Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s4: Section IV. The Pallavas

The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c35.s4

Language
English

Section IV. The Pallavas

c35.s4.2

Who were the Pallavas? Whence did they come? How did they attain the chief place among the powers of the South? To these questions no complete answer can be given at present, although considerable progress has been made in solving the problem.

c35.s4.3

The name Pallava resembles Pahlava so closely that some writers have been disposed to favour the hypothesis that Pallavas and Pahlavas were identical, and that consequently the Southern Pallava dynasty of Kānchī should be considered as ultimately of Persian origin. But recent research has failed to adduce any historical facts in support of that notion.

c35.s4.4

A close study of ancient Tamil literature has recently led to the suggestion that the Pallavas were originally connected with Ceylon. An examination of the Tamil poems, *Maṇimēkalai* and *Chilappatikāran*, seems to indicate that the destruction by the sea of the Chola capital, Puhār or Kāviripaddinam, must have occurred before the close of the third quarter of the second century A. D., when Gajabāhu's reign in Ceylon came to an end, and that Kiḷḷi Vaḷavan or Neḍumuḍi Kiḷḷi, the Chola king, then moved his capital to Uraiyūr.¹ Quite recently, Mr. Mudaliyar C. Rasanayagam of Colombo,² on the strength of a further study of these Tamil epics, asserts that this Chola king had a *liaison* with a Nāga princess, daughter of Vaḷaivānam, the Nāga king of Maṇipallavam, which can be identified with the Jaffna peninsula, at that early date an island off the coast of Ceylon. Of this union was born a son, known as Toṇḍaimān Iḷantirāyan,³ who some time in the latter half of the second century A. D. was created by his father (Kiḷḷi Vaḷavan) king of *Toṇḍaimandalam*, as distinct from *Cholamandalam*, with his capital at Kāñchī. The dynasty, of which Toṇḍaimān Iḷantirāyan thus became the first representative, took its title from the second half of the word Maṇipallavam, the home of his Nāga mother, who was regarded as inferior in rank to his Chola father. According to this view, therefore, the Pallavas, who were a dynasty rather than a tribe or clan, were descended on one side from the Chola family of Uraiyūr and on the other from the Nāga rulers of what is now the Jaffna peninsula in Ceylon.⁴ The persistent hostility of the Pallavas to the territorial Tamil states and the fact that tradition does not assign any recognized territorial limits to the Pallava dominion¹ are indications that the Pallavas were distinct in race from the Tamils, and that their rule was superimposed upon that of the Rājas of the Pāṇḍya, Chola, and Chera countries, the three states which together covered the whole area of the south, according to constant tradition. The possible origin of the Pallavas, as suggested by ancient Tamil poetry, does not appear to conflict with known facts and may perhaps offer an additional reason for the enmity which unquestionably existed between the Pallavas and the Tamil kingdoms. Professor S. K. Aiyangar holds that the historical Pallavas were feudatories of the Satavahanas of the Deccan and belonged to the Naga family.

c35.s4.5

¹ *Ind. Ant.*, xxvii, 235.

c35.s4.6

² ‘The Origin of the Pallavas’ (*Ind. Ant.*, lii, April, 1923, pp. 75–80). But see S. K. Aiyangar’s ‘Origin and Early History of the Pallavas of Kāñchī’, mentioned in Preface *ante*.

c35.s4.7

³ So named, according to the article (ibid.), because on his way from Maṇipallavam to Puhār he was shipwrecked and washed ashore on a *tondai* creeper. The name probably indicates the totem of the tribe or community.

c35.s4.8

⁴ According to M. C. Rasanayagam, the name Maṇipallavam occurs only in the *Maṇimēkalai*, the island or peninsula being elsewhere called *Maṇipuram*, and by the Sinhalese *Maṇi-Nāgadīpa*, owing to its being populated by Nāgas and governed by Nāga kings. The Tamils retained the word *Maṇi* and added *pallavam*, meaning in Tamil, ‘a sprout’ or ‘shoot’, in allusion to the appearance of the isle, which to persons sailing from India to Ceylon would have looked very like a sprout or branch from the parent island. It is noteworthy also that the Pallava kings called themselves *Pōt-rāyar*, from the Tamil word *pōttu*, which is a synonym of *pallavam*. The later Pallavas adopted Sanskritic titles ending in *aṅkūra*, which also signifies a ‘sprout’, and may indicate memories of their origin. Though the derivation of the name is tentative, it seems to me quite as plausible as Mr. Rea’s derivation from Tamil *pal*, ‘milk’, and the masculine termination, *-avan* (sing.), or *-avar* (pl.), which would make the name equivalent to that of the Gwālas and Āhīrs of Hindustan.

