ABSTRACT
The study of prehistoric times in India is taken to have started with the works of Robert Bruce Foote, who collected and studied prehistoric stone tools in India as early as 1863 (Sen & Ghost 1966, iii, iv). However, ancient scholars in India definitely had knowledge of prehistoric times. It has long been a tradition in India to divide the period of human culture from its origin to present times into four quarters (see the Introduction). The earliest quarter is termed the Kṛta Yuga or Sata Yuga – the Age of Truth. In literary descriptions of the Age of Truth we are told how people lived in India in early times. Not every such description contains clear reference to prehistoric times. Fortunately, however, a very clear literary reference is found in an 11th century work composed by King Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty (c. AD1000 to 1055), who was a famous patron of learning, and himself an erudite scholar.
