The progress of Archaeology in Karnataka has been assessed twice before, once in 1973 and the second time in 1985, by arranging seminars. The first seminar was arranged by Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy, under the auspices of the Mysore University and its proceedings have been published under the title Archaeology of Karnataka (1975). The second seminar was by Prof. A. Sundara under the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums in the year 1985 and the proceedings have been published by this Directorate. Exactly after a decade Dr. D.V. Devaraj arranged the third seminar on the same theme. In fact this seminar coincided with the felicitation and farewell to Dr. A.V. Narasimha Murthy on the eve of his retirement from the University Service. The learned professor's contribution to the different branches of archaeology such as excavation (Talkad, Banavasi, Heggadehalli and Koppa), epigraphy, numismatics and art is well known and need not be repeated here. Though active even now, his formal retirement marks the end of an era in Karnataka archaeology. This seminar provided an opportunity to learned scholars to present their latest researches on different branches of Karnataka archaeology. This volume contains research papers presented at the seminar.
There are two papers on pre and proto historic archaeology; early historic archaeology is represented by three essays; eight papers deal with epigraphy; five papers are devoted to numismatics; others deal with architecture, sculpture and other aspects; one or two articles have now been added. Thus the volume under reference gives a fairly good picture of the progress of archaeology during the last decade of the last century. I thank all the contributors for their research papers.
I am grateful to Sri. A.R. Chandrahasa Gupta, L.A.S., Secretary to Government, Kannada and Culture Department for evincing keen interest in the publication of this volume and also for encouraging us by a learned foreword. I also thank Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy for his interest in this publication. Sri. H.M. Nagaraja Rao deserves our thanks for helping us by going through the proof. While D.T.P. has been done by Comptek Computer Systems, printing has been done by Akshara Mudrika, Mysore. I thank them for prompt and neat work. Illustrations used here have been taken from our own publications in addition to those of I.K. Sarma. I thank all the authors in this regard. I also thank Dr. R. Gopal for his ready help. I hope that this volume will be useful to all interested in archaeological research.
Archaeology is an ever growing subject as it mainly depends upon the evidences. As and when new evidences turn up either by planned explorations and excavations or by chance the concepts have to be changed, modified or reinterpreted according to the nature of the new evidence. That is why it is said that human history is continuously rewritten. The Department of Archaeology and Museums in Karnataka and other organisations have been very active in exploration, excavation, pre and proto-historic studies, epigraphy, numismatics, architecture and sculpture. The excavations carried out by our Department at Talkad, Sannati, Heggadehalli, Banavasi and other sites have yielded valuable results adding considerably to our knowledge of the Archaeology of Karnataka. Many individual scholars and Universities are also contributing their own mite to enrich our archaeological heritage. It is our sincere endeavour to spread this knowledge not only among the scholars but also among the general readers. With this view the Department had organised a national seminar and the papers read at the seminar are published now for the benefit of the wider readers.
A perusal of the volume shows that Karnataka State is very active in all branches of archaeology in which younger scholars are taking great interest under the leadership of veteran archaeologists. The last decade of this millennium with which this volume deals with seems to have been very fruitful in archaeological researches and publications. I am particularly impressed by the work at Sannati which has given a clear cut evidence of Mauryan period in Karnataka, which was hitherto hazy. The clue to the formation of the sand dunes and its age at Talkad is another remarkable discovery. The volume also contains the discovery of new epigraphs and coins. Thus it helps us in understanding the Personality of Karnataka. I congratulate Dr. M.V. Krishnappa and Dr. R. Gopal for bringing out this Volume as a contribution of the new year of the new millennium. I hope that this Volume will be welcomed by archaeologists and general readers alike.
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