c35.s4.9

¹ The monuments, as distinct from the copperplates, show that 'the Pallava kingdom extended all along the Coromandel coast from Kālahasti in the north to Pudukottai in the south, and was bounded on the west by the Eastern Ghāts' (Jouveau-Dubreuil, *Pallava Antiquities*, vol. viii, p. 43). Kālahasti town is in N. Arcot District, in 13° 45′ N. and 79° 42′ E. The limits from north to south include N. Arcot, Chingleput, S. Arcot, Trichinopoly and Tanjore Districts. Pudukottai town is in 10° 23′ N. and 78° 49′ E. in the State of the same name. Traditionally the northern part of the State belonged to the Cholas and the southern to the Pāṇḍyas; so the Pallava dominion evidently extended over the Chola country to the Pāṇḍya boundary. Pudukottai is near the centre of the State.

c35.s4.10

The rāja of the Pudukottai tributary principality, who is the recognized head of the Kallar tribe, still styles himself Rāja Pallava, and claims descent from the ancient royal family. The Kallars, as Sir Walter Elliot observes, 'belong to what have been called the predatory classes,' and their 'bold, indomitable, and martial habits' agree well with the characteristics of the ancient Pallavas as known from history. Until recent times the Kallars exercised a formidable control over the peaceable inhabitants of the Carnatic, from whom they levied blackmail in return for protection, just as the Marāthās levied similar contributions under the name of *chauth*. It seems to be highly probable that the political power of the Pallavas was exercised in a similar manner, its extent varying according to the variations in the relative strength of the ancient Tamil states and that of the usurping tribesmen. The Palli caste and certain sections of the Vellāla agricultural caste, which is proverbially associated with the Kallar and Maravar robber tribes, also claim a connexion with the Pallavas.¹ It may well be that the so-called 'predatory classes', whom the Pallava dynasty may once have governed and welded into an aggressive force, belong to a section of the population distinct from and more ancient than the Tamils.

c35.s4.11

¹ Elliot, *Coins of Southern India*, pp. 42–4. 'The caste of *Kullars*, or robbers, who exercise their calling as an hereditary right, is found only in the Marava country, which borders on the coast, or fishing, districts. The rulers of the country are of the same caste. They regard a robber's occupation as discreditable neither to themselves nor to their fellow castemen, for the simple reason that they consider robbery a duty and a right sanctioned by descent. They are not ashamed of their caste or occupation, and if one were to ask of a *Kullar* to what people he belonged, he would coolly answer, "I am a robber". This caste is looked upon in the district of Madura, where it is widely diffused, as one of the most distinguished among the Sudras' (Dubois, *Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies*, by Beauchamp, 3rd ed., p. 17).

c35.s4.12

The earliest known documents of the dynasty, certain copperplate grants found in the Guntūr District, tell us of a king reigning at Kānchī (Conjeeveram), whose dominions included Amarāvatī, and so extended to the Krishnā (Kistnā) river. Those grants, which date from about the third century or the beginning of the fourth, and are written in Prākrit, give no indication of the manner in which the kingdom was acquired. It seems to be safe to date its origin not later than the beginning of the third century. All authors are agreed in regarding as a Pallava the Rāja Vishnugopa of Kānchī, who was defeated by Samudragupta about A. D. 350; and Hastivarman, the contemporary Rāja of Vengī, also must have been a Pallava. The names Vishnugopa and Hastivarman both occur in Pallava genealogies. Simhavarman, king of Kānchī (*acc.* A. D. 437), was a Buddhist.²

c35.s4.13

² The date is deduced from the colophon of a Jain work, which gives Śaka 380 = A. D. 458 as the 22nd year of Simhavarma, king of Kānchī. The date, which is genuine, is the earliest date recorded in the Śaka era so far (*Arch. S. of Mysore, Report*, 1908–9, p. 31; 1909–10, para. 115).

