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The author reveals that the present Report ought to have been issued before Christmas last, and this would have been done but for unavoidable delays. Had it been so, however, it must have been issued without much direct superintendence on his part, and the latter portion of it at least in a more abridged form. On his return from India last June, only about 80 pages had been printed off, and little more than 40 additional pages were in type this gave him the opportunity of reusing the remainder as it passed through the press, and of correcting and adding to it according to the most recent information he had obtained. Though devoted chiefly to Kathiawad and Kachh, it is not to be regarded as in any sense a complete report on the antiquities of either of these provinces. Kachh has hitherto been a terra incognita to the antiquarian, and, though probably not very rich in remains, it deserves a much fuller examination than he could bestow upon it in a few weeks at the commencement of the last season of 1875. Of Kathiawad we know more; but he has not been able to touch in this Report, on Satrunjaya with its city of temples, the ancient Valabhi, Somanath, and many other places of interest, and it would require that he should devote at least another season to the province, in order to be able to represent these places in a manner at all adequate to their interest. The want also of anything like a sufficient staff of draughtsmen prevented a good deal being accomplished that might have been done with more effective assistance. A complete set of impressions were taken of the great Asoka inscription at Girnar and of Eudra Hama’s, and are now lodged in the India Office Library, where they can be examined by scholars.
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ISBN : 9788121226493
Pages : 331
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