The Arts of India

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The Rida Pantheon, has been compiled chiefly from the well-known works of Relaos, Cofe- man, Colebrooke, Dowson, Dubois, Fonseca, Garrett, Gladwin, Goldenicker, Herklots, Sir W. Jones, Mait, Max Moller, Ward, Talboys Wheeler Monier Williams, H. H Wilson, and J. Wilson, and revised throughout from the Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology.

I have also had to make frequent use of the papers on Ancient Sculpturings on Rocks, on The Snake Symbol in India, on Stone Carvings at Mainpura, and on Prehistoric Remains in Ancient India, published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, by Mr. J. H. Rivett-Carnac, C.LE., of the Bengal Civil Service, and of the papers on The Village named Maruda in Southern Konkana, on Serpent Worship in Western India.

The Master Handicrafts of India, is a reprint, with added text, of a portion of my Handbook to the Indian Court at the l'aris International Exhibition of 1878. It was so well received, both on the Continent and in this country by people interested in the minor arts of India that I resolved to publish a carefully rewritten edition of it for general sale. I began by adding to it copious notes from the annual Administration Reports of the local governments of India; and I had examined all these. reports, and all the provincial Gazetteers as yet published, when I was asked in the early part of this year to write a popular handbook on the industrial arts of India, in connexion with the reopening of the India Museum under its new administration by the Science and Art Department at South Kensington.

Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood KCIE, CSI (8 December 1832-28 June 1917) was an Anglo- Indian official, naturalist, and writer.

The son of General Christopher Birdwood, he was born at Belgaum, then in the Bombay Presidency, on 8 December 1832. He was educated at Plymouth Grammar School and Edinburgh University, where he took his MD degree presenting the thesis "The origin of ideas". Entering the Bombay Medical Service in 1854, he served in the Persian War of 1856-57, and subsequently became professor at the Grant Medical College, registrar of the university, curator of the museum, and sheriff at Bombay, besides acting as secretary of the Asiatic and Horticultural societies.

Birdwood published on the industrial arts of India, the ancient records of the India Office, and the first letter-book of the East India Company. He encouraged Indian arts, on various aspects of which he wrote monographs, and his name was identified with the representation of India at the major International Exhibitions from 1857 to 1901. His researches on the subject of incense, became a classic.

When still young, Birdwood contributed to magazines and newspapers; in India he helped to convert the Standard into The Times of India, and edited the Bombay Saturday Review; and after his return to London he wrote for the Pall Mall, Athenaeum, Academy, and The Times; and with Thomas Chenery, the editor of The Times, and others he took the initiative (1882) in celebrating the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield's death as Primrose Day (19 April).

PART I, on the Hindu Pantheon, has been compiled chiefly from the well-known works of Belnos, Colc- man, Colebrooke, Dowson, Dubois, Fonseca, Garrett, Gladwin, Goldstücker, Herklots, Sir W. Jones, Muir, Max Müller, Ward, Talboys Wheeler, Monier Williams, H. H. Wilson, and J. Wilson, and revised throughout from the Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology recently published by Professor Dowson, whose spelling of the names of gods and epic heroes of India I have endeavoured to uniformly follow. I have also had to make frequent use of the papers on Ancient Sculpturings on Rocks, on The Snake Symbol in India, on Stone Carvings at Main- pura, and on Prehistoric Remains in Ancient India, pub- lished in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, by Mr. J. H. Rivett-Carnac, C.I.E., of the Bengal Civil Service, and of the papers on The Village named Maruda in Southern Konkana, on Serpent Worship in Western India, on The Shrine of the River Krishna at Maha- balesvara, and on The Shrine of Mahabalesvara, pub- lished in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society by the Honorable Rao Sahib Vishvanath Narayan Mandlik, member of the Bombay Legislative Council.

**Contents and Sample Pages**