Chief Editor's Report
November 28, 2004

Current Status of the work:

Columbia office has sent to Chennai office 6500 plus articles; some of them have received some editing and some others have received more editing. The entire collection of illustrative materials accumulated in Columbia office has also been sent to Mr. Mahalingum in Chennai at his request. We do not yet have a report from Chennai of the articles or illustrative materials collected there since May 2003.

In August 2004, a Scholar's Workshop was held in Chennai. These scholars reviewed a number of the articles which were to have received editing in London. The scholars provided helpful feed-back on the state of the articles and what needed yet to be done to bring them up to International standards of scholarship. It was agreed that the recommendations of the scholars would be implemented and the articles revised accordingly by the Chennai office.

Next Steps:

1. A Core Committee of ten experts will be set up to review the articles of 1000 words and above. This committee will be charged with the responsibility to authenticate the total manuscript. Dr. Subbarayappa, Dr. Satish Kapoor, Dr. Rambachan, and Dr. Ratna Lahiri are already working on the authentication of the manuscript in their respective subject areas (08, 03, 02, and 04). Appropriate scholars will be designated for the other areas in the next few weeks.
2. A workshop of North Indian Scholars will be organized by Dr. Rao to review the remaining short articles, in January 2005. For this, all the rest of the collected articles are to be received from Chennai.
3. Presentations on the state of the EH project will be made at the World Association of Vedic Studies in Bangalore (December 31, 2004- January 2, 2005), and at the International Vedanta Conference in Vizag, AP (January 5-8, '05); Scholars involved and interested in the EH project will be invited to the north Indian EH Conference of Scholars. All scholars with the interest and ability to contribute to the EH will also be invited and encouraged to join the project. A proforma will be prepared in advance and Dr. Rao will carry it with him to enlist the assistance of scholars who may not be able to come to the conference but who would be beneficial to the project.
4. Geographical entries are to be accompanied by appropriate maps/ graphics, etc. For example, maps showing the locations of Shakti Peethas and Jyotirlingas are to be included. Locations of sacred places and courses of rivers are to be indicated by maps. Typically and usually this work is completed by the Publisher; if this work has been missed, we have to negotiate with the publisher and get the work done.
5. Also, in matters of style and matching of articles with appropriate photos, coordination with the publisher has to be worked out. An art historian is needed for this job. The publisher has to coordinate with Dr. Rao on the appointment of such a historian.
6. A Reference Editor has to be appointed to check the appropriateness of the bibliographical references in terms of EH style directions and recent publications. Probably a retired librarian will be useful for this job. This Editor will focus on this matter personally, as it is only the bibliography with which he/she will be concerned.
7. Association with the University of South Carolina and active collaboration with Western academics such as Hal French and other Editorial Board members are essential to the good repute and marketability of the project.
8. Dummies of the EH volumes in their last, finalized stages prior to sending to the printer are to be made available to Manuscript Editors for checking each page and the appropriateness of illustrative materials to the articles. This must include the front pages also.