c35.s4.14

From the second half of the sixth century, when Chalukya history begins, until the overthrow of the Chalukya power by the Rāshtrakūtas, in A. D. 753, the Pallavas and Chalukyas, who regarded each other as 'enemies by nature', remained constantly in touch and generally at war, each power striving to acquire for itself the mastery of the South. During this period of about two centuries the Pallava royal genealogy for nine reigns, beginning with Simhavishnu (acc. *c.* A. D. 575,) is well ascertained.¹ Simhavishnu claims to have inflicted defeats on the kings of Ceylon and the three Tamil states.

c35.s4.15

¹ Full details given by Prof. Kielhorn (op. cit., p. 20). The following observations, except as otherwise stated, are based on three publications, namely (1) Venkayya, 'The Pallavas' (*A.S.I., Ann. Rep.* 1906–7, pp. 217–43); (2) Hultzsch, 'The Pallava Inscriptions of the Seven Pagodas' (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. x (July, 1909), pp. 1–14); and (3) Rea, *Pallava Architecture*, 1909, with cxxiv plates, being vol. xxxiv of the 4to Imperial Series of the Archaeol. Survey.

c35.s4.16

Mahendravarman I, son and successor of Simhavishnu (*c.* A. D. 600 to 625), has immortalized his name by the excavation of many rock-cut temples in the Trichinopoly, Chingleput, North Arcot, and South Arcot Districts. His fame is also preserved by the ruins of the city of Mahendravādi, between Arcot and Arkonam, and of a great reservoir, the Mahendra tank, near the same. A cave temple dedicated to Vishnu exists on the bank of the tank.²

c35.s4.17

² *Report on Epigraphy in Madras G. O., Public*, No. 518, dated July 18, 1905, p. 47; *Archaeol. S. Annual Rep.*, 1903–4, p. 203. In 1882, when Mr. Sewell inserted a note on Mahendravādi in his *Lists of Antiquities, Madras*, vol. i, p. 162, the Pallava origin of the remains was not known. Three gold coins, ascribed to Mahendravarman, are mentioned in *A. S. Prog. Rep. W. I.*, 1917–18, pp. 17, 18. Jouveau-Dubreuil (*Pallava Antiq.*, vol. ii (1918)) distinguishes three styles of Pallava building, with sharply marked characteristics, viz. (i) Mahendra, (ii) Māmallapuram (Narasinha), (iii) Rājasinha. One example of a fourth style belongs to the period of Aparājita, *c.* A. D. 850–900.

c35.s4.18

In war Mahendravarman encountered a formidable rival in the person of the ambitious Chalukya monarch, Pulakēsin II, who boasted of having inflicted a severe defeat on the Pallava king about A. D. 609 or 610. At or about the same time the Chalukya king annexed the province of Vengī, the northern portion of the Pallava dominions, and made it over to the government of his younger brother, the founder of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. It is probable that the loss of Vengī stimulated the Pallavas to push forward their southern frontier, and it is certain that Mahendravarman held Trichinopoly. He appears to have been a Jain originally, and to have been converted to faith in Siva by a famous Tamil saint. The king, after his conversion, destroyed the large Jain monastery at Pātaliputtiram in South Arcot, replacing it by a Saiva fane. It is interesting to find the name of the old imperial capital brought down to the neighbourhood of Madras, presumably by the Jains.

c35.s4.19

The Pallava power and art attained their highest point in the reign of Mahendravarman's successor, Narasimha-varman I (*c.* A. D. 625–45). In A. D. 642 he enjoyed the satisfaction of taking Vātāpi, the capital of his enemy, Pulakēsin II, who presumably then lost his life. It is certain that the reverse was so crushing that the Chalukya power remained in abeyance for thirteen years, while the Pallava king became beyond dispute the most influential sovereign in the South, and extended his jurisdiction far into Mysore and the Deccan. The Pallava monarch received effective help in his enterprise from a Sinhalese prince named Mānavamma, who was subsequently enabled to seize the island crown by means of an army equipped by the grateful Indian king.¹

c35.s4.20

¹ *Mahāvaṁsa*, part ii, chap. xlvii.

