Indian Epigraphy c6.s2.20

c6.s2.20

¹ The study of inscriptions and coins formed the major and most important item of the archaeologists' work in India till the beginning of the 20th century. Even later, in the first quarter of the present century, when the study of excavated antiquities began to receive due attention, most officers of the Department of Archaeology, Government of India, were dealing with inscriptions and coins. This seems to be the reason why epigraphy, which in India is at least as great a subject as pure archaeology and is easily separable from the latter, was made the responsibility of a small branch of the Department while provision was not at all made for numismatics. The effect of this policy manifested itself in the following quarter of the century when more and more emphasis was laid by the Department on the study of prehistoric antiquities, so that the study of inscriptions came ultimately to be confined mainly to the Epigraphical Branch while the study of coins by the Departmental officers practically ceased. Indian epigraphical and numismatic studies would have thrived if the Government would have placed them in the charge of a separate Department of their own. There is a rumour that Hultzsch and Sten Konow resigned from the posts they held in the Department of Archaeology as a result of the said policy.