Page:Ancient History of the Deccan.djvu/10

 the words " ancient limes " denotes the 9 centuries extending from 261 13.0, to about 610 A. D, that is to say, h^om Asôka to Pulakêsin II, In fact, we have no historical document anterior to Asoka ; and so we shall begin our history from the time of this king, about 261 B. C, (the Kalinga war). On the other hand, from the time of Pulakêsin II, about 610 A. D, we have a large number of historical documents and the history of the Deccan is mostly known. It is therefore this historic period between 261 B. C, and 610 A. D, that is denoted by the words, " Deccan in Ancient times " and that we are going to study in this work.

The only book in which we lind some information on their subject is the "Bombay Gazetteer" Vol. I. Part II ( 1896) which contains two works : "Early History of the Deccan" by R. G. Bhandarkar and " Dynasties of tlie Kanarese Districts" bv |, ¥ Fleet. This book is well-known and there is no need to praise it here. But to-day it has one defect : it is twenty-five years old and during this last quarter of a cen- tury numerous discoveries have been made and " The Bombay Gazetteer " Vol. I. Part II. is not at all " up to date ". Besides, this book itself does not contain, strictly speaking, the history of the Deccan in ancient times. The portion concer- ning the ancient times is very succinct, for, in 1896, the num- ber of documents concerning it was small. Moreover, the Bombav Presidencv does not by itself constitute the whole of the Deccan.

We mav therefore say that today the History of the Deccan is quite a new subject. The student who wishes to know what was the History of the Deccan between 261 B. C, and 610 A. D, does not know what books to consult. This his- tory is lost in obscurity. Still it is not the documents that are wanting; for the dynasty of the Kadambas alone, we have about thirty copper-plates. We have also plentv of information about the Pallavas and the Gangas. Why then is the chronc- logy of these dynasties so mysterious ? I thought that what was wanted most at the present time was to arrange the parts and make a whole work of it ; I thought that a complete and attentive study of all the documents we actually possess will throw a flood of light on the darkness, bring order out of chaos and, in short, gi^■e birth to, what we have n'jt had uj? to