c35.s4.21

Hiuen Tsang, who visited Kānchī (Conjeeveram) in A. D. 640, during the reign of Narasimha-varman I, and stayed there for a considerable time, calls the country of which Kānchī was the capital by the name of Dravida, and describes it as being about 1,000 miles in circuit. It corresponded, therefore, very closely with the traditional 'Chola country' between the Northern Pennār and the Southern Vellāru rivers. The soil was fertile and regularly cultivated, producing abundance of grain, flowers, and fruits. The capital was a large city 5 or 6 miles in circumference. In the kingdom the pilgrim found more than a hundred Buddhist monasteries,² occupied by a large number of monks, estimated at above ten thousand, all attached, like the majority of the Ceylonese, to the Sthavira school of the Mahāyāna. The Hindu, including the Jain, temples numbered about four-score, and, as in other parts of Southern India, the sect of nude, or Digambara, Jains had many adherents. In the Pāndya country farther south Buddhism was almost extinct. Kānchī, which is reckoned among the seven Hindu sacred cities, enjoyed special fame among the Buddhists as having been the birthplace of Dharmapāla, a celebrated metaphysician, who was the predecessor of Hiuen Tsang's teacher Sīlabhadra in the headship of the great monastery at Nālandā.¹

c35.s4.22

² One large building, 'a rendezvous for the most eminent men of the country,' stood to the south of Kānchī, and a *stūpa* built by Asoka, 100 feet high, adjoined it. As stated in note on page 473 *ante*, some of these Buddhist buildings were later converted to Brahmanical uses. Jain buildings were similarly utilized.

c35.s4.23

¹ Beal, *Records*, ii, 228–30; *Life*, pp. 138–40; Watters, ii, 226–8; I-tsing, *Records of the Buddhist Religion*, transl. Takakusu; pp. lvii, lviii, 179, 181.

c35.s4.24

The earliest of the remarkable monolithic temples known as the Seven Pagodas at Māmallapuram, namely that now called the Dharmarāja Ratha, was the work of Narasimhavarman, who bore the title of Mahāmalla, or 'great champion', from which the name of the place is derived.² The other similar shrines were wrought under the orders of the same king and his successor down to about the time when Kānchī was taken by its hereditary enemies.³ That calamity probably explains the fact that some of the shrines were never completed.

c35.s4.25

² The name of the place assumes many forms—such as Māvalivaram, Mahābalipur, Mahavellipore, &c., but the true name is that given in the text. The forms which include the word *bali* in one spelling or another are based on a false etymology.

c35.s4.26

³ It is probable that all the rocks of the Seven Pagodas were carved during the reigns of the two princes, Narasimhavarman I (*c.* A. D. 625–50) and Parameśvaravarman I (*c.* 655–90). The style is intermediate between the cave style of Mahendravarman I and the structural temples of Rājasimha (Jouveau-Dubreuil, *Pallava Antiquities*, Probsthain, London, 1916, vol. i, p. 60).

c35.s4.27

The noble temple now called Kailāsanātha at Kānchī, and the 'Shore Temple' at the Seven Pagodas were built by Narasimha-varman II, also named Rājasimha, late in the seventh century.

c35.s4.28

In or about A. D. 655 Vikramāditya I Chalukya, a son of Pulakēsin, retrieved the fortunes of his family, and recovered his father's dominions from Paramesvara-varman, who had succeeded to the Pallava throne. During this war Kānchī, [Figure: THE GAṆĒŚA RATHA AT MĀMALLAPURAM (*one of the ‘Seven Pagodas’*)]

c35.s4.30

the Pallava capital, was taken and occupied for a time by the Chalukyas. On the other hand, the Pallavas claimed the gain of a victory at Peruvalanallūr.

c35.s4.31

The perennial conflict continued during succeeding reigns. In about A. D. 740 Kānchī was captured once more by Vikramāditya II Chalukya, who inflicted on Nandivarman Pallava a defeat so decisive that the event may be regarded as the beginning of the end of the Pallava supremacy. Nandivarman, who had succeeded Parameśvara-varman II about A. D. 720, was a distant relative of that prince, being descended from a brother of King Simhavishnu. The change in the line of succession is stated to have been the result of a popular election; and a curious series of sculptures, accompanied by unfinished labels apparently intended to have been explanatory, still extant in a mutilated form at the Vaikuntha Perumāl temple in Conjeeveram (Kānchī), seems to have been designed as a contemporary record of the dynastic revolution.¹

c35.s4.32

¹ *Report on Epigraphy in Madras G. O., Public*, No. 492, dated July 2, 1906, paras. 2–4. *dras G. O., Public*, No. 492, dated July 2, 1906, paras. 9, 25; and No. 502, dated June 27, 1907, paras. 8, 19–24.

