by John Keay
Kirkpatrick, Wm., 190
Kittoe, Lieut. M., 58, 59–60, 78
Konarak, 100, 108, 146
Koros, A. Czoma de, 68–9, 71
Krishnagar, 29–30, 31
Kushan empire, 90, 94, 96
Kutila script, 44–5
Ladakh, 66, 68, 78
Lahore, 146
Lambton, Wm., 182–7
Lauriya Nandangarh, pillar, 49, 57
Leitner, Dr G., 93
Lothal, 169
Lutyens, Sir E., 130
Lytton, Lord, Viceroy, 142
Macaulay, T. B., Lord, 77–8, 111, 121
Mackenzie, Col. Colin, 179–82
Maddock, H., 69, 86
Madras, 19, 20, 42, 62, 108, 181, 183, 185
Madurai, 117
Mahabalipuram, 42–3, 67, 108, 117–8
Mahabharatha, 25, 45
Mahmud of Ghazni, sultan, 102, 111
Mandu, 146
Manikyala, stupa, 69, 87
Mardan, 97
Markham, Sir Clements, 154, 189, 209
Marshall, John, 28, 43, 176, 189, 198, 202
Marshall, Sir John H., 96–7, 145–7, 154, 155, 159, 166–74
Masar, 82
Masson, Charles, 88–9, 90, 165, 210
Mathura, 48, 74, 82, 92, 102–4, 105, 106, 210
Mauryan empire, 54, 89, 90
Megasthenes, 35–6, 62, 73
Metcalfe, Sir Thomas, 136
Mill, James, 76
Mill, Revd W. H., 47, 48
Moghul empire, 40, 125–8, 132–4, 146–7, 156, 157–8, 201
Mohenjo-daro, 166–74
Montpezir, 41
Moorcroft, Wm., 68
Muller, Prof. Max., 38
Mumtaz Mahal, empress, 126
Mysore, 40, 57, 118, 177–8, 182
Mysore Survey, 177–8, 180
Nadia, 29
Nadir Shah, king, 137
Nagpur, 83, 187
Narwar, palaces, 131–2
Nepal, 39, 48, 66, 67–8, 189, 190–1, 198–200, 208, 209
Orchha, palaces, 129–30, 161
Orissa, 47, 58, 62, 112, 121
Orsini, Count, 154
Pali, script, 52
Parasnath, 196
Pataliputra, 35–6, 62, 67, 91
Patna, 35–6
Peshawar, 57, 90, 93
Pondicherry, 185
Poona, 40
Portuguese, 24, 41
Porus, king, 43
Postans, Lieut., 60–1
Postans, Mrs, 60–1, 144
Prinsep, James, 39, 46–61, 70, 71, 75, 78, 87, 89, 90, 92, 151, 176, 188, 210
Ptolemy, 59, 61, 62
Puri, 121
Qutb Minar, 116, 123–4, 133, 134, 135–6
Rajaona, 82
Rajasthan, 40, 161, 168, 193–6
Rajatarangini, 33
Rajputs, 87, 101, 128–30, 131, 140, 158, 160–1, 193–6
Ralph, Mr, 151–3, 161
Ramayana, 119, 197
Ramlochand, 29
Ranjit Singh, 69, 75, 76–7, 88
Rennell, James, 35
Roberts, Emma, 144
Rothenstein, Sir Wm., 105, 159, 160
Rousselet, Louis, 140–1
Roxburgh, Wm., 206–7
Royal Asiatic Society, London, 113, 153
Royle, John F., 208, 209
Safdar Jang, tomb of, 135
Saharanpur, 208, 209
Salsette, 41
Salt, Henry, 41
Samudragupta, emperor, 47, 48
Sanchi, 51, 52, 57, 64–7, 69, 79, 84, 85, 86, 91, 114
Sanskrit, 24–5, 29–33, 37, 38, 45, 48, 52, 71, 77, 91, 164
Sarnath, 48, 70, 72, 74, 75
Sassaram, 115
Scythians, 90
Seleucus Nicator, emperor, 35–6
Shahbazgarhi, rock inscription, 90
Shan Jehan, emperor, 125, 126–7, 139, 142
Sind, 166
Siwaliks, 210
Smith, Capt. E., 51, 57
Smith, Maj. R., 51, 133–4, 148
Smith, Vincent, 95–6, 157, 172
Somnath, 111
Somnathpur, 118, 119
Son R., 36
Sravana Belgola, 178–9, 196
Stacy, Col., 51, 92, 93, 95, 210
Strachey, Sir J., 142
Sultanganj, 82
Survey of India, 176–91
Swat, 93, 94
Taj Mahal, 22, 40, 43, 112, 126–7, 142–4, 147
Tanjore, 117, 185–6
Taxila, 82, 91, 96–7
Taylor, Bayard, 144
Terry, Edward, 201
Thomson, Thomas, 208
Thurston, Edgar, 198
Tibet, 66, 68, 190, 208
Tigowa, 82
Tipu Sultan of Mysore, 39, 76, 176, 180
Tiwar, 82
Tod, Col. James, 58–9, 87, 127, 182, 192–8
Tughlakabad, 124–5, 133
Tughluk Shah, Sultan, 124–5, 126, 146
Tumour, George, 53
Twining, Thomas, 15, 34, 132, 133, 143, 147, 156
Udaipur, 130, 193, 194, 195
Valentia, Lord, 41, 42
