CHAPTER II.
Ancient History, and the Ruins.
Hindu Period.—The ancient history of Hyderabad is written eloquently in its ruins, and probably no area of similar size in India contains so many interesting records of the past as H. H. the Nizam's Dominions.
During a somewhat lengthy visit to the State in 1913, I gained a vivid idea of the Hindu races who lived and flourished in the Deccan tableland before the first Mahomedan invasion in 1294 a.d.; for I visited the chief places of historical interest.
I began with the rock monasteries and temples at Ellora and Ajanta, which speak of the time when king Asoka's rule stretched as far as the Upper Godavari, the sacred river that runs through the State, and in which (so legend tells us) Rama and Sita performed their morning ablutions and greeted with religious rites the rising sun. Here, rendered secure by the edicts of the great Buddhist king, followers of Lord Buddha sought Nirvâna two hundred years before the Christian era; and on the walls of the
