Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c10.s1.t2.2

c10.s1.t2.2

The system of Roman transliteration generally used for archaeological and epigraphic publications in India⁵ (e.g., in *Epigraphia Indica* and *Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum*) is essentially the Indian variety (with *ṛi* and *ṛī* instead of *ṛ* and *ṝ*, *ch* and *chh* for *c* and *ch*, and *sh* for *ṣ*) of the standard modern system for Sanskrit and related languages. Special features of this epigraphic transliteration system are that the Sanskrit vowels *e* and *o* are normally noted as long (*ē*, *ō*),⁶ and that special symbols for the *jihvāmūlīya* and *upadhmānīya* varieties of *visarga* (*ẖ*, *ḫ*) are used when represented as such in Sanskrit inscriptions.⁷