This book has grown out of the prestigious Sir William Myer Lectures of Madras University, delivered by Sir Jadunath Sarkar in 1928. It is a lucid survey of the growth of Indian life and thought from the Vedic age to our own times with a detailed study of contributions of the Aryans, the Buddhists, the Muhammadans and the English to the growth of Indian civilizations. The book gives us a bird’s eye-view of the successive factors which have contributed to the composite development of present-day India.