PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
On my return from my third visit to India in April 1884, I found nearly the whole of the first edition of the present work exhausted. I therefore at once set about preparing a second edition.
But let not any possessor of a copy of the first edition take alarm. I am happy to say that the general accuracy of everything I have written in that volume has been confirmed by the native authorities I have consulted during my recent travels. Still I must admit that I have been able to make some improvements and additions in the present edition, especially in appending a full index.
My travels embraced Bombay, Allahābād, Calcutta, Darjiling, Pārasnāth, Mirzapore, Patna, Gayā, Benares, Agra, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Jeypore (Jaypur), Ājmere, Ābū, Ahmedābād, and Baroda, but my object was not so much to verify what I had already written, as to collect information for the part of my work still unfinished.
In all the places I have named I met intelligent Pandits, many of whom discussed questions with me in Sanskrit. I found too that an increasing number were able to converse with me in excellent English; and I may mention that I derived much instruction.