Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c3: Foreword
Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c3
- Language
- English
Foreword
c3.1
Out of the papers I have published in various periodicals, a fairly large number deal with problems relating to the geography of ancient and medieval India. Since some of these were prescribed by a few Universities for the post-graduate students in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, my friends were pressing me for a long time to publish the important among my geographical studies in the form of a monograph so that they might be easily available to the students of the subject. The present volume is the outcome of the request. My thanks are due to the celebrated publishers, Messrs. Motilal Banarsidass, who kindly offered to publish the book.
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A few of my geographical studies have been excluded from the volume for particular reasons. A notable omission is the *Śākta Pīṭhas* which is a religio-geographical study originally published in the *Journal of the [Royal] Asiatic Society [of Bengal]*, Letters, Vol. XIV, 1948, pp. 1-108. It has been excluded because it is a rather lengthy dissertation and also because copies are available in the market.
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Many of the chapters of the present volume were published as independent discussions of particular topics. But, in some of them, more than one article have been brought together. This is particularly the case when different aspects of a problem were discussed on different occasions, especially in the course of controversies. In a few cases, discussions on more problems than one have also been clubbed together for the sake of the facility of presentation. Thus about 30 articles, published during the period of about quarter of a century since 1935, have been presented in the book in the twenty-two Chapters and two Appendices. The sources of the papers incorporated in the different Chapters of the book and the Appendices are indicated below :
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I—*Sarūpa Bhāratī* (Lakshman Sarup Commemoration Volume), Hoshiarpur, 1954, pp. 315 ff.; cf. *Journal of the [Royal] Asiatic Society [of Bengal]*, Calcutta, Letters, Vol. V, 1939, pp. 407 ff.
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II—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Calcutta, Vol. XXI, 1945, pp. 297 ff.
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III—*Ibid.*, Vol. XXVII, 1951, pp. 215 ff.
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IV—*Indian Culture*, Calcutta, Vol. VIII, 1941, pp. 32 ff.
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V—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. XXVIII, 1952, pp. 123 ff.; cf. *Hindusthan Review*, Patna, May-June, 1941, pp. 617 ff.
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VI—*Bhāratīya Vidyā*, Bombay, Vol. V, 1944, pp. 34 ff.; *Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. XXIII, 1947, pp. 62 ff.
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VII—*Journal of Indian History*, Trivandrum, Vol. XXXIV, 1956, pp. 263 ff.; cf. *Orissa Historical Research Journal*, Bhubaneswar, Vol. IV, Nos. 3-4, 1955-56, pp. 51 ff.
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VIII—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. XXI, 1945, pp. 61 f.; *ibid.*, Vol. XXII, 1946, pp. 233 ff.; *ibid.*, Vol. XXIII, 1947, pp. 65 ff.; *ibid.*, Vol. XXIV, 1948, pp. 78 f.; *Actes du Congres International Oriental*, Tome XXI, Paris, 1948, pp. 199 ff.
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IX—*Journal of the Numismatic Society of India*, Banaras, Vol. VIII, 1946, pp. 135 ff; *Indian Culture*, Vol. VII, 1940, p. 111.
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X—*Journal of the Asiatic Society*, Calcutta, Letters, Vol. XIX, 1953, pp. 33 ff.
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XI—*Proceedings of the Indian History Congress*, Bombay, 1947, pp. 91 ff.
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XII—*P. V. Kane Presentation Volume*, Poona Oriental Series, Poona, 1941, pp. 469 ff.
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XIII—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. XXII, 1946, p. 315; *ibid.*, Vol. XXIV, 1948, p. 78; *Journal of the Numismatic Society of India*, Vol. XII, 1950, pp. 50 ff.
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XIV—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. XXVI, 1950, pp. 291 ff.
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XV—*Journal of the Bihar Research Society*, Patna, Vol. XL, Part i, 1954, pp. 8 ff.
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XVI—*Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society*, Rajahmundry, Vol. IX, Part 3, 1935, pp. 1 ff. XVII—*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol.XXI, 1945, pp. 56 ff. XVIII—*Journal of Indian History*, Vol. XXXII, 1954, pp. 283 ff. XIX—*Siddha Bhāratī* (Siddheshwar Varma Presentation Volume), Hoshiarpur, 1950, pp. 291 ff. XX—*Bhāratīya Vidyā*, Vol. XI, 1950 pp. 183 ff. XXI—*Ibid.*, Vol. VI, 1945, pp. 123 ff.; *ibid.*, p. 240, XXII—*Indian Archives*, New Delhi, Vol. V, 1951, pp. 60 ff.
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Appendix I—*Journal of Indian History*, Vol. XXXVII, 1959, pp. 407 ff. Appendix II—*Ācārya Bhikṣu Smṛti Grantha*, I.J.T. Mahāsabhā, Calcutta.
c3.21
In presenting this work to the students of early Indian geography, I am painfully conscious of a few of its shortcomings. The foremost of these is that the book does not contain any map. This is partly due to my pre-occupations and partly to certain practical difficulties. I also feel that, extremely busy as I am, I may have failed to make the work as free from errors and blemishes as I very much liked to do. For such defects, I only crave the indulgence and sympathy of the readers. If my attention is drawn to serious errors, I shall no doubt try to correct them in the next edition. Some such mistakes have already been corrected in the *Addenda et Corrigenda*.
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D. C. SIRCAR