BANGALORE: The Government has decided to bring out volumes of "Suvarna Karnataka Gazetteer (1956-2006)," "Brihath Karnataka" and "Suvarna Patha" gazetteers in collaboration with Kannada University at Hampi and release them on November 1, 2006.

Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, who released Bellary, Gulbarga, Belgaum and Mysore district gazetteers here on Thursday, said the Government had decided to bring out volumes of three different gazetteers to mark the 50th anniversary of the reorganisation of the State.

"Suvarna Karnataka Gazetteer" will deal with schemes, programmes and general information about the State since its reorganisation and "Brihath Karnataka" will give a history of Kannada dynasties that ruled outside what is now Karnataka.

"Suvarna Patha" will trace the tradition of geographical dictionaries from the days of their first publication till now, he said.

The main purpose of publishing the district gazetteers is to enable researchers, scholars and general readers to acquaint themselves with the schemes and programmes of the Government, the results of their execution and relevant statistics with utmost accuracy and authenticity, the Chief Minister said.

S.A Jeelani, Chief Editor, Karnataka Gazetteer, said the State had a rich tradition of publishing gazetteers. Benjamin Lewis Rice, who was the first Director of Public Instruction in the princely State of Mysore, undertook the pioneering effort of publishing Mysore Gazetteer and Coorg Gazetteer in 1876.

In his preface to the first edition, Rice records that Mysore Gazetteer was first published in 1869, edited by H. Wellesley.

In 1897, Rice published the revised editions of Mysore Gazetteer in two parts. While Coorg Gazetteer was edited by the Rev. C. Richer in 1870, it was reprinted in 1984.

James M. Campbell edited the gazetteers of Bijapur, Dharwad, Belgaum and Kanara during 1883-1884.

Mr. Jeelani said the Department of Gazetteers started functioning as a separate unit in 1958 and was made a permanent department in 1986.

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