Abstract
LORD CURZON has done good service to the cause of archæology by his spirited protest pub lished in The Times of October 7 against the change of system in regard to the ancient monuments of the country proposed by the Government of India. Up to the time when, as Governor-General, the attention of Lord Curzon was directed to this question, the State policy in connection with the excavation of sites of historical interest and the conservation of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Mahomedan religious and civil buildings was ill-considered and ineffectual. In the early days of our rule these buildings, which are due to the munificence of vanished dynasties or the reli gious devotion of their subjects, were usually neglected and often desecrated. Excavations were undertaken by unskilled workers in a haphazard way, and many objects of interest and value were lost or destroyed. Under General Cunningham as director, between 1870 and 1885, some useful excavations were carried out. But the result of the work as a whole was not commensurate with the expense which had been in curred.
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The Archæological Department of India . Nature 87, 491 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087491a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/087491a0