Acknowledgement

In the preparation of my thesis I am greatly indebted to a number of individuals and institutions without whose kind support and help this work would not have accomplished its present form. At the outset I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to the scholars whose work I have thoroughly utilized. I would like to express my profound regards and indebtedness to my revered guide Dr. Swati Ray, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta under whose scholarly shade this work was prepared. As a supervisor she was always ready to discuss problems connected with my research which helped me a lot in handling the subject. I am deeply beholden to Dr. Rupendra Kumar Chattopadhyay, Chair Professor, Department of History, Presidency University for his astute observations, and invaluable suggestions, while writing my thesis. I am equally greateful to Dr. Suchandra Ghosh, Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta, Dr. Sudipa Ray Bandyopadhyay, Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta and Dr. Sumita Basu Majumdar, Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta for their valuable comments and encouragement while preparing my thesis. I also wish to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Lipi Ghosh, Professor, Department of South East Asian Studies, University of Calcutta for giving permission to use the Departmental library for my research work.

I am extremely thankful to Dr. Urmila Sant, Director (Museum), Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi for her kind permission to study and take photographs of excavated materials preserved in the Site Museum of Amarāvatī, Nāgārjunakoṇḍa and Ghaṇṭasala. V. Rao, Museum-in-charge, Archaeological Museum. Amarāvatī deserve my profound thanks for his whole hearted co-operation in carrying out my research in the Site Museum (Amarāvatī) and also field work in several districts of Andhra Pradesh. My sincere thanks is also due to Ramkrishna Shastry, Museum-in-charge, Archaeological Museum, Nāgārjunakoṇḍa for his assistance while studying archaeological antiquities in Nāgārjunakoṇḍa. My thanks are also due to the staff members of Archaeological Museum, Ghaṇṭasala and Victoria Museum, Vijaywāḍa for their co-operation during my study in the museum.

I would like to express my special gratitude to Shri S.S Jawahar, Commissioner of Museums, Government of Tamil Nadu for giving me permission to undertake research work in the Madras Government Museum, Tamil Nadu in spite of the temporary closure of the Amarāvatī Gallery to the public for renovation. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Jayanta Sengupta, Director of the Indian Museum, Kolkata for giving permission to study the artifacts associated with my research and also Shri Satyakam Sen (S.T.A, Archaeology, The Indian Museum) who assisted me in this endeavour.

I am also obliged to the staff members of the Library of Calcutta University, Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata Centre for Archeological Studies and Training (CAST), Kolkata and the Library of the Asiatic Society for supplying books which were exhaustively used in my thesis. My special thanks is due to Late Basanti Nandan, Librarian of the Metcalfe Hall, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata for providing some rare journals with utmost patience and forbearance which helped me a lot in my thesis.

Smt. Mahua Mistri and Dr. Bijan Mondal deserve special thanks for helping me a lot with the typing of my thesis.

Last but not the least I wish to thank my parents who inspired and encouraged me to undertake this research work.