Encyclopaedia of South India ( 4 Volumes)

South India is the area encomassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area. South India lies in the peninsular Deccan Plateau and is bounded by the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in The west, south and east respectively. South India ranks the highest in terms of social and economic development in areas such as fertility rate and infrastructure; the fertility rate of South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India. The present work, consisting of four volumes, namely, Encyclopaedia of South India is holistic in approach. It covers exhaustively and extensively the historical, geographical, social, political, cultural and economic features of the four south Indian states  - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - and two union territories - Lakshadweep and Pondicherry - With a view to discover South India's uniqueness as a vital part of India, and its contribution to Indian culture. It will be a welcome addition to the study of this beautiful region and its people.

Dr. M Sudhakar Rao, (b.1950) at Bangalore, the 'garden city of India', received his early education from the same place. An eminent professor of history, he holds bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in the subject. Started his career as a lecturer in 1985, he has emerged rapidly as one of the recognised scholars on ancient Indian history. He has authored three book on the subject and co-edited a number of books which are directly or indirectly concerned with the discipline. Professor Rao is currently involved with the study of the history of Indian religions. His research output in a period of less than six years has been stupendous, and its originality and quality superb, as is evident from the reviews of his works appearing in national and international journals.  Dr. V. Raghavendra Reddy, (b.1953) an assistant professor of history, has been involved in research on different aspects of Indian history for over three decades. He has been associated with several international educational insitutions and research associations. A widely travelled scholar, he has been to all over the world to lecture on Indian history, art, religion and culture. Dr. Reddy has authored many outstanding books and a lot of research papers on history, art, architecture, culture and religion, published in national and international magazines. He speaks Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Tamil Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi fluently.