The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c6.6

v1.c6.6

Nor are the shortcomings of the written history of India supplied by her ancient monuments. The ravages of time and of her climate, the hostility of rival sectaries and governments, and the iconoclastic zeal of Moslem fanatics, have swept away most of them from the face of the earth, and the few that remain can ill tell their tale with sufficient precision to meet the requirements of the historian. To quote the language of Sir Thomas Browne, "oblivion reclineth on her pyramids, gloriously triumphing, making puzzles of Titanian erections, and turning old glories into dreams. History sinketh before her cloud. The traveller, as he passeth amazingly through those deserts, asketh of her, who builded them; and she mumbleth something, but what it is, he heareth not”.⁴