Indian Epigraphy (Volume 1)

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The present work does not profess to introduce the subject of Indian Epigraphy but is, on the other hand, the result of the author’s long and intimate acquaintance with Indian ins criptions in his capacity as a professional Epigraphist. Start ing with a chapter on the nature and importance of Indian inscriptions, the author has attempted in the subsequent chapters to draw attention to some of the popular notions and theories propounded by the earlier scholars and implicitly followed even today and argues that they are no longer tenable or need to be revised. In particular, the chapters on the language media of Indian inscriptions, palaeographical zonalisation of Indian scripts and palaeographical dating of undated inscriptions break new ground while the last chapter emphasises as well as illustrates the need for tackling inscriptions from newer angles. The author plans to bring out soon a second volume mainly dealing with the palaeographi cal development of Indian scripts and the problems per taining to decipherment. The volume will also contain practical and well illustrated lessons on how to decipher inscriptions in different Indian scripts and belonging to different periods and regions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR K.V. Ramesh

K.V. Ramesh (b. 1935) joined the Epigraphy Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1956 and has eversince been engaged in epigraphical and historical research. Besides contributing a large number of research papers for various seminars and journals, he has authored two books in English, 'A history of South Kanara' and 'Jain Literature in Tamil' and three more books in Kannada. His 'Corpus of Western Ganga Inscriptions', being published by the ICHR and his other work 'The Vatapi Chalukyas' are now in the Press. He visited Bulgaria in 1982 on cultural Exchange and Japan in 1983 as an invitee to the XXXI Internationa Converence on Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa. He is presently holding the office of Director in the Archaeological Survey of India and is one of the Founder Members and a former Secretary and Executive Editor of the Epigraphical Society of India. He is also one of the Vice Presidents of the Place Names Society of India. Dr. Ramesh, who has the advantage of knowing, besides Sanskrit, all the South Indian languages, is currently the Editor of the Epigraphia Indica in his capacity as Director, Epigraphy.