Lt. Col. James Tod's: Travels in Western India Supplementary Volume

"Travels in Western India" was Col. James Tod's second work which was published in 1839 after his sudden and premature death in 1835. The two volumes of his "Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan" published in 1829 and 1832 were "received with considerable favour" in Europe while these works immortalised his name in Indian historiography.

Tod wrote his work at a time which saw the beginning of Indian archaeology and historical researches. It was therefore natural that his "Travels", though invaluable in as much as it portrays the culture and society not yet influenced by the west "and still steeped in medieval traditions and atmosphere of by-gone decades" was bound to have many errors. There was also need to identify various sites and persons mentioned by Col. Tod. Late Maharaj Kumar Dr. Raghubir Sinh of Sitamau put in immense labour in correcting, clarifying and throwing further light on the places, events, towns etc. mentioned by Col. Tod. With his usual thoroughness, Dr. Raghubir Sinh gives exact location of almost every place mentioned in the "Travels", corrects the names of the towns and people which an Englishman could not pronounce properly, and gives additional information about Tod's statements which were based on the information personally gathered by him from individuals, inscriptions; historical works and legends. It will be no exaggeration to say that without the help of Dr. Raghubir Sinh's annotations and observations, one can understand or use Tod's "Travels in Western India" only partially. The value of Dr. Raghubir Sinh's contribution in the form of this volume will be appreciated by every serious scholar of Indian history and is a testimony to his amazing scholarship, if one at all is needed. This volume is thus essential in understanding correctly Col. James Tod's remarkably informative travel account written in his inimitable style." (jacket)