INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR
Not the least historic of the ancient nations of the East is India, even when compared with Egypt and its monuments, China and its annals, or Assyria and Babylonia with their cuneiform tablets and their cylinders. India's earliest records, written in its literature, have been inscribed in the hearts of the people for more than three thousand years; and from that remote age its history is recorded in an almost unbroken line to this very century, so that he who will may follow its development through the early centuries that preceded the Christian era, onward through the mediæval period of Mohammedan rule, down to the days when the Europeans entered India and the country came under British dominion.
The aim of this series of volumes is to present a continuous narrative of the history of India from the dim ages of the past down to the present time, combining into an organic whole a succession of standard works by recognized authorities, each a master of the special period with which he deals, thus providing a
