History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c29.s1.36

v2.c29.s1.36

The history of the origin of the family and its early kings can be gathered from the Sāgaratāla inscription of Bhoja published in Arch. Survey Report for 1903-04, a copy of which is purposely given in the appendix for the curious reader. The first king of this family who according to this inscription acquired power was Nāgabhata to whom Smith assigns a reign from 728 to 740 the *Gesta Romanorum*, the *Legenda Aurea*, and the *Speculum Historiale* of Vincent of Beauvais. These were the books that fed the imagination of the Middle Ages, and they were the books that the Church, in its wisdom, provided for the instruction of the faithful. They were not history in the modern sense of the word; they were moral tales, designed to illustrate the power of God and the vanity of the world.