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PREFACE
Sri-Ranganathasvamin temple on the island
of Sri-Rangam in the Tiruchirapalli District of Tamil Nadu is one of the
very important Vaishnava temples of India. On the walls of its prakaras
and shrines, inscriptions ranging in date from the 10th
century are of absorbing interest and they throw valuable light on the
history, religion, culture, economics, etc., of South India during a
period of over a thousand years. So, it was considered worth while to
publish all these inscriptions in a single volume for easy reference.
The work while to publish all some time in 1946 and it was entrusted to
Shri H.K. Narasimhasvami, Superintend for Epigraphy (Retd.) who then
held the post of Senior Epigraphical Assistant. He was assisted by Shri
V.S. Subrahmaniam as Pandit, a post specially created for the purpose.
Being of great magnitude the work took a long time and it was completed
in 1967. Shri K.G. Krishnan, Chief Epigraphist, who then held the post
of Senior Epigraphical Assistant helped in a significant way in the
finalization of the manuscript of volume especially in the preparation
of its Introduction. The completed manuscript was lying in the Office
of the Chief Epigraphist and I took up the matter of its printing with
the Tamil Nadu Government Press, Madras as soon as I took charge of the
post of Chief Epigraphist in 1976. Due to some reasons the Press was
quite unwilling to undertake the printing of this volume, and I had to
make special efforts in this regard which resulted in the press kindly
accepting this and four other volumes for printing. My desire to see
the volume printed off before I retired from my office did not
fructify. Nevertheless, I am very happy that is now available in print
after a lapse of about 34 years. I am sure that the volume will be
found extremely useful by scholars of South Indian history and culture.
Mysore P.R. Srinivasan
12-12-1980 Chief
Epigraphist (Retd.)
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