The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c2: Preface

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c2

Language: English

Preface

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IN 1922 appeared the first volume of the *Cambridge History of India*, under the able editorship of the late Professor E. J. Rapson. It was welcomed in India as a model work of its kind, because of the vast scholarship and sound judgement of Professor Rapson and his learned collaborators. A certain group of Indian historians, however, looked at the work with indifference, for their national pride was touched and they thought that the accurate history of a country could be written only by its own people. This view of theirs was in a certain manner proved correct by the subsequent volumes of the *Cambridge History*, which betrayed the prejudiced mind of the editors on the one hand, and their lack of historical vision and penetrating research on the other. As a result of this impression several schemes were drawn up for the compilation and publication of a new comprehensive history of India, to be written from the Indian point of view by Indian scholars. The most notable of these proposals have been the Bharatiya Itihas Parisad Scheme, the Indian History Congress Scheme, and the Aligarh Historical Research Institute Scheme. The last two schemes were united in a single plan only a few years after their formulation, whilst the third, sponsored by the Indian History Congress, has also been amalgamated recently with the reconstituted Bharatiya Itihas Parisad Scheme, the reason for this being that the aims and objects of all three schemes have proved to be substantially the same, that is to promote the production of a comprehensive history of India written from the Indian point of view.

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Simultaneously with the emergence of the three original suggestions for a history of the whole of India, some universities sponsored schemes for the detailed histories of their respective provinces, based upon up-to-date discoveries made by Indian scholars in the fields of Epigraphy and Archaeology, as well as on the interpretation given by them of extant religious texts and contemporary records, and on the correct appreciation of the artistic and iconographic significance of Indian sculpture throughout the period. In this respect Dacca University was the first to publish an authoritative history of Bengal under the able editorship of Dr. R. C. Majumdar. In Hyderabad Professors Haroon Khan Shirwani and 'Ali Yar Khan (now Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur) submitted to the Government a plan for the publication of a comprehensive history of the Deccan in five volumes. This scheme was temporarily shelved by the Government because there was at the time a heavy drain on the finances of the State owing to the outbreak of the Second World War. About the same time Dr. Yazdani independently submitted a note to the late Sir Akbar Hydari, the then President of the Executive Council, in which he described the rich contribution made by the Southern Peninsula to the economic, religious, social, and cultural life of India. He also referred in this note to the abundance of material which is available here in the South in the form of contemporary inscriptions, archaeological monuments, and continuous authoritative histories and documents for a comprehensive history of the Deccan from the earliest period up to modern times. Sir Akbar had appreciated fully the importance of the 'Ali-Shirwani scheme, and after the perusal of Dr. Yazdani's note he advised all three proposers to submit a joint scheme to the Government, and assured them of his strong support when the case should come up before the Executive Council. But shortly afterwards Sir Akbar Hydari retired abruptly from the service of the State and the only source of satisfaction remaining to the sponsors of the joint scheme was that one of them—Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur—was just then appointed to the high post of Secretary to the Government in the Department of Constitutional Affairs, and he thereupon immediately determined to use all his influence to secure the sanction of the scheme by the Government. The previous objection that owing to War conditions sufficient funds were not available was again raised by the Council when the case came up for decision before them, and it was with great difficulty and only by dint of much patient argument and persistence by Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung that they finally agreed to sanction the scheme on condition that:

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(i) As a beginning only the compilation of the first volume of the proposed work should be undertaken, the question of the publication of the remaining volumes to be decided after the termination of the war.

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(ii) The cost of the publication should be met from the fixed provisions of such departments as were interested in the scheme and were willing to set apart funds for the purpose.

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The Council further appointed a Board of Editors, consisting first of the sponsors of the scheme who were empowered to co-opt scholars both from within the State and from outside it to collaborate with them. The Council also approved the appointment of Dr. Yazdani as the Editor of the first volume which was to deal with the Ancient period, and also the appointment of Professors Haroon Khan Shirwani and Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung as Editors of the volumes for the Medieval and Modern periods respectively. These decisions of the Council were later confirmed by a Firman of His Exalted Highness. This First Editorial Board was subsequently enlarged at the recommendation of the Government, the names of Dr. Yusuf Husain Khan, Dr. P. M. Joshi, and Professor Nilakanta Sastri being added to those of the original three members.

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The Education Department, the Osmania University, and the Constitutional Affairs Department made suitable donations from their own budgeted grants to meet the cost of Volume I, as originally estimated, and when these proved inadequate owing to the sudden rise in the prices of printing material and the wages of craftsmen, the Hyderabad State Government and the Osmania University in equal shares made good the difference between the original estimate and the revised estimate received from the Oxford University Press, to whom the printing of the volume was entrusted.

