New History of the Marathas v1.c2.3

v1.c2.3

Unfortunately, however, no worthy narrative of Maratha achievements and failures has yet been written by weaving together all the fascinating and colourful material which the patient industry and critical acumen of modern scholars have made available to us. The subject still waits for scientific investigation by a trained mind endowed also with the constructive vision of a true historian. By far the largest proportion of the original sources exists in Marathi only, and they cannot reach workers ignorant of that language. On the other hand indigenous writers in Maharashtra are often handicapped by their ignorance of Persian, French and sometimes English also, and their want of access to essential books and manuscript records in these foreign languages; for we should never forget that the history of India in the eighteenth century is made up of the varying strands of the European and Indian powers struggling for dominion in this vast land, and each of them has left records of its transactions written in its native tongue, which cannot be left out of account.