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Synopsis This encyclopaedia aims to provide authentic information on various aspects of ancient Indian culture and civilization. Barring political history, almost all possible, subjects pertaining to the multiple facets of ancient Indian culture have been dealt with necessary textual and epigraphical references. The topics covered (literary, linguistic, religious, philosophical, artistic, economic, legal, social educational, medical, scientific, technological and allied matters) have been arranged under suitable headings to meet the needs of modern scholarship. Care has been taken to present accurate and authentic information based on latest researches to make the work an indispensable reference tool for students, scholars, teachers and the general reader. "This Encyclopaedia of Ancient Indian Culture is meant not to stand on the book-shelf, but for constant use on the work-table of students, researchers and teachers, as well as for educated laymen who want to know about ancient India. Almost all possible subjects pertaining to various aspects of ancient Indian culture and civilization, barring political history, have been covered here in disjointed entries along with necessary textual and epigraphical references. The principal topics covered are administration, aesthetics, alchemy, archaeology, architecture, astronomy, botany, chemistry, cities, dramaturgy, economic life, erotics, ethics, festivals, foreign accounts, forests, geography, grammar, historiography, holy places, iconography, inscriptions, languages, lexicography, law and legal topics, lakes, literature, mathematics, medical science, metallurgy, metrics, mining, moral values, mountains, music, ornithology, painting, pathology, philosophy and philosophers, physics, plants, poetics, priesthood, prostitution religion and religious sects, rivers, rituals, sacraments, scripts, sculpture, social life, stages of life, stratecraft, technology, terracotta, tribes, villages, warfare, and zoology. The fragmentary nature of the entries does not, however, preclude total comprehension. For example, economic life has been treated under the following heads: agriculture, animal husbandry, arable land, artisans, Asiatic mode of production, barter system, booty, bribe, cattle, coinage, coins, contracts, coparcenary, corporations, crops, currency, Dayabhaga, deposit, economy, ferries, feudalism, fines, fiscal terms, gift, government, grants, harbour, heirship, hunting, impartible property, inheritance, interest, irrigation, joint family, lands, loans, manure market, mines, mining, money lending, monopoly, mortgage, occupations, officials, ownership, partition, partnership, passports, pearl trade, pledge, ports, possession, property, rainfall, revenue, Roman trade, routes, salaries, ship-building, slavery, taxation, territorial terms, tillage, title, tolls, treasury, urbanization, usury, villages, wages, wealth, weights, woman's property, etc. These entries taken together are expected to present a complete picture of the economic condition of ancient India. To take another example: literature is classified under Apabhramsa, Pali, Prakrit, regional and Sanskrit. A reader interested in Prakrit will find that at the end of the principal article on Prakrit the following topics are suggested: eastern Apabhramsa, Ajitasena, Ardhamagadhi, Devabhadra, Devacandra, Dhanesvara, Dharmadasagani, extra-Indian Prakrit, Gunacandra, Unadhya, Hala, Haribhadra, Hemacandra, inscriptional Prakrit, Jain canonical literature, Jain Maharastri, Laksmanagani, Magadhi, Maharastri, Niya Prakrit, Padalipta, Paisaci, Pravarasena, Santisuri, Siddhasena, Silacarya, Somaprabha, Sricandra, story literature, Uddyotanasuri, Vakpatiraja, Vardhamana, Vasudevahindi and Vijayasena. Thus the Encyclopaedia serves a twofold purpose, overall comprehension of topics on the one hand and detailed information on particular aspects on the other; as such it is expected to be of great usefulness to scholars.