Indian Epigraphical Glossary

Book excerpt: The interested world of scholars is sure to receive with gratitude this latest work from the erudite pen of Prof. D.C. Sircar who has opened up for us new vistas in the study of Indian antiquities. Prof. Sircar`s Indian Epigraphical Glossary, characterised by a wide sweep of vision based on a meticulous attention to details, is a contribution of the utmost importance. Here one finds an embarras de richesses in a comprehensive dictionary of technical expressioins found in documents embracing nearly 2000 years in time and the entire Indian sub-continent in space and written in a variety of languages. It offers a panorama of Indian political and cultural life as enshrined in a series of expressions which are precise and historically important. Many of them remained obscure, and Prof. Sircar, with his thorough knowledge of the subject in the study of which he has spent a life-time, has succeeded in most cases in giving quite satisfactory interpretations. The mass of material in this invaluable publication, which will continue to be an indispensable work of reference for many years to come, brings in a volume of lexical material for the compilation of an exhaustive Dictionary of Sanskrit. The importance of the work, which I would consider epoch-making in the domain of Indology, has been considerably enhanced by three remarkable Appendices.