The Historians' History of the World 02

It will be observed that a large number of the works here cited have referred to the social and religious conditions, rather than to the history proper. This selection is a very natural outgrowth of the conditions; the obscurity of the history on the one hand, and the fascinating interest that attaches to the customs and the esoteric religion of the Hindu on the other. Reference has already been made to the classical historians, Megasthenes and Arrian. Of modern writers who have interpreted for us the available reminiscences, the earliest was James Mill, the famous author of the Analysis of the Human Mind, who published in the year 1817 the History of India, upon which he had been engaged for twelve years. The philosopher turned historian is no less a philosopher still, and Mill’s History of India, together with the author’s personal efforts in the governmental position to which he was soon called, availed practically to revolutionise the method of governing India. Notwithstanding the almost numberless books on the subject that have since been written, the work of Mill has by no means been superseded.

The next important contribution to the subject was that of Mountstuart Elphinstone. If Mill treated the history of India from the standpoint of a philosopher, Elphinstone viewed it from the point of view of the statesman. His work had the peculiar merit of being written by one who had the fullest first-hand knowledge of his subject, for Elphinstone entered the civil service of the East India Company, when he was hardly more than a boy, and continued to reside in India in one official capacity or another throughout most of his life, having come finally for a good many years to hold the position of governor of Bombay. His history, therefore, was at once recognised as having a peculiar authority, and even now there is no work to which one can turn with greater confidence.

The general histories of Duncker and Heeren should also be consulted by anyone wishing to familiarise himself with the subject. Heeren’s views have a particular interest, because of his advocacy of the theory that the Egyptian race was really of Indian origin. Without professing to be able to demonstrate the truth of this theory, Heeren advances numerous arguments, based partly upon the physiological characteristics of the two races, and partly upon the similarity of their customs and their religions. It may be added that no marked advances in the direction of solving this problem have been made since Heeren wrote; the theory, however, is not advocated by any recent authority. Among other works on the history proper of India that have taken a high rank are the books of Sir W. W. Hunter, and the admirably written works of Le Bon; the latter however, refers rather to the civilisation based on the monuments, than to the political history of the country.

Among older works having to do with the language and religions of India, the writings of Eugène Burnouf and of W. Ward have very high authority; among the more recent works those of Max Müller and Sir Monier-Williams have perhaps been given wider currency and contributed more to the general distribution of the knowledge of Brahmanism and Buddhism than almost any others.

Adams, H. D., Episodes of Indian History, London, 1891.—d’Alviella, G., Ce que l’Inde doit à la Grèce, Paris, 1898.—Anquetil-Duperron, La religion des Indous, Paris, 1823.—Anquetil-Duperron, A. H., Recherches historiques et géograph. sur l’Inde, Berlin et Paris, 1876.—Arrian, Ἀναβασις Ἀλεξάνδρον to which is added Arrian’s Indian History—Ἰνδικα—(translated by Mr. Rooke), London, 1729.—Assmann, W., Handbuch der Allgemeinen Geschichte, Brunswick, 1853.