Wooden Structure at Patna (Pataliputra)

[Raven, E.M.]

Dear Chris Beetle and other Indology list members,

ABIA stands for the Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology, an
annotated bibliography for the archaeology and art history of South and
Southeast Asia (at the time captured under the term `Greater India').

It was published under the guidance of Prof. Jean Philippe Vogel (and
successors) from 1928 onwards at the Kern Institute of Indology in
Leiden. 23 volumes appeared, the last one in 1985, and it was generally
considered a very valuable research tool for art historians and
Indologists alike.

In 1996 the ABIA bibliographical work has been revived by the
International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden. It is now called
the ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology Index. The ABIA
Index now has the format of an annotated bibliographical computerized
database which is being created by an international team of art
historians and archaeologists for South and Southeast Asia working in
Leiden, Colombo, Bangkok, Dharwar, Jakarta, Lahore, Dacca, and Moscow.
The general editor is Prof. Karel van Kooij, professor of South Asian
art history at the Kern Institute of Indology in Leiden.

Annually a printed volume of newly acquired annotated records is
distilled from the ABIA Index database and published as a book. The ABIA
Index also contains two articles on recent academic themes or recent
literature written in languages other than English.

ABIA Index 1 has just appeared (december 1998, publishing date 1999)
and is available through Kegan Paul International. It contains over 1300
annotated and key-word indexed records for recent publications (mostly
1996 and 1997) on the archaeology, art history, material culture,
epigraphy, palaeography, numismatics and sigillography of South and
Southeast Asia. In the course of 1999 the database will go on line.


Ellen Raven

Coordinating editor for South Asia
ABIA Index
IIAS, Leiden

(e-mail: abiaraven at rullet.leidenuniv.nl; fax: 31-71-5274162)