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COLLEGE,OXFORDBODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND FELLow OF BALLIOL  \nHASKELL HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD.  \nPublishers of Scarce Scholarly BooksNEW YORK,N.Y.10012  \nHASKELL HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD.Publishers of Scarce Scholarly Books280 LAFAYETTE STREETNEW YORK,N.Y.10012  \nLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number:68-24966  \nHaskell House Catalogue Item\\#211  \n# PREFACE\n\nIT is undoubtedly a surprising fact that down to the pre-sent time no history of Sanskrit literature as a wholehas been written in English.For not only does thatliterature possess much intrinsic merit,but the light itsheds on the life and thought of the population of ourIndian Empire ought to have a peculiar interest for theBritish nation.Owing chiefly to the lack of an adequateaccount of the subject,few,even of the young menwho leave these shores every year to be its future rulers,possess any connected information about the litera-ture in which the civilisation of Modern India can betraced to its sources,and without which that civilisationcannot be fully understood.It was,therefore,with thegreatest pleasure that I accepted Mr.Gosse's invitationto contribute a volume to this series of Literatures ofthe World;for this appeared to me to be a peculiarlygood opportunity for diffusing information on a subjectin which more than twenty years of continuous studyand teaching had instilled into me an ever-deepeninginterest.  \nProfessor Max Müller's valuable History of AncientSanskrit Literature is limited in its scope to the Vedicperiod.It has long been out of print;and Vedic re-search has necessarily made great strides in the fortyyears which have elapsed since its publication.  \nThe only book accessible to the English reader on  \nPREFACE  \nthe history of Sanskrit literature in general has hithertobeen the translation of Professor Weber's AcademicalLectures on Indian Literature,as delivered nearly half acentury ago at Berlin.The numerous and often verylengthy notes in this work supply the results of researchduring the next twenty-five years;but as these notes oftenmodify,or even cancel,the statements of the unalteredoriginal text of 1852,the result is bewildering to thestudent.Much new light has been thrown on variousbranches of Sanskrit literature since 1878,when the lastnotes were added to this translation,which,moreover,isnot in any way adapted to the wants of the general reader.The only work on the subject appealing to the latter is thelate Sir M.Monier-Williams's Indian Wisdom.That book,however,although it furnishes,in addition to the trans-lated specimens,some account of the chief departmentsof Sanskrit literature,is not a history.There is thusdistinctly a twofold demand in this country for a historyof Sanskrit literature.The student is in want of a guidesetting forth in a clear and trustworthy manner theresults of research down to the present time,and thecultivated English reader looks for a book presenting inan intelligible and attractive form information whichmust have a special interest to us owing to our closerelations with India.  \nTo lack of space,no less than to the scope of thepresent series,is due the exclusion of a full account ofthe technical literature of law,science,and art,whichcontains much that would interest even the generalreader;but the brief epitome given in the Appendixwill,I hope,suffice to direct the student to all the mostimportant authorities.  \nAs to the bibliographical notes,I trust that,though  \nnecessarily restricted in extent,they will enable thestudent to find all further information he may want onmatters of detail;for instance,the evidence for approxi-mate dates,which had occasionally to be summarilystated even in the text.  \nIn writing this history of Sanskrit literature,I havedwelt more on the life and thought of Ancient India,which that literature embodies,than would perhaps haveappeared necessary in the case of a European literatu","cbCairM9GgkdduyV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairM9GgkdduyV","pdf",27460583,488,"English","# Preface\n## Purpose and need for an English history\n## Prior works and their limitations\n## Scope and exclusions\n## Sources, quotations, and transliteration approach","[{\"question\":\"Why did the author claim an English history of Sanskrit literature was previously lacking?\",\"answer\":\"The preface states that up to the time of writing, no history of Sanskrit literature as a whole had been written in English, despite its intrinsic value and relevance to Indian culture and thought.\"},{\"question\":\"Which earlier scholars’ works are discussed as partial sources?\",\"answer\":\"The preface highlights Max Müller’s limited Vedic focus and Weber’s academic lectures, describing how their coverage and updates were insufficient for a general, up-to-date English history.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author describe his approach to quotations and transliteration?\",\"answer\":\"The author says he selected illustrative quotations carefully, with most renderings done by himself (except noted extracts), and explains a transliteration method intended to avoid letters that could mislead readers without Sanskrit knowledge.\"}]","A History of Sanskrit Literature - Preface | PDF",1790665970,752]