B. Lewis Rice
Benjamin Lewis Rice CIE , popularly known as B. L. Rice, was a British historian, archaeologist and educationist. He is known for his pioneering work in Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil inscription in the Kingdom of Mysore. Rices researches were published as the voluminous Epigraphia Carnatica which contains translations of about 9000 inscriptions he found in the Old Mysore area.Rice also compiled the much acclaimed Mysore Gazetteer which still remains the primary source of information for most places in Mysore and neighbouring Coorg. Rice served with distinction in the Mysore civil service and as first Director of the Mysore State Archaeology Department.
Benjamin Lewis Rice was born in Bangalore onJuly 1837 to Rev. Benjamin Holt Rice who was associated with the London Missionary Society . Rev. Rice was a Kannada scholar and wrote books in Kannada on arithmetic, geography and history. He even brought forth a Kannada translation of the Bible. The Rice Memorial Church, located at Avenue Road, Bangalore is named after Rev. Benjamin Holt Rice. Rice had his early education in Mysore State and graduated in the United Kingdom in 1860.
Source: Wikipedia