Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c21.7

c21.7

In this connection I should like to point out how the evidence of the Greek "observers" of India is valued by the critical methods of historical research. As an instance, Professors Macdonell and Keith, while treating of the position of the king in regard to land in those times, refers to the Greek notices on the subject as those "in which unhappily it would be dangerous to put much trust, since they were collected by observers who were probably little used to accurate investigations (of such matters), and whose statements were based on inadequate information." [*Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*, vol. ii, p. 214; cf. Professor Hopkins, *Journal of the American Oriental Society*, xiii, pp. 87, 88 f.n., for an example of the way in which Megasthenes' description of the "seven social orders" has to be taken for historical use,]