This anthology, coming from a scholar as erudite as Dr. Gouriswar Bhattacharya undoubtedly represents a major advance in our knowledge of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain iconography as well as the epigraphy, particularly for the region of Bangladesh and Eastern India. The historians, art historians, epigraphists and archaeologists, however they may be categorised, would benefit from the painstaking deliberations of Dr. Bhattacharya. It is well known that in matters of epigraphy, the author truly learned his subject at the feet of that great savant, Professor D.C. Sircar. Initially
working for nearly a decade in the office of the Government
Epigraphist for India, under the guidance of Professor Sircar, Dr. Bhattacharya ultimately moved to Berlin and worked there for nearly three decades with Dr. H. Hartel in the Museum of Indian Art. The distinguished epigraphist thus went deep into the study of art objects and gradually established himself as the foremost among the specialists in Buddhist, Hindu and Jain iconography and Sanskrit epigraphy, particularly related to Bihar and Bengal. Since his retirement from the Berlin Museum in 1989, it is heartening to see him teaching in the Institute of Indian Philology and Art History of the Berlin Free University.
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