[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c7.16 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c7.16 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c7.16 - **Language:** English ### [c7.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7.16) Even contemporary evidence, when it is available for later periods, cannot be accepted without criticism. The flattery of courtiers, the vanity of kings, and many other clouds which obscure the absolute truth, must be recognized and allowed for. Nor is it possible for the writer of a history, however great may be his respect for the objective fact, to eliminate altogether his own personality. Every kind of evidence, even the most direct, must reach the reader, when presented in narrative form, as a reflection from the mirror of the writer’s mind, with the liability to unconscious distortion. In the following pages the author has endeavoured to exclude the subjective element so far as possible, to make no statement of fact without authority, and to give the authority, that is to say, the evidence, for every fact alleged. - [Previous: c7.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7.15) - [Next: c7.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7.17) - [Up: c7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c7.16) · Pramāṇa