Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c11.s3: 6.6 Future Prospects and Desiderata
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c11.s3
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6.6 Future Prospects and Desiderata
c11.s3.1
Despite the continued support by governmental and educational institutions in South Asia, it cannot be said that all is well with the study of epigraphy in India nowadays. The general decline in standards and interest in Sanskrit and Sanskritic studies in India is having a deleterious effect on the quality, if not the quantity, of some epigraphic work (see EINES 92), though it is encouraging that, as noted previously, some excellent publications are still appearing. Outside South Asia there have been some signs of a revival of interest in epigraphy in Europe and North America, where the work of such scholars as Harry Falk, Gérard Fussman, Oskar von Hinüber, and Gregory Schopen has stimulated new interest in this field.
c11.s3.2
Although well-trained epigraphists will continue to be needed in the foreseeable future to publish the new inscriptions that will undoubtedly continue to be found and to reedit previously known ones, there are many other tasks that await them. Most urgent is the need for comprehensive computer databases of the now unmanageably vast published epigraphic material; very little has been done in this direction, and the need for it is growing constantly. The compilation of more regional, dynastic, and thematic corpora of inscriptions is still an urgent desideratum. Although much progress has been made in this area (see 8.1.3), collections of such important materials as the inscriptions of the Kuṣāṇas, revised corpora of the Aśokan and Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions, and a definitive anthology of Buddhist inscriptions are still lacking. Finally, the integration of the study of inscriptions into academic disciplines such as history, art