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South Indian History is yet a subject for research, and must continue to be so for at least a decade more. Andhra History is a comparatively more untrodden field. No opinions on these subjects can therefore be stated with an air of finality. I shall consider this labour of love amply rewarded if these essays provoke thought and constructive criticism. The period of history here treated requires elucidation from many points of view. I have endeavoured to suggest one line of elucidation.
My special thanks are due to the Telugu Librarian of the Oriental MSS. Library, Madras, for his invariable courtesy in facilitating my references and to M.R.Ry. M. Ramakrishnakavi Garu, M.A., for a loan of his rare Kannada works in print and MS. bearing intimately on the subjects of my investigation. The index to this part is prepared by my colleague Mr. V. Visvanatha Sarma, Pandit, Maharajah's College and Mr. J. Venkataratnam of the fourth year University class.
I feel it my duty to state that these studies would not at all have been possible but for the noble enthusiasm and generous sympathy of the Trustee of the Vizianagram Raj and the Principal of the Maharajah's College for researches in the Indian Cultural Tradition.
MAHARAJAH'S COLLEGE,!
VIZIANAGRAM, July 1922.
B. SESHAGIRI RAO.
