Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s2.t1.3

c12.s2.t1.3

But despite their adherence to prevailing literary modes, the inscriptional compositions do not seem to have attained much acceptance in the literary tradition. Of the many notable poets such as Hariṣeṇa (Allahabad), Vatsabhaṭṭi (Mandasor), and Kubja (Tālaguṇḍa) whose names are preserved in inscriptional colophons,²¹ very few are known in the standard literary tradition.²² Cases such as that of Umāpatidhara (discussed in 7.2.1.3) are very much the exception rather than the rule, and are restricted to the medieval period. The genre of *praśasti* does, however, receive some explicit recognition in the later literary tradition, especially in the anthologies. The *Subhāṣitaratnakośa*, for example, has a brief separate section on this genre (the *praśasti-vrajyā*, section 46, containing 14 verses), though none of these have yet been correlated with actual inscriptions.²³ Other anthologies contain a few verses from known inscriptions; for instance, verses from Umāpatidhara's Deopāṛā *praśasti* are cited in Śrīdharadāsa's *Saduktikarṇāmṛta* (vv. 7, 23, 24, and 30 = *Saduktikarṇāmṛta*²⁴ 1614, 1455, 1395, and 1454).²⁵