Epigraphia Carnatica is a set of books on epigraphy of the Old Mysore region of India, compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice, the Director of the Mysore Archaeological Department. Epigraphy (ἐπιγραφολογία from Greek ἐπιγραφή — "inscription" is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs engraved The Kingdom of Mysore was one of the three largest Princely states within the erstwhile British Empire of India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Benjamin L Rice (Benjamin Lewis Rice - also referred by the name B ^[1] Over a period of about ten years between 1894 and 1905, Rice published the books in a set of twelve volumes. The books contain the study of about 9000 inscriptions from lithic surfaces and copper plates, which were found in the region. ^[1] Apart from the original inscription, an English translation and a Roman transliteration are also provided.

Contents 1 History 2 Compilation 3 Publishing 4 Volumes 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

History

Benjamin Lewis Rice was born in Bangalore in 1837. Bangalore ( officially Bengaluru ( Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. His father was a Christian missionary and head of the Bangalore parish. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches ^[2] After completing his education in England, Rice returned to serve as the principal of Central School in Bangalore. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland He was also appointed as a secretary of the education commission. When he toured the countryside as an education inspector, he came across various insciptions. He was interested in epigraphy and he took the help of his assistants to edit, translate and transliterate about 9000 inscriptions. ^[2] When in 1886, the British made him the head of the Department of Archaeology, he started work towards publishing his epigraphical study and brought out a series of twelve volumes entitled Epigraphia Carnatica. ^[2] Rice also wrote a book called The History of Mysore and Coorg from Inscriptions which is based on Epigraphia Carnatica.

Compilation

Epigraphia Carnatica contains a study of inscriptions from 3rd century AD until the 19th century. These inscriptions belonged to different dynasties that ruled this region such as Kadambas, Western Chalukyas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar kings, Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan and the Mysore Wodeyars. The Kadamba Dynasty ( Kannada:ಕದಂಬರು (345 - 525 CE was an ancient royal family of Karnataka that ruled from Banavasi in present The Western Chalukya Empire ( Kannada: ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಚಾಲುಕ್ಯ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ) ruled most of the western Deccan, South The Hoysala Empire ( Kannada: ಹೊಯ್ಸಳ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ ( pronunciation: in Kannada was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga The Vijayanagara Empire ( Kannada: ವಿಜಯನಗರ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯ Telugu: విజయనగర సామ్రాజ్యము was a South Hyder Ali or Haidar 'Ali (c 1722 - 1782 was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. ^[1] The inscriptions found were mainly written in Kannada language but some have been found to be written in languages like Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Urdu and even Persian. Kannada (kn [[wiktಕನ್ನಡ ಕನ್ನಡ]] Kannaḍa) is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised ^[1]

Publishing

After the set of twelve volumes had been published by Rice, R. Narsimhacharya, who succeeded Rice as the head of the archaeological department, found another 4000 inscriptions. H. M. Krishna, after his excavations at Chandravalli and Brahmagiri, discovered 2000 inscriptions and published these discoveries as the volumes 13, 14 and 15 of Epigraphia Carnatica. Chandravalli is an Archaeological site located in the Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. Brahmagiri is an archaeological site located in the Chitradurga district of the state of Karnataka, India. ^[3] However, by 1950, the volumes were out of print. In 1972, the Department of Kannada at Mysore University undertook the task of reprinting the volumes, but could bring out only six volumes. University of Mysore is a Public university in India. It has its main campus in the city of Mysore and extension campuses in the neighbouring districts The Southern Regional Centre of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) under the chairmanship of Professor S. Settar wanted to create a digitized version of the volumes. Settar donated his personal copies of Epigraphia Carnatica, which were scanned and released as a CD-ROM in 2005. ^[1]

Volumes

The twelve original volumes of "Epigraphia Carnatica" were:^[4]

• Coorg inscriptions
• Inscriptions at Sravanabelagola
• Inscriptions in the Mysore district, Part I
• Inscriptions in the Mysore district, Part II
• Inscriptions in the Hassan district
• Inscriptions in the Kadur district
• Inscriptions in the Shimoga district, Part I
• Inscriptions in the Shimoga district, Part II
• Inscriptions in the Bangalore district
• Inscriptions in the Kolar district
• Inscriptions in the Chitaldroog district
• Inscriptions in the Tumkur district

Notes

References

• B. L. Rice (1897). Mysore: A Gazetteer Compiled for Government.  

External links

• Epigraphia Carnatica, online copy of the 1898 edition. (archive. org)

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