________________
FOREWORD
I am glad to have the opportunity of writing a brief foreword for a book which was the thesis of the author for Doctorate of the Banaras Hindu University and which at that stage passed through me as an examiner of the University. Dr. Amar Chand Mittal has devoted considerable attention to the study of Kharabela's inscription which still gives rise to different interpretations and inferences drawn therefrom. Kharabela was a great king and only in his inscription we find the type of education the princes used to be called upon to receive in those days. Kharabela is a Dravidian word which gives a clue to many Dravidian words which have been absorbed in the Sanskrit and other languages born of Sanskrit. Dr. Mittal has examined many knotty points relating to Kharabela.
The book relates to a period which was a formative one for different regions of India. It was Ashoka who made a scrious effort to bring the whole of India under one administration, but he stopped at Kalinga. Nevertheless, he brought the major portion of the country under one type of rule and it is during this time that the state undertook the task of integration of the country on the basis of 'Sadhamma' or true civilisation. But unfortu. nately only about fifty years after Ashoka, India again went to pieces and different Khaņdas or regions built up their own history independently.
Kharabela belonged to that period and the history of Orissa as a region began from him. It is not easy to
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
