PERSONNEL

WORK DONE DURING THE YEAR
COLLECTION

  15. During the year 156 villages were visited in the Madras Presidency, of which 70 yielded a total collection of 542 inscriptions. In the Bombay- Karnatak 118 villages were visited, of which 32 yielded 121 inscriptions. Nine-teen Copper-plate grants were also examined and 64 photographs were taken of objects of archaeological and epigraphical interest.

  The strike order for the Annual Report for 1934-35 was given on 21-4-1938 to the Manager, Government of India Press, Calcutta, and it was issued in June 1938. The proofs for the Report for 1935-36 were received in batches from June, from the Government Press, Madras, and its stitched proof was received in February 1939.

PUBLICATION.

   16. The manuscript for Volume XII, South Indian Inscriptions (Pallava Section) was revised and a general introduction for this part was drawn up. About 90 inscriptions for the next two parts of this volume dealing with the Pāṇḍya and Chōḷa inscriptions were studied and introductory notes on them were got ready. For the Bombay-Karnatak volume (S. I.I.., Vol. XI, Part I) pp. 1-118 of the fourth proof were corrected and sent to the Press for page proof to be issued as part I of the volume. Index for this matter was also prepared. Introductory notes in English on 126 inscriptions of the Western Chāḷukya and Kaḷachurya dynasties that are to go into the next part of the volume were also drawn up. During the year, I contributed three articles entitled, ‘Vilavaṭṭi grant of Pallava Siṁhavarman ‘, ‘Śāsanakōṭa plates of Gaṅga Mādhavavarman I’ and ‘ Epigraphical Notes’ for publication in the Epigraphia Indica, and two others, viz., ‘A short note on the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa sculptures’, and ‘Sāñchi Inscription of Vaskushāṇa’ to the Director-General, the former for inclusion in his Annual Report and the latter for publication in the Bibliography of Indian Archaeology. My assistant (the late) Mr. A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar also sent an article on’ Ambāsamudram inscription of Śōlanralaikoṇḍa Vīra-Pāṇḍya’ for publication in Epigraphia Indica.

   17. As usual, the office has helped scholars and others interested in Epi- graphy with its records, both published and unpublished, the chief among them being the Indian History Department of the Madras University which consulted more than 1,200 transcripts of the office during the year. Recently, the Hindu Religious Endowments Board has been taking keen interest in the past history of the numerous temples under its charge, and through the efforts of the Board there has been a wide awakening of popular interest in the architecture and inscriptions of the South Indian temples. The Board must be complimented on the great care it has been bestowing on the preservation and renovation of temples.

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