PREFACE.
WITH the idea of securing circulation for my Sanskrit Readers in Europe, I sent copies of them towards the close of 1901, one set to M. Sylvain Levi, Professor an College de France and another to Professor H. Jacobi, Bonn, Germany. Both of these gentlemen while commending the Readers for the idiomatic sanskrit in which modern subjects and ideas were successfully expressed, were of opinion that the subject matter was not suitable to European students who are generally grown up boys when they begin the study of Sanskrit, and that Readers of other contents would be welcome to them. M. Sylvain Levi added also that, should I ever think of compiling such a work, he would be glad to communicate with me about the plan of the work and the matters to be included therein. On my agreeing to his suggestion, he prescribed towards the middle of 1902, as follows:--- "The first part should consist in a summary description of classical India giving the Sanskrit names of the principal mountains, rivers, pro- vinces, towns of India, connected with the modern ones. Then a sketch of the ancient History of India up to the Musalman times, not intending of course to be a complete history, but marking the epochs: Buddha, Chandragupta and the Greeks, Asoka, the Indo-scythians, the Indo- Greeks, the Guptas and the Hindu revival, Harsha and Bhoja. Then the epic and legendary figures: Râma and the Râmâ- yana, the Pândavas and the Mahâbhârata, Vikramâditya, Sâlivâhana. A short chapter on Sanskrit literature. Then and that would be the most required part, sketches of actual Indian life, the Hindu boy at home, the same in the school; the day of a Pandita; the divine service in a Hindu Temple; a village and the peasants: lodgings, handicrafts, livings; the bazaar in a city, the merchants and the things sold; some
