a fortunate
conjecture of Sir W. JOnes, which, since the time ,of that great man, has been
established'to the conviction of all. See Professor Wilson’s Hindu Theatre,
vol* 8. p. 3. Elphinstone’s History Of ludia, vol. 1. p. 262.' It may be observed,
that Sandracottus is called by Diodorus Xandramas, and by some Indian wri-
tersChandramas.
‘- ’if It must be observed, that the followers of Buddha have separate annals,
written in India, but "preserved in Ceylon and Tibet, relating to the principal
events that happened to their, sect j and in these Asoka holds a conspicuous
place.