The Rashtrakutas and their Times c21.2

c21.2

Most of the writers, who have attempted to describe the social conditions and institutions in ancient India, have relied upon the evidence afforded by the Dharmas'āstra literature. This evidence is undoubtedly very valuable; but since the dates of many of the Smriti writers are but very vaguely known, it is necessary to check and correlate it with epigraphical facts and the accounts supplied by foreign travellers. Besides the Smritis have, to some extent, been written from a certain viewpoint which may not have been always shared by the majority of society. In the following pages, the method above indicated, with which the reader of these pages must be already familiar, will be followed.