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The Editorial Board, in pursuance of the principles laid down in the scheme regarding the scope and general arrangement of the book, have allowed Dr. Yazdani, the Editor of the present volume, to consult well-known historians both in the Hyderabad State and outside it, and to choose such among them as had already done conspicuous research work on the early ruling dynasties of the Deccan to collaborate with him in the compilation of the volume. In this connexion the Editor would like to acknowledge with thanks the valuable counsels of Professor S. Hanumant Rao of the Nizam College and of the late Professor D. B. Bhandarkar, which were so willingly given and of which full advantage has been taken. Professor Bhandarkar had also agreed to write the chapters on the Pre-Sātavāhanas and Sātavāhanas, but owing to his failing health and subsequent lamented death this undertaking could not be fulfilled. The Editor has been fortunate in securing the co-operation and help of several eminent historians of the country in the execution of the task which lay before him, and the fact that the volume was as thoroughly appreciated as it was by competent authorities with regard to both its general and its particular merits is largely due to the eminent scholars who have each contributed to the volume on subjects pertaining to their own special studies. The reader will notice in the book that the First Part dealing with the Geography of the Deccan is by Professor Hemchandra Raychaudhuri, that the Second Part on Pre-Sātavāhanas and Sātavāhanas has been compiled by Professor Gurty Venket Rao, and that Parts III–VIII on the Vākāṭakas, the Chālukyas of Bādāmi, the Rāshṭrakūṭas, the Chālukyas of Kalyāṇī, the Eastern Chālukyas, and the Yādavas are from the pens of Professor A. S. Altekar and Professor K. A. Nilakanta Sastri respectively. In compiling Part VII, on the Eastern Chālukyas, Professor Nilakanta Sastri has been helped by Dr. N. Venkataramanayya; similarly the latter, who has contributed Part IX on the Kākatīyas, has availed himself of the scholarly assistance of Mr. M. Somasekhara Sarma. Part X, on the Fine Arts of the Deccan, has been written by the Editor himself, and the XIth or concluding part of the volume, which is on the Coins and the Currency System of the Deccan, is by Professor A. S. Altekar, a recognized authority on this subject.

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In describing the ruling dynasties of the Deccan a chronological order has been kept, but as some of these dynasties were contemporary and fought against one another for independence, or for the integrity of their territories, the accounts of some political events have been repeated, a proceeding which was inevitable in following the general plan of the work according to which the histories of these dynasties have each been given separately in special chapters, and not in association.

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The main sources for the history of the period are inscriptions, generally in the form of land-grants for religious and other purposes, in which the virtues and military triumphs of the donors have been recorded often in exaggerated rhetorical terms. Great care, however, has been taken, in gleaning the necessary information, to present an authentic account in each case. Further, notwithstanding the limited nature of the sources, no pains have been spared to compile the history in all its aspects, political, social, religious, cultural, and economic. The reader will find that there are separate sections under these headings in the account of each ruling dynasty.

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The work has been compiled after taking into consideration the requirements both of the serious student and of the general reader; thus an attempt has been made to present a complete picture of all such events as are necessarily included in order to enable the student to acquire a thorough grasp of the subject, whilst minor details and scholastic discussions have generally been omitted. The published views of scholars on controversial points are, however, referred to in footnotes. Further, in a work compiled by several authors it is obviously difficult to maintain a uniformity of style with regard to literary expression, but the general arrangement of the different Parts of the book will be found to be uniform, and in this connexion the Editor has to thank his collaborators for carrying out his suggestions with such meticulous care.

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As far as the transliteration of proper names is concerned, a middle course has been followed. The overburdening of letters by diacritical marks has been avoided as far as practicable and only such symbols have been used as are generally to be found in English historical texts published by learned institutions and academic bodies. The spelling of geographical names follows that given in the *Imperial Gazetteer*, and where new names occur the transliteration system of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland has been followed. Some authors, in their enthusiastic appreciation of the old names of provinces and towns which have been revived by the Union Government of India since its establishment, have adopted these in their contributions, and thus the reader may find the same place mentioned under different names in the different Parts of the book, particularly in the case of those Parts which had been compiled and finally printed before or after the adoption of the revived nomenclature. Such divergences, however, have been indicated by cross references in the Index.

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The Board much regrets the delay which has occurred in the publication of the book, but the reasons for this have been beyond its control. Interference with the regular course of production has been due to the political disturbance, the change of Government, the setting up of administrative bodies involving more than one departmental reorganization, and last but not least the general financial stringency resulting from all the above causes. But, thanks to the literary enthusiasm and the enlightened views of the successive Governments of Hyderabad, the importance of the work has always been recognized, and through the influence of Nawab ‘Ali Yavar Jung and the judicious handling of the matter by Mr. L. N. Gupta, first in his capacity as Secretary to the Hyderabad Government in the Finance Department, and afterwards as Educational Secretary, the grants which had lapsed were restored and permission to proceed with the work was obtained.

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Part X of the book, on the Fine Arts of the Deccan, was issued in 1952, with a view to meeting the wishes of a large number of the delegates who were to assemble at the annual session of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad in 1953, and who wanted an authoritative work on the historical and artistic import of the monuments at Ellora, Ajanta, and other places in the State which the delegates desired to visit during their stay. This Part has received a warm welcome in literary circles as well as by the general public, and a second edition has already been issued.

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The printing of the text, the preparation of the half-tone illustrative plates, and the binding of the volume have been done by the University Press at Oxford, and the Editor is grateful to the Printer, and to his expert staff, for executing the work with great care and interest to ensure for the volume the accuracy and artistic effect of a standard book. The index to the volume has been prepared by Miss Dorothy Marshall, and the Editor thanks her for her expert knowledge in performing this onerous task in a scholarly manner.

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