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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1887.
in the regular European style, by this surname in full, and only the initials of the two preceding names. Any one who has had personal and practical experience of India and all the sur roundings of life in that country, knows how much easier it is to recall any particular Hindu to his recollection by, or at least chiefly with the help of, this third distinctive appellation. And it is much to be hoped that, in any revision of the present catalogue, and in the first preparation of any other on the same plan, the surnames, and not the personal names, will be made the basis of the arrangement. It would be difficult enough to turn up even English books, if one had to search for them through the "Christian names" of the authors, and the difficulty is much greater in the case of works by foreign writers, whose first names are perfectly strange and unfamiliar.
THE INDIAN EMPIRE: Its People, History, and Products:
by W. W. HUNTER, 2nd Ed. (Trübner's Oriental Series). London, Trübner and Co., 1888. xxii. and 748 pp., crown 8vo., cloth. This stately volume has been evolved out of the article India in the author's Imperial Gazetteer of India (published 1881, in nine vols.), which had been compiled from the materials collected since 1869, by Sir W. Hunter, under the orders of the Government of India, for the purpose of a Statistical Survey of that vast Empire. The above-named article, of which the present volume forms a new, enlarged and corrected edition, supplies to some extent an abstract of the whole Gazetteer, which, in turn, may be looked upon as a huge abstract from the 128 printed volumes (60,000 pages) of the Statistical Survey. The 516 pages of the original article have grown to 650 in this new edition, which has, besides, several new features, such as a most commendable chapter on modern Indian Languages and Literature (pp. 325-355) and an excellent Index (pp. 705-747).
The great merits of Sir W. Hunter's work are derived on the one hand from the safe statistical ground work on which his information as to the modern conditions of India rests, and on the other from the sound historical method he follows in explaining their origin. By tracing their historical development, the author not only conveys to us a deeper insight into their complex nature, but also opene out many interesting vistas into the earlier stages of Indian culture. He has generally availed himself of the best authorities on his subjects and has thus succeeded in producing a work, which, while fascinating in the highest degree for all classes of readers, can at the same time be
[It is, however, really Vol. VI. of the new (1856) Edition of the Imperial Gazetteer.-ED.
accepted as fully representing the latest results of scientific research.
The present reviewer, having already noticed in the Deutsche Literatur-Zeitung, (1882, pp. 285-286) the Nine Volume Edition of the Imperial Gazetteer, may on this occasion restrict himself to recommending most emphatically this enlarged abstract to all those who wish to obtain a trust. worthy and comprehensive account of India, especially in its present aspect of intellectual and material renaissance.
Among the chapters dealing with the medieval and modern history of the country, which are of general excellence, those on the first Muhammadan Rulers, the Mughal Empire, the opposition offered to the latter by the Marathês, on the Early European Settlements and the history of British Rule and Administration deserve, perhaps, most particular notice.
May India enjoy, for a long time to come, the benefits of British Rule amid undisturbed peace. May it, especially, be spared premature experiments in the direction of “Home Rule"!
"Young India," unfortunately, like a spoiled child, is already beginning to shew signs of an unruly disposition. Education, obtained at English Schools, has taught its hot-brained partizans the common descent of the Aryans and the great historical past of their country: sufficient reasons, in their eyes, for claiming for themselves not mere equality with, but even superiority to their English rulers! The marked inferiority of their social position, made still more tangible by prejudices, however accountable, on the part of Anglo-Indian Bociety, stands in a striking contrast to these aspirations. Instead of having a sobering effect, it merely tends to exasperate these young exaltadoes, who think to deserve better of their country by dreaming of "Indian Independence," than by devoting their energies to the removal of its innumerable social wrongs and assisting in that way the laudable work of the National Indian Association." The most sensible among them are, perhaps, those who are longing for a Russian invasion, as an opportunity for exhibiting their own valour and loyalty! I should, however, consider that a most risky and doubtful experiment, in which the lion's share would probably be carried off by the Indian Muslims, who by their carnivorous diet are certainly fitter for such a trial than their Hindu brethren. The special dangers of that eventuality have never been brought more forcibly before me than in the perusal of the present volume."
A. WEBER, Berlin. Deutsche Literatur-Zeitung, Oct. 1886, pp. 1419-1421.
