श्री
INTRODUCTION.
GĂNÉSH, THE PATRON OF LITERATURE.
"whatever the wandering traveller says, he does so from having
seen that of which he speaks[1]."
So many admirable works have appeared of late, illustrating scenes in India, both with pen and pencil, that I offer these sketches in all humility, pleading the force of example.
"the camels were being branded with hot irons for the public
service, and the spider came to be marked also[2]."
For four-and-twenty years have I roamed the world,—
"i neither went to mekka nor mudīna, but was a pilgrim
nevertheless[3]."
The Frontispiece represents the idol Gănésh, the deified infant whom I have invoked.
The sign Sri, at the top of the page, implores his triple eyes to look with favour on the undertaking,—in the same manner that this sign, ♃, the old heathen invocation to Jupiter, sought his blessing; and is equivalent to the usual invocation of the poets to the Muses,—the Muhammadan authors to the Prophet,—or the "Laus Deo," with which merchants' clerks formerly began their books,—a practice not yet quite extinct.
