Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c11.s3.31

c11.s3.31

The Sāsanas name only rarely, and in late times, the person by whom the plates were engraved (*utkīrṇa*, *unmīlita*). The engravers mentioned are various artisans, a *pītalahāra*, *lohakāra* or *ayaskāra*,⁴ *i. e.*, the Kansār or coppersmith of the present day, a *sūtradhāra*,⁵ "stone-mason," a *hemakāra* or *sunāra*⁶ (probably equivalent to *soṇāra*), "goldsmith," a *śilpin*⁷ or *vijñānika*,⁸ "an artisan." In the Kalinga Sāsanas, we find in their stead an *akṣaśālin*, *ākṣaśālika*, *akhasālin*, or *akhasāle*,⁹ whereby a member of the goldsmith caste, now called Aksāle,¹⁰ is meant.