Chapter I. 
Antecedents. 
1. THE HINDU SACRED LAW 
A WRITER who attempts to describe the development of the 
agrarian system of Moslem India is confronted at the outset 
by a difficulty arising from the absence of any definite 
starting-point. It is clear that the first Moslem conquerors 
did not impose an entirely foreign system on their Indian 
subjects: the observed continuity of institutions shows that 
they took over portions, at least, of the system which they 
found in operation, and adapted it, as time went on, to 
meet changing needs. The ideal starting-point would thus 
be a description of the Hindu system as it stood in theory, 
and worked in practice, during the twelfth century; but 
nothing of the kind is known to exist, and the conditions of 
the period make it unlikely that such a description was 
ever prepared. It is conceivable that the progress of 
antiquarian research may eventually make it possible to 
write a historical account of the development of the Hindu 
system, based on precisely-dated documents and inscriptions, 
but I am assured by scholars that adequate materials for 
that task are not yet available. 
Failing such accounts or descriptions, the most that can 
be done is to offer a statement of the fundamental features 
of the Hindu system, and indicate their logical, if not their 
historical, connection with the institutions which we meet 
under the early Moslem rulers. I attempt such a statement 
in this chapter; but at the outset it is necessary to explain 
that I am dependent on translations and secondary sources 
for the voluminous Sanskrit literature, and my experience 
suggests that translations may be dangerous guides in 
technical matters. Some of the greatest difficulties which 
present themselves in studying the Moslem period arise