Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 41

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Though Europeans have
possessed settlements in India
more than three
centuries, it is only within recent
times that authentic details have been obtained with
respect to the people who dwell in this vast country and
whose ancient civilization, methods of government, manners,
creeds, and customs, are nevertheless so well worthy of
notice.
It is impossible to doubt for a moment that science
and art nourished amongst these nations at an epoch when
our most civilized countries of the West were still plunged
in the dark abyss of ignorance.
The various forms of their
their knowledge of
institutions, both political and social
mathematics, especially of astronomy their systems of
for
;
;
metaphysics and ethics all of these had long ago made
the people of India famous far beyond their own borders
while the renown of Hindu philosophers had reached even
Europe. The many ill-informed and often contradictory
narratives about India which have been published in
modern times have deservedly fallen into discredit. Yet,
it must be admitted, some good work has been done by
certain Literary Societies that have of recent years been
:
;
established in India, the members of which, possessing
access to original sources of information, have begun to
survey with a more critical eye these records of divine and
human knowledge, whose depositaries have hitherto guarded
them with zealous care behind a veil of mystery. Without
doubt the members of these Societies, distinguished as they
mostly are by their erudition, will continue to devote
special study to the languages of the country and to make
abundant use of the sources of information open to them.
Yet, it must be confessed, the information which we possess
about the people of India is very meagre compared with
that which it is most important for us to acquire. The
DUBOIS
B