The waves of Hindu conquests rolled onwards, and the aborigines submitted themselves to a higher civilization and a nobler creed. Rivers were crossed, forests were cleared, lands were reclaimed, wide wastes were people, and new countries hitherto aboriginal witnessed the rise of Hindu power and of Hindu religion. Where a few scanty settlers had penetrated at first, powerful colonies grew; where religious teachers had retired in seclusion, quiet villages and towns arose. Where a handful of merchants has made their way by some unknown river, boats plied up and down with valuable cargoes for a civilized population. from Chapter XVIII: Expansion of the Hindus First published in 1906, this classic nine-volume history of the nation of India places it among the storied lands of antiquity, alongside Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia. Edited by American academic ABRAHAM VALENTINE WILLIAMS JACKSON (18621937), professor of Indo-Iranian languages at Columbia University, it offers a highly readable narrative of the Indian people and culture through to the time of its publication, when the nation was still part of the British Empire. Volume I, From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century B.C., by Bengali historian ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT (18481909), features entertaining and enlightening treatments of: [ ancient India and the Rig-Veda [ the Indo-Aryans and their literature [ food and art in the Vedic age [ the Brahmanic period and literature [ the Mahabharata [ the Ramayana [ law, astronomy, and learning [ the religious doctrines of the Upanishads [ caste in the age of laws and philosophy [ Buddhist sacred literature [ life of Gautama Buddha [ and much more. This beautiful replica of the 1906 first editionincludes all the original illustrations.