Indian Palaeography c2.1

c2.1

THE study of Indian palaeography began nearly 180 years ago with the interpretation of a number of medieval inscriptions by members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. During the last century knowledge of ancient Indian scripts progressed rapidly, until practically all the epigraphs of the subcontinent were intelligible. About sixty years ago the accumulated knowledge of over 100 years was consolidated in Bühler’s *Indische Paläographie*, which became the standard textbook on the subject. Since its appearance the only similar work of major importance to be published was Professor G. S. Ojha’s *Bhāratīya Lipimālā* (1918) in Hindi. In the last forty years many new inscriptions have been published, and the technique of the palaeographer has much advanced; hence both books are now out of date in many respects. Moreover, both have long been out of print, and the student of Indian palaeography has been much hampered by the impossibility of obtaining a suitable manual for use outside the library reading-room.