A History of Indian Literature v1.c5.4

v1.c5.4

After what has been said, it will not be surprising that the originally intended size of *one* volume proved to be too narrow for this Indian Literary History. I am sincerely thankful to the Publisher for raising no opposition to the reasons which were given for the widening of the originally planned size, and for giving his consent for a second volume. This widening also thoroughly corresponds with the extent and the significance of Indian literature,—for which I refer to the Introduction (p. 1 ff.). As the present volume deals in a certain sense with the "prehistoric" period of Indian literature,—at least in their beginnings, both the Vedas and the national epics reach back to far-off epochs which cannot be fixed by means of any dates—so the second volume shall begin with the Buddhist literature, and introduce the reader to the literature of the actually historical period of India.