The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c44.3.1

c44.3.1

The stone inscriptions are divided into two classes—those that record grants of land, money or periodical payments in kind to temples, communities or private persons, and those which are memorials of deceased persons. The former are generally upright slabs, with surfaces varying in size from a foot or two square to thirty or more square feet, having most of their surfaces covered with closely-engraved lines of inscription, above which is often a sculptured head-piece representing religious symbols. It is very seldom, indeed, that these slabs are found engraved upon both sides. The older inscriptions, like those engraved upon the walls of the older temples, are in large, bold and somewhat straggling characters, while the later ones are in much smaller letters, averaging about half an inch in height, and, generally, most beautifully cut (Fig. 40). They occur singly or in groups, such as we find them at Gadag and Baḷagāmve. In some cases old inscriptions are found to have been erased and later ones engraved upon the same stone, due, as a rule, to the first grant being cancelled and superseded by the second. Again, the sculptures at the head of a stone have sometimes been tampered with, where, for instance, a *linga* has been formed by whittling down an image of a *jina*¹.