PREFACE.
UP TO the dawn of the nineteenth century the early history of India was practically a sealed book to the world. Little material for a true history of the country was available even to scholars who could understand and appreciate the different stages through which the people of this great and ancient country had passed during the last three or four thousand years. The political changes and social disintegration, which marked the eight or ten centuries preceding the arrival of the British in India, left little opportunity or inclination in people to study the history or the literature of their country. With the advent of the English and the gradual opening up of the different parts of the country, an interest in its history and literature was awakened, and scholars took to a study of Sanskrit literature and philosophy. This gave rise to a study of Indian archæology which has, since the beginning of the last century, brought to light much important material for a proper and systematic reconstruction of the history of India. A knowledge of Indian Palæography, however, is essential for a study of Indian archæology. Ignorance of ancient Indian scripts and the consequent inability to read inscriptions on stone, copper plates and coins contributed not a little to the confused and incorrect ideas on Indian history, which prevailed in the country in a long time. Whatever light modern researches have cast on the dark pages of the early history of this country is due to a large extent, to the labours of the pioneers among Europian scholars who succeeded in tracing out the various forms through which the Indian alphabets have passed. The complete reading of the Brāhmi and Kharoshthi characters by Princep and others marks the beginning of much valuable work done by European and Indian scholars, without which our present knowledge of the early history of India would have been impossible.
To a student of the early history of India a thorough acquaintance with the various alphabets in use in ancient India and their correlation is necessary. The great obstacle, however, to the cultivation of the study of Indian Palæography was the absence of a single book dealing with the subject as a whole––book by means of which the subject could be studied without the help of a teacher. The materials for such study are to be found in English and other European languages. Numerous facsimilies, transcripts, translations, dissertations, comments and criticisms have, from time to time, appeared in various Government publications and the journals of learned societies. The volume and expense of these publications, however, place them out of the reach of the ordinary student, who has no means of referring to them unless he happens to reside in a large town which has a good library.
To meet this want, I published, as early as 1894 A.D., 'Prāchina Lipimālā' or 'The Palæography of India' in Hindi. It was the first book of its kind in any language, and was much appreciated by European and Indian scholars. It gave an impetus to the study of the subject, and many Indian and European scholars found the book useful for a study of Indian
