Havell, Ernest B.: Benares, the sacred city: Sketches of Hindu life and religion (London, [1912])

CHAPTER I

IN THE VEDIC TIMES

History, in the conventional European sense, has
never possessed much interest for the Hindu mind.
Thoroughly permeated with the idea of the un-
reality of material things, the Brahmin priesthood,
while taking extraordinary precautions to preserve
their inheritance of spiritual culture, have never
troubled themselves to mark the footprints which
kings and dynasties leave upon the sands of time.
It is chiefly through the exertions of European
scholars, with the help of the old Buddhist records,
that the main outlines of Indian history, previous to
the Muhammadan invasions, have been made in-
telligible.

The detailed history of the petty kingdoms into
which northern India was divided would probably
possess little interest, even if it were sifted out of the
wild legends which Eastern imagination has woven
into it. Benares will always possess supreme interest
as the chief centre of the evolution of two of the great
world-religions—Brahminism and Buddhism; but
while the development of Buddhism can be, to some
extent, traced and mapped out with exact dates and
events, the history of Brahminism must always be
regarded from a different stand-point.