Nalanda and its Epigraphic Material (Memoirs No-66)

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Of all Buddhist sites excavated by the Archaeological Survey, Nalanda has proved the most prolific as regards inscriptions. Although the results of excavation are noticed year by year in the Annual Reports, it was unfortunate that no complete account was prepared before Mr. Page the officer responsible for the bulk of the excavation retired from the Survey in 1932. To remedy this defect, so far as the numerous seals, copper plates and stone inscriptions are concerned, the work was happily entrusted to the then Government Epigraphist, Dr. Hirananda Sastri who brought to bear on this task his ripe scholarship and his intimate knowledge of Nalanda. Dr. Sastri, however, retired in 1933 before he could give finishing touches to his work and this task fell on his successor Dr. Chakravarti, who had necessarily to verify all the readings from the original material at Nalanda , in course of which considerable difference of readings were brought out. Minor emendations have been made in Dr. Sastri's text, but wherever it was felt necessary the points of difference are indicated in footnotes by Dr. Chakravarti as Editor.