Bibliography of Indological Studies In 1953: A Survey of Periodical Publication (An Old and Rare Book)

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Shri S. Chaudhuri's bibliography on Indological studies in 1953, is a most welcome addition to the Bibliographical Literature on the subject. The very fact that he has listed 984 articles on Indology appearing in different periodicals in the single year 1953 shows the necessity of such a work. For many years past, it has been very difficult for students of Indology to cope with the very large number of papers that are published in journals in all parts of the world with which they must keep themselves in touch in order to be acquainted with the latest facts and views on the subject. But it is not humanly possible to do so without some sort of aid such as the article by Shri Chaudhuri offers. The need was formerly supplied by the Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology published by the Kern Institute, Leyden. But the last volume of this series covers only the years 1940- 47. It has not been published since then and nobody knows whether it is going to reappear in the near future. An attempt in India on the same lines was made by the Bombay Historical Society in their Annual Bibliography of Indian History and Indology, but this also was stopped long ago and there is no sign of its reappearance. In view of all this, Shri Chaudhuri's bibliography fulfils a distinct need, and it will be of great help to students of Indology if the Society publish similar Bibliography year after year. I sincerely hope that this will be done. In conclusion, I congratulate the author for his very comprehensive and methodical arrangement which will be of great help to all students of Indology.

Sir Aurel Stein said: The development which studies bearing on the past of Indian civilization in all its aspects have fortunately taken in recent years is so great that even for those whose labours are mainly concerned with that past as attested by the remains and other records of India itself, it has become very difficult to keep themselves informed of all researches and discoveries bearing on subjects in which they are directly interested. For those working in India it is particularly difficult to secure timely knowledge of the results of labours which fellow scholars carry on in other parts of the subcontinent as well as in Europe and America, because India for the most part still lacks such facilities as large and well-organized university libraries and similar institutions can offer. (Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology, 1926, Foreword, p. v) holds good. The same remark still holds good.
The Kern Institute brought out the first issue of the Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for the year 1926 in 1928 with the aid of the Government of Netherlands India. Subsequently, the Governments of India, Ceylon and the enlightened rulers of some of the progressive autonomous states of India extended their patronage to the publication of the bibliography. The volume for 1940-47 was published in 1950 and since then no other issue has been brought out.
Annual Bibliography of Indian History and Indology issued by the Bombay Historical Society is equally important. But this Society is also in arrears in bringing out its volume according to schedule. The volume for 1942 was published in 1949 and since then no other issue has been brought out.
This bibliography wants to remove the inconvenience caused to scholars by bringing out in proper time the bibliography of researches carried out by the indologists. It has a wider scope than those of the Kern Institute and the Bombay Historical Society, it deals with Indology in the most comprehensive sense as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary (1933 ed.). Vol. 5, H-K, p. 227, col. 3.
It is to be regretted that the present issue is appearing rather late and also in an incomplete form. This is due primarily to the difficulties in getting together all the periodicals even in Calcutta. In the present issue, articles published in Journals for the year 1953 only (sometimes published as late as 1955) have been indexed except for the Epigraphia Indica which has been indexed for the years 1949-52. Materials published in Russia, East Germany, China and Japan could not be included. In spite of all these difficulties, every effort has been made to make this as exhaustive as possible.
We hope scholars, librarians, learned societies and publishers will co- operate with the project by sending notices of their publications, and suggestions for its improvements.
Acknowledgements are due to all scholars and librarians who in some way or other have helped me in the compilation of this bibliography, especially to Dr. R. C. Majumdar, Professor G. H. Bhatt, Dr. V. Raghavan, Dr. J. N Banerjea and Mr. B. S. Kesavan.