Inscriptions form the primary source material for historical researches. The Department of Archaeology of the erstwhile State of Mysore started functioning with this novel goal. Mr. Lewis Rice, the first Director, has successfully published inscriptions spread all over the erstwhile State in Epigraphia Carnatica in twelve volumes before the beginning of the present century. His successors who subsequently discovered new inscriptions have published them in the Annual Reports of the Department and also in the supplements to Epigraphia Carnatica. These Epigraphia Carnatica volumes are now being revised and reprinted by the Institute of Kannada Studies, University of Mysore, Mysore.
The above series covers only the Southern Districts of the present Karnataka. It is the intention of the Directorate to bring out such volumes for the Districts of Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur, Belgaum, Dharwad, Bellary, Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada which were included during reorganisation of States in 1956. The publication of Epigraphia Carnatica volumes for these districts has been undertaken by this Directorate. However, publishing texts of inscriptions with translations under this series takes quite some time. Many inscriptions in these districts are published under different series. It is necessary to collect all such inscriptions under one series to facilitate their easy access to researchers, in the absence of Epigraphia Carnatica series. Dr. Channabasappa S. Patil and Mrs. Vinoda C. Patil have collected summaries of inscriptions of North Karnataka and planned to publish them in ten volumes. The present volume containing inscriptions at Vijayanagara (Hampi) is the first under this series.
I congratulate Dr. Channabasappa S. Patil and Mrs. Vinoda C. Patil for all the efforts put forth in bringing out this volume in a commendable way. I am happy to place this important scholarly volume before the scholars and researchers.
Twenty years back I had an opportunity of going through inscriptions in the Epigraphia Carnatica volumes and prepare index cards for the preparation of 'Glossary of Administrative Terms in Ancient Karnataka' under Prof. S.IL. Ritti at the Department of Ancient Indian History and Epigraphy, Karnatak University, Dharwad. I was stunned by the information contained in these inscriptions. Soon after the completion of the project, I started working for Doctoral thesis on "Modiseval Temples in Raichur and Bellary Districts". As part of my research I started collecting source material from epigraphs. The Epigraphia Carnatica volumes published during the end of the nineteenth century by the State Department cover only the Districts of the erstwhile State of Mysore and such volumes are not extended to the Northern Districts of the present Karnataka State reorganised in 1956. No doubt, it was a very difficult task for me to prepare index cards of inscriptions of Raichur and Bellary Districts scattered in several volumes under various series.
After my joining the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums in 1977, I was made in charge of excavations at Hampi in 1979. The index cards of inscriptions at Hampi prepared by me Earlier were very useful to various scholars working under the Hampi Resurrection Project. Under this project, more than two hundred fifty new inscriptions were discovered at the site.
I was always thinking of compiling summaries of inscriptions in Northern Districts of Karnataka under one series for the benefit of researchers. Unfortunately I was unable to implement this idea owing to heavy responsibilities of excavations at Hampi and preparation of reports. Meanwhile I also had an opportunity of being one of the members of the team of Archaeologists selected by the Archacological Survey of India for taking up cxcavations in Bahrain from December 1984 to May 1985. Immediately after the completion of the project in Bahrain I returned to Mysore with a set of new camera, new typewriter and other equipments useful for my field studies and some programmes in mind for practical implementation. Collecting summaries of inscriptions in Northern Districts of Karnataka and publishing them under one series was one such programme. I had a typewriter at home and little money to spend towards stationery. At this juncture to my good fortune my wife Mrs. Vinoda C. Patil came forward to assist me in this project and extended her full support. We prepared format of the data sheet for collecting the inscriptions. We borrowed reference books from the Library of the Directorate of Archacology and Museums and started the work. My wife went on typing the data sheets. As the years passed number of data sheets increased considerably beyond our imagination. We started arranging them topographically district-wise, taluk-wise and village-wise besides arranging them alphabetically under each taluk, putting cross references, converting dates into Christian era and editing inscriptions.
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