Jadunath Sarkar > Quotes

“I would not care whether truth is pleasant or unpleasant, and in consonance with or opposed to current views. I would not mind in the least whether truth is, or is not, a blow to the glory of my country. If necessary, I shall bear in patience the ridicule and slander of friends and society for the sake of preaching truth. But still I shall seek truth, understand truth, and accept truth. This should be the firm resolve of a historian”
― Jadunath Sarkar

“Social distinctions were fewer and much less sharp among the 16th century Marathas than among richer and more civilized communities. The rich man was not immeasurably above the poor in such a simple society; and even the poorest man had his value as a fighter or indispensable labourer; at least, he preserved his self-respect, because where few had anything to spare, none was tempted to lead the pampered life of the professional beggars and hangers-on of Agra or Delhi. Poverty and immemorial custom alike preserved the womankind of Maharashtra (except among those castes that aspired to be Kshatriyas) from seclusion in the harem, and thus the effective strength of society was doubled, while life gained in health and sweetness.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times

“In the Deccan proper, the Western Ghats protect the entire western coast as a long wall parallel to the Arabian Sea, while the more broken Eastern Ghats do the samething but in a lesser degree to the vast Eastern Karnatak plain.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, Military History of India

“The country was cut up by Nature into small compartments in which the natives lived isolated self-contained lives, the world forgetting and by the world forgot. This was true in a special degree of the belt lying immediately east of the Ghats. The empires of the central and more level portion of the table-land, both in Hindu times and Muslim, had sent forth their conquering hosts westwards, but the flood of invasion had been broken down at the foot of the hills or their numerous spurs, or, where a thin stream of it had poured through the passes, it had retired after a short and unprofitable stay. In their rugged and inhospitable nooks the natives had found safety and peace, while the richer plains had been the scenes of revolution and rapine.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times

“Gosain Rajendra Giri and his disciplines has ... played a long and distinguished part in the History of Hindustan.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, A History Of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis

“The hermits or rishis who lived in these forest homes (tapobans) were not lonely recluses of celibate anchorites cut off from the society of women and the duties of the family. They formed groups of householders, living with their wives and children, but not pursuing wealth or fame or material advancement like the ordinary men of the world. All their attention was devoted to the practice of virtue and the cultivation of knowledge.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, India Through The Ages