Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/66

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36
WARS AND DISSENSIONS

their newly conquered country, gradually extended the limits of cultivation, built new villages, threw out new colonies in primeval jungles, and spread the fame of their prowess around, and thus Aryan history moves forward.

On the other hand, the stubborn barbarians had their revenge. Retreating before the more civilized valour of the Hindus, they hung about in every fastness and

WOMEN DRAWING WATER.

every bend of a river, they waylaid and robbed travellers, harassed villages, killed or stole cattle, and sometimes fell on the Aryans in great hordes. With that dogged tenacity which is peculiar to barbarians they disputed every inch of ground as they retreated, they interrupted the religious rites of the conquerors, despised their gods, and plundered their wealth. But in spite of every resistance, the colonies of the more civilized races extended in every direction, the area of civilization widened, jungles and wastes were brought