INDIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES.*
PROFESSOR RAWLINSON has gone from Cambridge to Poona. in order to initiate young Marathas at the Deccan College in the delights and the discipline of English literature, and while he has been thus congenially occupied, his mind, trained to the appreciation of stirring deeds and the record of them in moving words, has been penetrated with the fascination and romance of Indian history. Hence the series of papers, ranging from the noble figure of the Buddha to the martial exploits of Ranjit Singh, almost a contemporary of our own, which make up an extremely interesting and readable book. Professor Rawlinson has made diligent use of the latest authorities, and his literary training gives him a fine instinct for seizing upon materials which shall give force and picturesqueness to his tale. For instance, in his paper on the Sikhs he makes effective use of apt quotations from the late Mr. Macauliffe's Sikh Religion. He is accurate and inform- ing, without falling into the peril which dogs the way of teachers of youth, of being dry and technical. A better introduction to the study of Indian history and one more likely to awaken intelligent sympathy and enthusiasm we can hardly imagine. The book will furnish an excellent manual for the public school boys who compete for the medal annually given by the Royal Asiatic Society for an essay on Indian history, and if the parents of these boys are tempted to read Professor liawlinson's eloquent and illuminating pages, they may learn how it happens that, in spite of the discouragements and anxieties that darken the modern administrator's life in India, the old tradition of loyalty and affection to Indian men and things is still strong in the Indian services. Professor Rawlinson's papers are arranged chronologically, and give us revealing glimpses of Buddhist India; of the Indo-Greek dynasties in the Punjab ; of the delightful records left by pious Chinese pilgrims to Indian shrines; of that most amusing of travellers, the famous Ibn Batuta ; of Akbar, who almost anticipated the religious tolerance of British rule ; and of Sivaji the Maratha, who laid the foundations of an empire which all but succeeded in replacing the dominion of the Moghuls. We have the thrilling tale of the rise of the Sikh power, the most formidable rival of British arms in the long struggle for supremacy. " Like the gallant nation they are,"
• Indian Hietoriad Stodies. By Professor H. G. Ba.wlinson. London : Longinaus and Co. [4s. td. net.]
says Professor Rawlinson, " the Sikhs bore us no for
a fair beating in open battle ; eight years after the flower of their chivalry had fallen at Gujarat, they took the field against the mutineers at Delhi, when all India seemed to be pitted against us."
If we have any criticism to make of so stimulating and arresting a manual, it is that its author, perhaps inevitably, errs in the direction of excessive eulogy of his favourites. The comparison of Sivaji to Robert the Bruce is not, we think, very helpful, and we doubt if even Indian scholars defend the treacherous murder of Afzul Khan as being "according to the ethics of the day." In his account of possible Greek influences on Indian drama, Professor Rawlinson might have mentioned the well-known views of
M. Sylvain Levi, whose classical Theatre Indian is now out of print and awaits a second edition, which would be wel- comed by students of the subject. But these points of detail do not affect the substantial value of an introduction to Indian history, which is a model of clear and animated exposition. In a second edition Professor Rawlinson might give his readers the help of an index, and quote more freely the authorities from whom further information can be derived.
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