History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c5.21

c5.21

I would express my sincere gratitude, affection, and respect to Dr. L. D. Barnett, of the British Museum Library, who has supervised the whole of my work, and whose unfailing assistance and encouragement have been invaluable. I am also much indebted to Mr. M. S. H. Thompson, who has willingly placed his profound knowledge of Tamil at my disposal for the elucidation of the ambiguous and elliptical Tamil sources. I would here also thank Mr. C. A. Rylands, Dr. W. Stede, and Professor H. W. Bailey, for their patient instruction in Sanskrit and Pāli during my years as an undergraduate; Professor C. H. Philips, and other members of the Department of History of the School of Oriental and African Studies, for encouragement and valuable advice on the technique of historical research; my colleague Mr. P. Hardy, for reading the proofs; and several fellow-students for occasional advice and help. I must also acknowledge the help rendered by Dr. V. R. Dikshitar, Professor of Ancient Indian History at the University of Madras, and by Dr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao, Government Epigraphist for India, in forwarding to me copies of two unpublished South Indian inscriptions. Finally I would thank my wife for great encouragement and for secretarial assistance.