WATT. Econ. Dict.: A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, by Sir G. Watt. 6 vols. Calcutta, 1889-93. Com. Prod. The Commercial Products of India. London, 1908. WEBB, W. W. The Currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana. Westminster, 1893. WILBERFORCE-BELL, Captain H. The History of Kathiawar from the Earliest Times. London, 1916. WILSON, C. R. The Early Annals of the English in Bengal. 3 vols. Calcutta, 1895-1911. WILSON, H. H. Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus. 2 vols. London, 1861. The History of British India from 1805 to 1835. 3 vols. London, 1845. WILSON, J. Indian Caste. 2 vols. Bombay, 1877. YULE, Sir H.; BURNELL, A. C. Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases. 2nd ed. London, 1903. AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION Much disappointment has been felt in Europe at the sterility of the historic muse of Hindustan. When Sir William Jones first began to explore the vast mines of Sanskrit literature, great hopes were entertained that the history of the world would acquire considerable accessions from this source. The sanguine expectations that were then formed have not been realized; and, as it usually happens, excitement has been succeeded by apathy and indifference. It is now generally regarded as an axiom, that India possesses no national history; to which we may oppose the remark of a French Orientalist, who ingeniously asks, whence Abu-l Fazl obtained the materials for his outlines of ancient Hindu history?[i.25] Mr. Wilson has, indeed, done much to obviate this prejudice, by his translation of the _Raja Tarangini_, or History of Kashmir,[i.26] which clearly demonstrates that regular historical composition was an art not unknown in Hindustan, and affords satisfactory ground for concluding that these productions were once less rare than at present, and that further exertion may bring more relics to light. Although the labours of Colebrooke, Wilkins, Wilson, and others of our own countrymen, emulated by many learned men in France [viii] and Germany,[i.27] have revealed to Europe some of the hidden lore of India; still it is not pretended that we have done much more than pass the threshold of Indian science; and we are consequently not competent to speak decisively of its extent or its character. Immense libraries, in various parts of India, are still intact, which have survived the devastations of the Islamite. The collections of Jaisalmer and Patan, for example, escaped the scrutiny of even the lynx-eyed Alau-d-din who conquered both these kingdoms, and who would have shown as little mercy to those literary treasures, as Omar displayed towards the Alexandrine library. Many other minor collections, consisting of thousands of volumes each, exist in Central and Western India, some of which are the