c35.s4.33

Nandivarman reigned for about sixty-two years, and was succeeded by several princes ending with Aparājita Pallava, who vanquished the Pāndya king, Varaguna II, at the battle of Srī-Purambiya, but was himself overcome by Āditya Chola about the close of the ninth century.² From that time the Pallava supremacy, which had been severely shaken by the Chalukya successes in 740, finally passed away and was transferred to the Cholas, who, as already narrated, brought all the southern kingdoms under their control more or less completely during the tenth and eleventh centuries.

c35.s4.34

² *Reports on Epigraphy in Ma-*

c35.s4.35

During their period of decline the Pallava chiefs managed to do some fighting on their own account. When the Rāshtrakūtas supplemented the Chalukyas in the middle of the eighth century, the traditional hostility between the leading power of the Deccan and its southern enemy was not abated, and the new rulers took up the old quarrel with the Pallavas. King Dhruva, a cousin of Dantidurga, who had overthrown the Chalukya dynasty, inflicted a defeat on the Pallavas about A. D. 775 ; and his son, Govinda III, levied tribute from Dantiga, Rāja of Kānchī, in A. D. 803.

c35.s4.36

During the tenth century we hear of wars between the Pallavas and the ancient dynasty of the Gaṅga kings of Gaṅgavādi, or Mysore, who are now commonly known as the Western Gaṅgas, in order to distinguish them from the family of the same name which ruled Kalinga in the east, and held court at Kalinganagaram, the modern Mukhalingam in the Ganjām District. Various inscriptions of the Western Gaṅgas, which are certainly genuine, date back to about the close of the fifth century A. C. ; ¹ and the dynasty appears to have reached the zenith of its power during the long reign of Srīpurusha (A. D. 725–776), whose territory was known as the Fortunate Kingdom.² The most notable king of the Eastern Gaṅgas of Kalinga was Anantavarman Chodagaṅga, who reigned for seventy-one years from A. D. 1076 to 1147, and carved out for himself a considerable kingdom, extending from the Ganges to the Godāvarī. He built the temple of Jagannāth at Puri.³

c35.s4.37

¹ *Mysore A. S. Rep.*, 1917, paras. 73–82.

c35.s4.38

² *Bhandarkar Comm. Vol.*, p. 244.

c35.s4.39

³ Monmohan Chakravarti, ‘Chronology of the Eastern Gaṅga kings of Orissa,’ an excellent monograph in *J. A. S. B.*, vol. lxxii, part i (1903). For Mukhalingam, about 20 miles distant from Parla-Kimedi, see *Ep. Ind.*, iv, 183–93, and *Madras G. O., Public*, Nos. 827–9, dated Aug. 25, 1902. The history of the Western Gaṅgas has been discussed by Dr. Fleet in *Kanarese Dynasties*.

c35.s4.40

The later Pallava chiefs sank into the position of mere feudatory nobles and officials in the service of the territorial kingdoms ; and it is on record that the Pallava Rāja took the first place among the feudatories of King Vikrama Chola early in the twelfth century.⁴ The Rājas can be traced as in possession of limited local power down to the thirteenth century, and Pallava nobles are mentioned as late as the close of the seventeenth century. After that time all trace of the Pallavas as a distinct race or clan disappears, and their blood is now merged in that of the Kallar, Palli, and Vellāla castes.⁵

c35.s4.41

⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, xxii, 143.

c35.s4.42

⁵ The contents of the Pallava inscriptions as known up to 1896 are summarized by Fleet in *Bomb. Gaz.* (1896), vol. i, part ii, ‘Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts,’ 2nd ed. Later discoveries are described in *S. I. Inscriptions*, the annual *Progress Reports* of the Madras *Archaeol. Survey*; Kielhorn's *List* and *Supplement* (*Ep. Ind.*, vii, viii, App.), and the publications of Prof. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, of the College, Pondicherry, namely (i) *Archéologie du Sud de l'Inde*; Tomes I and II, Paris, Geuthner, 1914; (ii) *Pallava Antiquities*, vol. i, London, Probsthain, 1916; (iii) *Dravidian Architecture*, Madras, S. P. C. K. Press, 1917; (iv) *The Pallavas*, Pondicherry, sold by author, 1917.

