Page [2 and 3]

Foster Fitzgerald Arbutnot. Early ideas. A group of
Hindoo stories. 1881. Page 158.
158 Concluding Remarks
the morals contained in the Tripitika, or three
baskets, the Old and New Testaments, the Zenda
Vesta, and the Koran.
Another thing that will be noted during a perusal
of the stories is the total absence of dates.  It is
this want which has worried the inquirer into Indian
history, archaeology, and antiquities generally; and
which has compelled him to resort to a vast series
of conjectures, which might have been easily cleared
up, had proper and reliable dates been forthcoming.
For the perfect elucidation of the Hindoo religion,
of the many dynastics which have ruled in various
parts of Hindostan for centuries and centuries, and
for a complete history of early India and of Sanscrit
literature, a lot of reliable dates is absolutely neces-
sary.  The subject has long attracted the attention
of both the scholar and the antiquarian; and, with
the aid of inscriptions that have been found both
above and below the earth, in the shape of stones,
copper-plates, boundary marks, etc., it is hoped that
some definite data will eventually be worked out,
which may be accepted as a final solution of
the question.
In conclusion, the stories will be found to con-
tain an enormous amount of essential matter, which
could be worked up into many other forms and
shapes.  Many books contain some good things,
but they are mixed up with such a mass of padding
that the gems of the work are lost in their surround-
ings.  In compiling the present work much has
been omitted that would be, doubtless, interesting
perhaps to the few, but not to the many for whose
edification the book has been prepared, and pub-
lished as cheaply as possible.
CLAYTON AND CO., English and Foreign Printers, Bouverie Street, London.
Lewis Koch. Notes from the Stone-Paved Path:
Meditations on North India
An exhibit in the Department of Special Collections
Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison
September 22 - November 7, 2003
Photograph and text diptychs by Lewis Koch
Books from Memorial Library
Foreword by Joseph W. Elder
Afterword by Vinay Dharwadker
Parallel Press  University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries