G. S. Gai (Govind Swamirao Gai) (3 March 1917 – 5 February 1995) was an Indian epigraphist, historical linguist, and historian, known for his expertise in early-medieval

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

inscriptions. From 1962 until 1976, Gai was the Chief Epigraphist for the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

. Gai was awarded a Research Scholarship in 1939 at the Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute to investigate

inscriptions. The inscriptions had been the subject of earlier work by

A. N. Narasimhia A. N. Narasimhia (Agaram Narasimha Narasimhia) is an epigraphist and scholar of the Kannada language, especially its historical aspects. Career Narasimhia received his PhD, under the supervision of Professor R. L. Turner, from the School of Orien ...

, whose

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

thesis (and later book), ''A Grammar of the Oldest Kanarese Inscriptions'', concentrated on inscriptions from the sixth and seventh centuries. Gai's own graduate work picked up where Narasimhia's left off, and focused on the inscriptions from the eighth to the tenth centuries. Gai subsequently received his Ph.D. from the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

, and his thesis, ''A Historical Grammar of Old Kannada: based entirely on the Kannada inscriptions of the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries A. D.'' was published in book form by the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute,

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, in 1946. He is the first PhD awardee of Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute, Pune. The book received a positive review by

Thomas Burrow Thomas Burrow (; 29 June 1909 – 8 June 1986) was an Indologist and the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1944 to 1976; he was also a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford during this time. His work includes ''A Dravidi ...

in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'',

, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1948), pp. 466–467, and is considered to be a pioneering study in the field. In 1943, Gai joined the epigraphy branch of the

, ultimately attaining, in 1962, the highest position in the department, the Government Epigraphist for India. In 1963, the position was changed to Chief Epigraphist, one which Dr. Gai retained until his retirement in 1976. Gai is the author of many books; in addition to this Ph.D. thesis, he is the author of ''Introduction to Indian epigraphy : with special reference to the development of the scripts and language'' (1986), ''Some select inscriptions'' (1990), ''Studies in Indian history, epigraphy, and culture'' (1992), ''Inscriptions of the early Kadambas'' (1996) and ''Indian epigraphy: its bearing on the history of art'' (edited with F. M. Asher, 1985). Gai also authored over one hundred research papers on epigraphy, history, linguistics and archaeology. He edited ''South Indian Inscriptions'' Vol. XX and ''

Epigraphia Indica ''Epigraphia Indica'' was the official publication of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1882 to 1977. The first volume was edited by James Burgess in the year 1882. Between 1892 and 1920 it was published as a quarterly supplement to ...

'' vols XXXV to XXXVIII, published by the Archaeological Survey of India. He was also the joint editor of the revised ''Corpus Inscripionum Indicarum'', Vol. III.

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gai, G. S. 1917 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Indian linguists 20th-century Indian archaeologists Archaeological Survey of India people University of Mumbai alumni Indian epigraphers

See also

References