{"word_count": 1297, "character_count": 8187}
Dictionary of Social, Economic, and Administrative Terms in South Indian Inscriptions. Volume I (A-D). Edited by K.V. Ramesh. General Editor R.S. Sharma. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research &#38; Oxford University Press. 2012. XXVI-352 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-808015-2. ISBN-10: 0-19-808015-2.Link to OUP.comThis volume is the first outcome of a lexicographic project started in 1989 under the aegis of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), interrupted in 1993 and revived in 2004. The project explicitly compares (see Foreword, p. vii) with H.H. Wilson's Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms, and of Useful Words Occurring in Official Documents Relating to the Administration of the Government of British India (London: Allen &#38; Co., 1885).These two undertakings are however quite different in scope and purpose. Wilson collected “words in current use (…) related to the administration of public business in every department” (op. cit., p. iii) and his work was designed as a tool the administration of colonial India. The ICHR project embraces a much longer period, “from the early Indian inscriptions up to A.D. 1800” (see Foreword, p. vii) and is meant for historical research.The editorship has been entrusted to K.V. Ramesh for the dictionary of South Indian inscriptions, to K.M. Srimali for the dictionary of North Indian inscriptions and to Irfan Habib for the dictionary of Arabic and Persian inscriptions (see Introduction, p. xi).K.V. Ramesh's targets are the social, economic and administrative terms that appear in South Indian inscriptions. ((A list of 50 subjects details which items are collected; see Introduction, p. xii–xii.)) K.V. Ramesh and his team members (see Introduction, p. xvi) thus take into account the inscriptions from South India up to 1800 ce, published and unpublished, in any language attested, except post-1500 ce inscriptions in European languages. This means that the dictionary contains terms in Kannada, Malayalam, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.This first volume covers entries from letter A to D following the English alphabetical order. Each entry is provided with, at least one lengthy quotation of an original text and its full translation, reference to the epigraphical edition or report, location and date. Each page, divided into two columns, has a line numbering.The lengthy quotations of original texts make the dictionary a very useful tool for the historian since each entry is contextualised. Moreover, the works stands as a mine of information. The scope is broad since topics as diverse as words related to social groups, agriculture, craft, transport, taxation, clothing, diet, etc. are aimed at. For instance, we see that the surname Caṭṭopādhyāya (see entry “Chaṭṭōpādhyāya,” p. 277) is used in 11th-century Karnataka or that self-immolation is termed after the Sanskrit ātma-tyāga in a 10th-century inscription from Tamil Nadu (see entry “ānmatyāgam,” p. 119).Inevitably a work of such scope cannot be produced without small defects.There are misprints. On p. 4, col. 2, l. 17, we read kallilum chambilum veṭṭikkoḷga (SII 17, No.128, pp. 30-31, l. ­22-23, 53-54), whereas the edition has kalliluñ cempilum veṭṭikkoḷka (according to Tamil Lexicon’s scheme of transliteration), which, in the adopted transcription scheme of the dictionary should have resulted in kalliluñ jembilum veṭṭikkolga.There is misguiding information. On p. 244, the entry “bhū dāna” is presented as a Kannada word, but the first two quoted inscriptions are in Tamil, whereas the third is in Kannada and the fourth in Telugu. The next entry, “bhūdāna iṟaiyili”, on the same page, is presented as a Telugu word, but the quoted inscription is in Tamil.Translations are sometimes approximate ((K.V. Ramesh indeed warns us about the uneasiness of interpretation and translation for many terms. See Introduction, p. xiv.)) or inconsistent, a fact that might reflect different hands since this dictionary is a collaborative work. Compare p. 4, col. 2, l. 17-18, where kallilum cempilum veṭṭikkoḷka (according to Tamil Lexicon’s scheme of transliteration) is translated as “have it registered on stone as well as on copper plate” with p. 283, col. 1, l. 18-20, where ippaṭikku cempilum kallilum veṭṭikkoḷka (according to Tamil Lexicon’s scheme of transliteration) is translated as “you may thus get (the details of) the grant engraved on copper sheet as well as stone.” Such inconsistency is in fact not a big problem, as long as both translations of the same phrase, although different, are correct.One would probably also find that some entries are lacking. In our digital age, such work would typically be best achieved in a computer database, which could continually be fed with additional data. ((One hopes that the printed dictionary could easily be converted into an online database.))One relative weakness of the work is the adoption of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) schemes of transliteration for Indian scripts, ((See transliteration chart, p. x, which, however, is incomplete.)) which is at odds with the schemes nowadays in use in scholarly circles outside India. I limit my remarks here for the languages familiar to me, i.e. Sanskrit and Tamil.To be true, as far as Sanskrit is concerned, the adoption of ASI scheme of transliteration ((For instance: cha and chha correspond to Nāgarī च and छ―as K.V. Ramesh states in his Introduction (p. xvi.)―, sha to Nāgarī ष; the vowels e and o are marked as long vowels, i.e. as ē and ō; ṁ and not ṃ for the anusvāra.)) is not a big impediment.For Tamil, one feels however more uncomfortable, as, instead of the transliteration scheme of the Tamil Lexicon, which presents the methodological advantage of a one-to-one sign equivalence, a transcription scheme has been adopted. For instance the letter ச் is variously rendered as ś, ((Sometimes, with misprints. See p. 164, col. 1, lines 4 and 7 where āsuvigaḷ stands for aśuvigaḷ, i.e. ācuvikaḷ, according to Tamil Lexicon’s scheme.)) ch (p. 281: chekkār = cekkār), j, so as to reflect its pronunciation. ((Similarly க் is rendered as k or g, த் as t or d, ப் as p or b. The letter ன் is rendered as n̤.))Surely, a scholar in Tamil is not lost with this transcription scheme (at least any scholar of Tamil epigraphy is used to it). But, in a dictionary where an alphabetical order is the rationale for ordering and searching the entries, one used to the Tamil Lexicon scheme will have to make a supplementary effort to find words. For instance, அரசர், aracar according to Tamil Lexicon scheme, has to be searched under the entry “araśar” (p. 140) and not p. 132, between the entries “aputrakaporuḷ” and “ārāchchi.”The adoption of this transcription scheme may have advantages. For instance, p. 15, there is an entry for the Kannada word “achchu.” The first inscription quoted is in Kannada, the second in Tamil, the third in Telugu, since this word, cognate in the three languages, is transliterated the same way for the three languages concerned.The user of this dictionary should thus be aware of this transliteration/transcription issue and should know that even if an entry is presented as belonging to one language, he might find in the same notice the cognate words in other language.An appendix consisting in a general index to all the entries in original script could remedy to this situation, once the complete series of volumes will have been published.Despite this transliteration issue—which makes one not sure of having completely searched the dictionary and taken advantage of the wealth of knowledge it contains—the book certainly is a major incentive for the use of the precious epigraphical evidence by historians of ancient India. It shows that, in South India, concepts and realia were expressed with Sanskrit words (or words borrowed and adapted from Sanskrit) or with Dravidian words. This dictionary enables one to assess when and in which context(s) Sanskrit words, loanwords or vernacular words prevailed.The next volumes in the series are awaited. And it is hoped that the companion dictionaries on North Indian inscriptions as well as on Arabic and Persian inscriptions will soon be published.