Rescuing monuments from vegetation, time and 'vandalism', especially that inaugurated by the early phase of British rule in India, this was John Marshall's main brief during the viceroyalty of George Nathaniel Curzon. In such matters, Curzon functioned not just as the viceroy of India but also as Marshall's guru and guide. The first part of this paper was primarily concerned with that aspect of the Director-General of Archaeology's apprenticeship (Lahiri 1998).

But the story of Marshall's early years does not end with these monument-repairing activities. Whenever conservation work allowed him the leisure, he moved across the terrain, taking in sites from Charsada to Rajagriha, animatedly formulating the implications of new discoveries for the edifice of the Indian past as it then existed. This, moreover, had to be more appropriately documented and presented, both in museums and through publications, and a great deal of Marshall's time and correspondence is concerned with ways of achieving this end. The Indian past was also part of the living present of its inhabitants and impinged on the Survey's activities in various ways. This paper tries to understand that world of contestation and interaction.

Finally, archaeological work within a colonial context embodied a variety of interpersonal relations. I therefore ask the question: for the man who is the subject of this essay, were human beings essentially the same or different? Marshall's letters and communications are cluttered with references to the differences between Britishers, European 'foreigners' and Indians, and such perceptions, in some ways, influenced the character of the Archaeological Department that he headed. This too, forms an integral part of the story of his teething years.