Mysuru: The Kavali-Filliozat Institute of Indology, a new Research Centre, specialised library and residential retreat dedicated to the history, culture and classical language traditions of Karnataka, was formally inaugurated here yesterday.

The Institute is located at No.125, Vivekananda Road (near I Can International School), Yadavagiri in the city.

Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Dr. M.S. Krishnamurthy, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Department of Archaeology, University of Mysore, said the Institute is devoted to the study of Karnataka’s past through its primary sources especially inscriptions, manuscripts, literary works and temple architecture.

Noting that the Institute offers a quiet environment for sustained scholarly work, a specialised research library and residential facilities for visiting scholars, he said it also seeks to revive Mysuru’s historic role as a centre for classical and historical research.

“With a recorded history dating back at least 1,500 years, Karnataka holds one of India’s richest bodies of inscriptions, temple architecture and classical literature. Much of the region’s modern history, however, was written in the colonial period with little direct engagement with these sources. The Institute exists to renew that first-hand work — studying inscriptions and texts, reading temple architecture alongside literary sources, building a specialised reference library and training young scholars in classical languages and epigraphy”, Dr. Krishnamurthy pointed out.

He also maintained that the main objective of the Institute is to make it known to the scholarly world that there is a library, which is open to interested research students for continuing their work on different aspects of Karnataka’s history and culture.

He lauded Prof. Filliozat for carrying out extensive studies on Karnataka’s inscriptions, culture, Kannada literature and the traditions of Indian traditions.

The Institute is founded by Dr. Vasundhara Kavali-Filliozat, in memory of her late husband                  Prof. Pierre-Sylvian Filliozat, whose integrated study of Epigraphy, Philology, Architecture and Iconography can be preserved and extended.