Ventura, Gen., 69–70, 87, 88
Vijayanagar, 128, 146
Vikramaditya, king, 33
Wallich, Nathaniel, 207, 209–10
Waugh, Andrew, 189, 191
Wellesley, Sir Arthur, later Duke of Wellington, 176, 178, 179–80, 182–3, 202
Wellesley, Richard, Lord
Mornington, Gov.-Gen., 177, 202
Westmacott, Prof., 104
Wheeler, Sir Mortimer, 75, 169, 174
Wilford, Lieut. F., 45–6, 66
Wilkins, Charles, 24, 25, 28, 29, 44, 45, 46, 47
Wilson, H. H., 47, 50, 73
Chronology 1765–1927
1765 East India Company granted diwan of Bengal
1774 Warren Hastings first Governor-General
1783 Mackenzie arrives in Madras. Jones arrives in Calcutta
1784 Asiatic Society of Bengal founded
1786 Calcutta Botanical Garden founded
1790 Third Mysore War. Twining’s travels
1793 Roxburgh arrives in Calcutta
1794 Jones dies
1797 Wellesley Governor-General
1798 Fourth Mysore War
1800 Mysore Survey – Buchanan, Mackenzie and Lambton take the field
1803 Maratha War; acquisition of Delhi and Agra
1806 Tod’s first visit to Udaipur. Salt and Valentia visit Salsette caves
1807 Buchanan begins survey of Bengal and Bihar
1810 Lambton completes trig survey of south. Buchanan at Boddh Gaya
1813 Wallich superintendent of Calcutta Botanical Garden
1816 Colebrooke declares Himalayas the highest in world
1817 Tod returns to Rajasthan
1819 Prinsep arrives in India. Fell visits Sanchi. Dangerfield discovers Bagh. Franklin discovers Khajuraho
1820 Hodgson posted to Kathmandhu
1822 De Koros in Himalayas. Tod visits Abu and Girnar
1823 Everest succeeds Lambton as Superintendent of GTS
1824 Alexander visits Ajanta
1825 Bishop Heber begins tour of India
1830 Ventura opens Manikyala stupa
1833 Masson discovers coins in Begram. Hodgson’s report on Ashoka pillars published
1834 Fergusson tours north India
1835 Macaulay’s Minute. Cunningham opens Dhamekh stupa
1836 Publication of Fa Hsien. Gandhara sculpture found at Mathura. Ralph/Gresley report ON Ajanta. Kittoe finds Orissa rock inscription
1837 Prinsep deciphers pillar inscriptions
1838 Burt visits Khajuraho. Postans visits Girnar. Prinsep deciphers Kharosthi and is invalided home
1841 Blyth appointed curator of Asiatic Society’s museum
1842 Ellenborough proposes restoration of Somnath gates. Fergusson tours south India
1844 Gill
begins copying Ajanta frescoes
1845 Everest starts North-East Himalaya series
1848 Hooker visits India. Cunningham finds Gandhara sculpture in Punjab
1851 Cunningham at Sanchi
1853 Cunningham first visits Mathura
1857 Indian Mutiny or National Uprising
1858 Demise of East India Company, exile of Moghul emperor
1861 Cunningham appointed Archaeological Surveyor
1862 Cunningham at Boddh Gaya
1865 Cunningham at Khajuraho
1867 Publication of Jerdon’s Mammals of India
1872 Griffiths starts copying Ajanta frescoes
1873 Cunningham discovers Bharhut
1881 Cole restores Sanchi. Keith restores Gwalior
1897 Publication of Ajanta frescoes
1899 Curzon arrives as Viceroy
1902 Marshall arrives as Director of Archaeology
1908 Havell’s Indian Sculpture and Painting published
1910 Controversy over Indian art at Royal Society of Arts
1913 Marshall begins excavations at Taxila
1920 Ajanta restorations begin
1921 Banerji discovers Mohenjo-daro
1924 Excavation of Mohenjo-daro begins
1927 Coomaraswamy’s Indian and Indonesian Art published
The Great Arc
The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named
