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Vol. XXIV, 2001
REVIEW
145
World War. Those published translations and the proceedings of the International Conference Tessitori and Rajasthan are now issued in print to shed lighton the cultural milieu and the intellectual framework within which Tessitrori was soon to become one of the greatest orientalists of all time.
The Conference was organized by the Societa Indologica, Luigi Pio Tessitori, in coolaboratiobn with the Birla Science entre in Hydrabad, the Venetian ACademy for Indian Studies in VEnice, and the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi.
The Conference focused on topics in the field of o philology, linguistics, bardic litrature, ncient history and archaeology. The traditional picture of ancient and modern Indian civilization is thus duly supplemented in unusually broadranging terms, and Rajasthan, one ofits geographical and historical component, is accorded a more sound degree of prominence.
Besides Tessori's work in other subjcts listed above, perhaps the most notewortrhy part of his work is to be seen in thetracing, cataloguing, editing and translating ofthechronicles and poems of the bards of Rajasthan. Specially noteworthy is his open-mindedness with which he approached what was to becomehis native country. Though i appears unlikely that Tessitori ever became a onvert to the Jain fith, it is beyond all doubt that he held a deep affection for those with whom fate had brought him together.
The book contains, besides the Foreword and Introduction, sixteen research papers, and thirteenth photographs given at the end of the book by was under the title Tessitori and Rajasthan(1914-19190.
. The authors of the papers are veterans, like Hazarimal Banthiya, Colete Caillat, Enrico Fasana, Nalini Balbir, Stefano Piano, John D. Smith, Kamal Chand Sogani, Harivallbh Chunilal Bhayani, Girija Shakar Sharma, Prkash Chandra Bhargava, Braj Basi Lal, Donatella Dolcini, Shaktidan Kaviya, Anna Brosolo, Fausto Freshi and of course Luigi Pio Tessitori.
The topics discussed by them are as follows, respectively:Luigi Pio Tessitori and International Cooperation; Luigi Pio Tessitory - His Historical Reearch; The Story of Solomon's Judgment Revisited; Tessitory and Rāma-kathā; Heroes, Victim and Role Models; Tessitory an Apabhramśa; Periodization of the Historical Develoment of Gujarati; Luigi Pio Tessitori's Contribution to the Hiory
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