Megalithic Tombs and Other Ancient Remains in the Deccan (Papers By Colonet Meadows Taylor)

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Preface MEADOWS TAYLOR is still a name to conjure with in the State of Hyderabad. The romantic events of his life are most vividly recorded in his autobiography, The Story of my Life, but he also possessed a scientific frame of mind, and was a keen observer of the geographical and geological features of the country through which he happened to pass, and an ardent student of the habits, beliefs and history of the people among whom he lived. His History of India amply corroborates this view, but to an archaeologist the most interesting and valuable among his works are his papers on the mega- lithic remains of the Deccan which he has described in great detail. They show his scientific knowledge and wide study of the subject. Two of these papers, The Ancient Remains at the Village of Jivarji, and Notices of Cromlechs, Cairns and other Ancient Scytho-Druidical Remains in the Principality of Sorapur, were published in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vols. III and IV for 1851 and 1852 respectively, and another which is profusely illustrated and bears the title, Description of Cairns, Cromlechs, Kistvaens and other Celtic, Druidical or Scythian Monuments in the Deccan, was printed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy (Vol. XXIV, Part III., pp. 329-62) in May 1862. As these Journals are not easily available in India, and the information contained in them is of immense value for all those who want to make a survey or detailed study of the megalithic tombs of the Deccan, I approached my friend, Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham, c.s.1., Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, with the request that he would kindly have copies of these articles made for me, so that they may be reprinted for the use of present-day student. Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham readily complied with my request and arranged for the copying of the letterpress as well as the illustrations of these three articles through Miss L.M. Anstey of the India Office, and I take this opportunity to thank both of them for their kind help in this connection.