This pioneering work is of permanent importance. In this work, the author has culled together the widely-scattered data at one place for the benefit of the scholars and students of Indian palaeography.
The chief merit of the work lies in the wide ranging survey of the various scripts of India, a study of which, as the author rightly points out in his scholarly preface, can enable a student to decipher and read the ancient Indian epigraphs.
The book is divided into two parts, descriptive and illustrative. The first part which is descriptive, contains twenty-four chapters where in all the aspects of Indian palaeography have been discussed in detail. In the second part are included eighty-four plates which provide the reader with material for exercises. An appendix containing dissertation on various Indian eras has also been included for added benefit to the scholars. Of particular importance are the detailed excurses on various points connected with problems pertaining to the ancient Indian scripts, the history of the alphabets, numerals, decipherments, etc.
In the present revised edition, the author has supplemented the data by latest discoveries and researches and there is no gainsaying the fact that this monumental work will be of permanent value to the archaeologists, epigraphists and linguists.