c35.s4.43

The earliest Pallava king who can be precisely dated, Simhavarman, in the fifth century, presented an image at Amarāvatī and is expressly described as being a lay worshipper of Buddha. Probably other members of the dynasty also were Buddhists.¹ Several princes were specially devoted to the cult of Vishnu.² Mahendravarman, who was a Jain in early life, at first persecuted the followers of Siva, but was converted to the Saiva creed and turned against his former co-religionists, whose principal monastery he destroyed.³

c35.s4.44

¹ Amarāvatī inscr. No. 39 (*S. I. Inscr.*, vol. i, p. 25). This record is to be read from the bottom upwards. I assume the identity of the Buddhist Simhavarman with the king who came to the throne in A. D. 437 (Śaka 359). The inscription may be a copy of an older document (Venkayya, op. cit., p. 240, note 9).

c35.s4.45

² Hastivarman (Attivarmā), Vijayaskandavarman, and Vishṇugopavarman.

c35.s4.46

Usually, however, the adherents of rival creeds seem to have lived together in peace and to have enjoyed the impartial protection of the government. The narrative of Hiuen Tsang implies that such was the case in A. D. 640.³ All the later Pallava kings, apparently, were worshippers of Siva, whose emblem, the bull, was adopted as the family crest. Two of the kings were so zealous for religion that they have been included in the list of sixty-three Saiva saints.⁴

c35.s4.47

³ Venkayya, op. cit., p. 235, notes.

c35.s4.48

⁴ Ibid., p. 229, note 11.

c35.s4.49

This is the fourth edition of Dr. Vincent A. Smith's work, the second edition having appeared in 1908, and the third in 1914. In commending the third edition to the public, the author wrote:—'My task—a labour of love—is now ended, and this book goes forth once more in its new form which, so far as the author is concerned, is not unlikely to be final. Planned twenty-five years ago, it appeared for the first time sixteen years later in a very imperfect shape.

c35.s4.50

The generous reception accorded to that faulty pioneer attempt encourages the hope that this much improved edition may be of still greater service in guiding and stimulating the study of the early history of India, now pursued with laudable ardour by a multitude of her sons as well as by foreigners.’ The reviser can only re-echo the hope that the present work, based as it is upon the further investigations and discoveries of scholars during the last few years, will prove as acceptable to students of India’s early history as the earlier editions, and that the work of revision will be adjudged to have been performed in a manner worthy of the late author and of the great theme with which his name is so closely and so honourably associated.

c35.s4.51

The volume deals with the political history of Hindu India, the land of the Brahmans, which is the real India; a land the fascination of which is largely due to the unique character of its civilization. That quality of strangeness makes the history of Hindu India less attractive to the European or American general reader than the more easily intelligible story of the Muslim and British conquerors, but anybody who desires to understand modern India must be content to spend some labour on the study of ancient India during the long ages of autonomy.

c35.s4.52

The political history of India cannot vie with that of Greece, Rome, or modern Europe as illustrating the evolution of constitutions in city or state. Indians, like other Asiatic peoples, usually have been content with simple despotic rule, so that the difference between one government and another has lain in the personal characters and abilities of the several despots rather than in the changes consequent upon the gradual development of institutions. The regulations devised by able individual autocrats, such as Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka, and Akbar, have mostly perished with their authors. The nascent Indian constitution now in course of construction is a foreign importation, imperfectly intelligible to the people for whose benefit it is intended, and perhaps will never be thoroughly acclimatized.

c35.s4.53

The most important branch of the history of India is the history of her thought.¹ For the adequate presentation of the story of Indian ideas in the fields of philosophy, religion, science, art, and literature, a chronological narrative of the political vicissitudes of the land is the indispensable foundation. Readers who may find such a narrative dry, or at times even repellent, may take comfort in the conviction that its existence will render possible the composition of more attractive disquisitions, arranged with due regard to the order of time.

c35.s4.54

¹ See R. W. Frazer, *Indian Thought, Past and Present* (Unwin, 1915)—an attempt to give 'a history of the underlying thought of India, in so far as that Thought has influenced the aspirations, religious beliefs, and social life of all thinking and orthodox Hindus.'

Linked texts (8)