Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c11.31

c11.31

Here Colebrooke is the first to clearly recognize the special importance of inscriptions as a source for the political and cultural history of India. And although he somewhat pessimistically underestimated their value for the former, it must nonetheless be recognized that in this oft-quoted passage Colebrooke set the agenda for future Indian epigraphic studies down to the present day, just as his first article had established the standard methodological format for them.²⁰