John Keay
“A wonderful and fascinating book’ LAWRENCE JAMES, The Times
“More extraordinary than any fiction’
CHARLOTTE CORY, Mail on Sunday
The Great Indian Arc of the Meridian, begun in 1800, was the longest measurement of the earth’s surface ever to have been attempted. The 1600-mile survey took nearly fifty years and cost more lives than most contemporary wars. Hailed as ‘one of the most stupendous works in the history of science’, it was also one of the most perilous. Through hill and jungle, flood and fever, an intrepid band of surveyors carried the Arc from the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent up into the frozen wastes of the Himalayas. William Lambton, an endearing genius, conceived the idea; George Everest, an impossible martinet, completed it. Both found the technical difficulties horrendous. With instruments weighing half a ton, their observations had often to be conducted from flimsy platforms ninety feet above the ground or from mountain peaks enveloped in blizzard. Malaria wiped out whole survey parties; tigers and scorpions took their toll.
Yet the results were commensurate. India as we now know it was defined in the process. The Arc also resulted in the first accurate measurements of the Himalayas, an achievement which was acknowledged by the naming of the world’s highest mountain in honour of Everest. More important still, the Arc significantly advanced our knowledge of the exact shape of our planet.
“This wonderful book – surely Keay’s most compelling, and one of the most remarkable works of non-fiction to be published this year – is a fitting monument not just to Everest but also to the Great Arc itself
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, Sunday Times
0-00-653123-7
India: A History
John Keay
“In an environment where every fact is infinitely malleable, every interpretation politicised, the need for clear, accessible and unbiased popular history is all the greater. It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than John Keay has done in India: A History & a book that is as fluent and readable as it is up-to-date and impartial. Hardly a page passes without some fascinating nugget or surprising fact & one can only hope that John Keay’s India will be widely read, and its lessons taken to heart.’
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, GUARDIAN
“[John Keay’s] astute commentary on the development of Indian history is a delight& one of the best general studies of the subcontinent.’
ANDREW LYCETT, Sunday Times
“Certainly the most balanced and the most lucid [one-volume history of the subcontinent] & his passion for India shines through and illuminates every page & puts Keay in the front rank of Indian historiographers.’
CHARLES ALLEN, Spectator
0-00-638784-5
Copyright
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This paperback edition 2001
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First published in Great Britain in 1981
First published in paperback by William Collins 1988
Copyright © John Keay 1981
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ISBN 0 00 712300 0
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EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-39964-2
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