South Indian Inscriptions

BOMBAY-KARNATAKA INSCRIPTIONS

VOLUME I - Part I & II

PREFACE

In May 1925, the late Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sastri, the then Government Epigraphist for India, started a systematic epigraphical survey of the Kanarese districts in the Bombay Presidency with the object of securing the estampages of all the lithic records in the Presidency, and of publishing them in a separate volume under the editorship of a competent scholar when sufficient material was forthcoming.  Since then the survey was conducted by three officers of the Department working in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India, Ootacamund, namely myself, Messers.  R.S. Panchamukhi and N. Lakshminarayana Rao.  In the year 1925-26, the work was begun in the Dharwar taluk of the Bombay-Karnatak by Messers.  N. Lakshminarayana Rao and R.S. Panchamukhi, and in the next year the same officers continued the survey in the Gadag and Ron taluks, respectively.  Subsquently regular annual epigraphical survey of the area was conducted by all or some of us three.  The total number of records secured during these six years rose up to 981, and to avoid accumulation in the office it was thought advisable to publish them in a separate volume.  In April 1931, the Director-General of Archaeology communicated to the Government Epigraphist for India, his sanction for issuing, in a separate volume, the texts of all the Bombay-Karnatak inscriptions collected and examined till then, conjointly by the three authors under my general editorship in the South Indian Inscriptions (Texts) series, in a chronological and dynastic order with brief introductory notes in English given at the head of the text of each record, touching upon the important points given therein.  Accordingly this plan has been adopted in the present volume.  On my transfer to madras in 1931, the work of collecting and publishing the Bombay-karnatak inscriptions was to be carried out by the office of the Superintendent for Epigraphy, Madras.   Owing to unavoidable delay experienced in the receipt of proofs from the Government Press, Madras, it was thought advisable to publish the volume in parts, and accordingly Part I is issued now containing the Texts of 118 inscriptions.

It may by added that the texts now published are the result of very careful study, made in case of early and damaged records, by a thorough examination of the original in situ.  This was mostly accomplished by myself and Mr. R.S. Panchamukhi during our tours in the Bombay-Karnatak undertaken mainly for the purpose.

An exhaustive word index prepared by Mr. H.K. Narasimhaswami has also been added to facilitate ready reference.

C.R. KRISHNAMACHARLU,

Superintendent for Epigraphy.

MADRAS

Dated the 16^th May 1939.