Epigraphic Records
M.R. Raghava Varier
DICTIONARY OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE TERMS IN SOUTH INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS by K.V. Ramesh Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2015, 392 pp., 2100
March 2015, volume 39, No 3

India is one of the richest countries in epigraphic documents, belonging mainly to the ancient and medieval periods of history. These documents are invaluable in that they contain brief hints or elaborate accounts of past events and practices. They are the main sources to reconstruct the ancient and medieval history of India. The number of such inscriptions comes to hundreds of thousands and therefore, the importance of the study of inscriptions in understanding various aspects of economy, society and culture of Indian History cannot be exaggerated. At the same time, these epigraphic records, most of them written in different regional idioms, are replete with a large number of words and usages, the meanings of which have become obsolete. Against this intellectual background the volume under review becomes not only helpful but essential and unavoidable in understanding the meanings of technical terms used in epigraphic records.

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