Literary & Historical Studies in Indology

About the Book:

This is the fifth collection of the research articles of Dr. Mirashi, dealing with various problems of Sanskrit literature, ancient Indian history, art and architecture. It contains twenty-seven articles grouped in four sections.

Section I deals with problems presented by several Sanskrit works, namely the lower limit of the date of the Original Harivamsa, the identification of kalapriyanatha mentioned in Bhavabhuti's plays, the date of Dvisandhana Kavya and the Namamala, the identification of the author of the Kundamala and the fixation of his date, the historical background of Rajasekhara's Viddhasalabhanjika etc. It gives also for the first time a detailed account of Soddhala's Udayasundarikatha, which though discovered more then fifty years ago, has not received the attention it deserves. Finally, the much discussed technical term Mattavarani has received here a new interpretation suggested by a critical examination of Bharata's Natyasastra.

Section II has seven articles which discuss various controversial problems presented by the history of the Guptas, the Traikutakas, the Vishnukundins and the Silahars of North Knokan. They either throw more light on the sources previously discovered or correct some erroneous views about them held so far.

Section III describes the coins in some hoards, discovered recently, of the Satavahanas, Kshatrapas and Traikutakas, and reiterated the previous readings and interpretation of Mahisha coins after examining critically the objections raised against them.

Section IV contains five articles on various subjects such as the location of Ravana's Lanka (which has recently become controversial), the religious denomination of the Caves at Dharasiva, the dated of the Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur and the Siva temple at Markandi etc. The last article shows how the recently published so-called historical work-the Ayyanavamsa-charita-is a modern forgery.

About the Author:

Dr. Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi is Regarded as one of the foremost living Indologists. He was appointed to the Sanskrit chair at the Morris College, Nagpur, in 1919 after a brilliant academic career in the University of Bombay. He was appointed Principal of the Morris College, Nagpur, in 1942, and served as Principal of the Vidarbha Mahavidyalaya, amraoti, from 1947 to 1950. He worked as Hon. Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture and Head of the Department of Post-graduate Teaching (Humanities), Nagpur University, from 1957 to 1966. He has written nearly thirty research works in English, Marathi and Hindi, and more than 275 papers in various Indological journals. Dr. Mirashi's Major works. Viz., Inscriptions of the Kalchuri-Chedi Era and Inscriptions of the Vakatakas have been published in the famous Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Series of the Archaeological Survey of India. One more Volume, viz., Inscriptions of the Silaharas in the same Series, is now under print. Some of his other works are studies in Indology, Vols. I to IV, Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti.

Dr. Mirashi has received several high academic honours for his learning and research. He was honoured by the Viceroy of India with the title of Mahamahopadhyaya in 1941. The Universities of Saugar and Nagpur awarded their highest degree of D. Litt., honoris causa, to him in 1958 and 1960 respectively. He was elected General President of the All-India Oriental conference (1959), the Indian History Congress 1961), and the Numismatic Society of India (1951). The Numismatic Society of India elected him as Hon. Fellow in 1959, and the Epigraphical Society of India in 1974. The President of the Indian Union awarded him a Certificate of Honour with a life-pension for proficiency in Sanskrit learning in 1966. He received the unique honour of being nominated as Honorary Correspondent to the Archaeological Survey of India in 1972. The Sahita Akademi of India elected him its Hon. Fellow in 1974, and the President of the Indian Union conferred on him the honour of Padmabhusana in 1975.