THE period covered by the inception, the publication, and the completion of the Sacred Books of the East exactly coincides with the thirty-four years that I have spent in Oxford. When I matriculated, Professor Max Muller, the editor of the series, was about to begin work on the first volume, which appeared while I was still an undergraduate. I lost no time in making his acquaintance, for it was the influence of one of his works that had stimulated me to begin under Professor Benfey the study of Sanskrit at the University of Gbttingen, when I left school nearly two years before. During my undergraduate days and later lowed much to Professor Max Muller's advice and encouragement in regard to my studies, which have ever since followed, as far as Sanskrit is concerned, much the same lines as his. I consequently always took a lively interest in the Sacred Books edited by him as they successively appeared during the course of a quarter of a century, no fewer than thirty-six volumes having a more or less direct bearing on my own work, and fourteen of the translators being personally known to me. Professor Max Mi.iller lived to see all...

Habeltt sua lata libelli-not only after they have been published, but sometimes even before they are printed. It was in the spring of 1894 that the late Professor Max Muller first suggested to me that I should compile a General Index of the names and subject-matter for the complete series of the Sacred Books of the East. Such an Index, he thought, would be a great help to all students of the Sacred Books of tile East, and of the greatest value for the study of the history of religions....