Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c11.s3.2

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