Introduction.
THIS little book will, I hope, mark a new departure in the development of Sanskrit scholarship in India. It will, perhaps, remind some learned readers of an other work, the Aryavidyasudhakara published at Bombay by Bhatta Yajnesvara Sarman A. D. 1868. But the comparison of these two books, equally honourable to both, brings to the full light the advance made since forty years. The Bhatta's book, useful as it was and still is, dwells mainly upon Sruti, Smriti and Darsanas; it is conceived and executed in the traditional line of Hindu science; it follows faithfully on the steps of Sâyana and Sâyanists. Our Sâstri's endeavour tends to reconcile, Hindu tradition with the historical researches of foreign scholars. Of course, it is not what we should call a historical work, but it is a first step in order to bring the student of Sanskrit language and literature in contact with the problems of Hindu History. The picture of ancient India, as drawn by the Sâstri, is no doubt a flattered one. But who would blame him? A loyal Hindu as he is, he looks into the past for an ideal of Aryan morals, worthy to be propounded to the present time. Written in a plain and good style, without any show of pedantry à la Pandit, this book will certainly prove useful in the Sanskrit Schools of India. Foreign students of Sanskrit will also welcome it, as the Sanskrit language plays here the part it ought to play, I mean as a key to Hindu lore and Hindu civilization.
