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ticular section of my probable readers of that enjoyment which their unfamiliarity with the plot and the characters of the story will afford to them in the first reading. I shall, therefore, simply say that Chandra Shekhar is, perhaps, the finest creation of the great writer and is an enduring monument of his literary fame. It bears emphatic and convincing testimony to the internal worth of its author and will help future historians to pronounce a just verdict on his literary gifts and acquirements.
It may be interesting to know that the historical incidents, narrated in the novel, have been taken from the Seir Mutaqherin, an old Persian history of considerable importance. This valuable work has been translated into English, and as it is a faithful and interesting record of the events which took place in India between the years 1718 and 1783, it certainly deserves to be mentioned here.
I had no mind to append a preface to this work. But, as it is, what I may, perhaps, rightly call, a necessary evil, I cannot dispense with it altogether. Besides, I want to say that, although translation is a thankless task, in spite of the arduous labour it entails on the translator and the useful purpose it serves by disseminating knowledge, I have translated Chandra Shekhar to pay a tribute of respect to the illustrious memory of the great writer and to popularise among the English-speaking races one of
