AMARESWARAM

Foreword It is a great honour to write the Foreword for this volume entitled Amaravathi: The Inscriptions of the Amaravathi Temple by Dr. Vavilala Subba Rao. The author, a distinguished pro-fessor of Telugu, is a living treasure of scholarship, wisdom, and the intangible heritage of Amaravathi. There are many temples of great historical value in Andhra. However, very few are understood for their significance. These temples are repositories of inscriptions, which are documen-tary heritage of the respective communities, and cultural land-scapes. The focus of this volume is on the inscriptions of the main temple in Amaravathi. It adds to the much-needed schol-arship on the temples of Andhra. Dr Subba Rao provided a narrative of the temple through the inscriptions and most importantly used their rendition in contemporary Telugu. This scholarly intervention makes them accessible to present-day readers. I invite the readers to enjoy the volume and to visit or re-visit the illustrious temple. Dr Subba Rao's scholarship and diligence enriches further the identity and sense of place of Amaravathi.