Mysore-headquartered Directorate of Archaeology and Museums of the Karnataka government has taken up an ambitious project of bringing out separate volumes for each of the 30 districts in the state on their historical and archeological background and the outcome of the latest researches in the two areas.
Under the project, it has published 10 district volumes and the 11th in the series on Tumkur will be released on November 11, followed by the one on Belgaum district at Kittur. As part of the compilation process on Mysore district, it brought together about 90 historians and research scholars for a two-day symposium at the pilgrim centre of Suttur in Nanjangud taluk.
Director of Archaeology and Museums R Gopal said at the inauguration of the symposium on Thursday that the volume on Mysore district would be ready in two months. The project aims to publish district-wise volumes and has been taken up in association with private participants like educational institutions, in view of the limited finances of the directorate.
Mysore district is a storehouse of historical facts, ranging from the neolithic period at Talakad to the regime of the Wadiyars. A Roman seal was unearthed during an excavation at Talkad, the ancient site in the district, and reveals the trade relations with the ancient Rome.
R Sundara, a scholar, recalled that the directorate had brought out 12 volumes initially — ‘Epigraphia Carnatica’. They list inscriptions available in the old state of Mysore, after pioneering the discovery of over a dozen palaeolithic sites in different parts of Karnataka by Robert Bruce of the Geological Survey of India. After this, successive efforts were on to throw more light on the historical and archaeological past of Mysore district.
Engaged in publication of revised 24 volumes of Epigraphia Carnatica covering the entire Karnataka, the Mysore University had so far brought out a dozen volumes. The Department of Archaeology, Government of India, had taken up village to village survey. Archaeologists Rangarajan and Shivarudrappa had initiated research on the Cauvery delta area.
Sundara said the district volumes should be supplied to schools and gram panchayats to educate students and villages on the importance of their place. He called for excavation and research to trace early stone-age evidences of the early man, which had remained elusive during excavations so far in the district.