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Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s3: 7.3 Epigraphy and the Study of Religion

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s3

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English

Contents

7.3 Epigraphy and the Study of Religion

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D. C. Sircar, *Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India*; V. Upādhyāya, *Prācīna Bhāratīya Abhilekha*, I.100–30.

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As is the case with many other branches of Indology, epigraphy provides a solid geographical and chronological groundwork for the historical study of the religious traditions of ancient India. Among the many aspects of the history of religions which can be elucidated by inscriptions are the growth and relative popularity at different times and places of various devotional cults (see, e.g., 7.3.1.2), for which subject Sircar’s *Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India* constitutes a fundamental source of information. Inscriptions also reveal patterns of royal patronage to different religions and sects, providing a framework for their historical developments. The typical pattern is one of multiple patronage, wherein the same ruler may sponsor, for instance, both Brahmanical and Buddhist institutions. It is also common to find different rulers of the same line lending their support to different establishments, according to their personal preferences; the emperor Harṣa, for example, is described in his inscriptions (e.g., Bānskheṛā, EI 4, 208–11) as the descendant of devotees of the Sun (*paramādityabhakta*) but was himself a Śaivite (*paramamāheśvara*) and is known from other sources (mainly the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan Tsang) to have also patronized Buddhism. Similarly, the earlier kings of the Candra dynasty of East Bengal were Buddhists, while their successors Lahaḍacandra and Govindacandra adopted Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva faiths, respectively.³²

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³² D. C. Sircar, *Epigraphic Discoveries in East Pakistan*, 51–2.

7.3.1 The Brahmanical/Hindu tradition

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7.3.1.1 The Vedic tradition

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While epigraphy obviously has little to offer for the historical study of the Vedic era itself, it nonetheless does provide useful information about the preservation and continuation of the Vedic tradition in the classical and postclassical periods. Inscriptions, especially copper plate grants with their often extensive lists of Brahmans and their Veda and *śākhā* affiliations, provide an important source for the history and especially for the geographical affiliations of the various Vedic schools; this material has been extensively utilized by, among others; Louis Renou³³ and, more recently, Michael Witzel.³⁴

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³³ *Les Écoles védiques et la formation du Veda*, Cahiers de la Société Asiatique 9 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1947), pars. 47, 73, 117, 197–9; *Le Destin du Véda dans l'Inde*, Études Védiques et Pāṇinéennes 6; Publications de l'Institut de Civilisation Indienne 10 (Paris: Éditions E. de Boccard, 1960), 29; and "The Vedic Schools and the Epigraphy," in *Siddha-Bhāratī or the Rosary of Indology* [Siddheshwar Varma Festschrift], ed. Vishva Bandhu, Vishveshvaranand Indological Series 2 (Hoshiarpur: Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, 1950), II.214–21.

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³⁴ "Materialien zu den vedischen Schulen I. Über die Caraka-Śākhā," StII 7, 1981, 109–32 (esp. 128–31); "Regionale und überregionale Faktoren in der Entwicklung vedischer Brahmanengruppen im Mitteralter (Materialien zu den vedischen Schulen, 5)," in Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, eds., *Regionale Tradition in Südasien*, Beiträge zur Südasienforschungen 104 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1985), 37–75 (esp. 40).

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Numerous historical records of the performance of Vedic sacrifices, especially the *aśvamedha* (horse sacrifice), are preserved in inscriptions from about the second century B.C. onward, for example, in the Hāthībāḍā/Ghosuṇḍī inscriptions and the Ayodhyā inscription of Dhanadeva.³⁵ Sometimes the king is said to have performed the *aśvamedha* several times, and/or to have done several other *yajñas*, as in the case of Pravarasena and the Bhāraśiva kings mentioned in the records of the Vākāṭakas (e.g., CII 5, 12, ll. 1–6). An interesting early record of the performance of multiple sacrifices together with details of the *dakṣiṇā* paid is provided by a Sātavāhana inscription from Nānāghāṭ (SI 1.192–7).

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³⁵ For a detailed compilation of inscriptional records of the *aśvamedha*, see Sircar, "Hiraṇyagarbha and Aśvamedha," *Studies in the Religious Life*, 164–82.

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A second class of records of this type comprises those which directly commemorate the performance of Vedic sacrifices with inscriptions on the bricks of the sacrificial altar itself, for instance, the Jagatpur inscriptions from the fourth *aśvamedha* of King Śīlavarman (*caturthasyāśvamedhasya caityo yaṃ śīlavarmaṇaḥ*; cf. 4.2.3.2); or on stone *yūpas* which reproduce the wooden ones actually used in the sacrifice (4.2.1.2).

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7.3.1.2 The Vaiṣṇava tradition

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Several inscriptions provide important information on the history of the various Vaiṣṇava sects, especially for the earlier period of their development.³⁶ An outstanding example is the Hēliodōros pillar at Besnagar (Appendix, no. 2), which not only provides evidence for the Bhāgav

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³⁶ This material has been extensively compiled and utilized by Suvira Jaiswal in *The Origin and Development of Vaiṣṇavism: Vaiṣṇavism from 200 BC to AD 500*, 2d ed. (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981); see esp. 27–9.

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7.3.1.4 Śākta and other traditions

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In similar ways, inscriptional records provide firm geographical and chronological anchors for the historical study of the Śākta and other of the less orthodox streams within the Brahmanical/ cific texts for the special study and attention of Buddhist monks and lay followers. Although there are serious problems in identifying these texts with those in the extant canon (HBI 256–9; bibliography, 258 n. 74) and in evaluating their significance in connection with the establishment of a fixed canon, the Bairāṭ inscription nonetheless provides an important clue for the canonical texts. Our knowledge and understanding of the beliefs and practices of the relic cult, for example, have recently been vastly enhanced by the discovery of new inscriptions and the reanalysis of older ones bearing on this important aspect of popular Buddhism.⁴⁶

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⁴⁶ E.g., Schopen, "On the Buddha and His Bones: The Conception of a Relic in the Inscriptions of Nāgārjunakoṇḍa," *JAOS* 108, 1988, 527–37; see also Schopen, "Burial '*ad Sanctos*' and the Physical Presence of the Buddha in Early Indian Buddhism: A Study in the Archaeology of Religions," *Religion* 17, 1987, 193–225 (esp. 204–5).

7.3.3 Jainism and other sects

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The very abundant and relatively well-documented inscriptions of the Jainas (8.1.3.4), especially in western India of the medieval period, offer a rich fund of information for the study of Jaina religion, ethics, and especially monastic organization. These sources have been extensively utilized in such general historical studies as Asim Kumar Chatterjee's *Comprehensive History of Jainism* and P. B. Desai's *Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs*. Jai Prakash Singh's *Aspects of Early Jainism [As Known from the Epigraphs]* attempts a general survey of Jainism from epigraphic sources, but the results are less satisfactory. Paul Dundas' general study of Jaina religion and practice, *The Jains*, also extensively utilizes epigraphic data for chronological and historical corroboration.

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Inscriptions provide abundant details on the history of Jaina sectarian and monastic history and organization, in the form of the names, lineages, and positions of many Jaina clerics (cf. IC I.170). This data may be profitably used as a corroborative and supplementary source to information provided in the canonical literature. Works addressing Jaina sectarian history that make extensive use of inscriptional information include Shantaram Bhalchandra Deo's *History of Jaina Monachism from Inscriptions and Literature* (especially Part IV, "Jaina Monachism from Epigraphs") and Muni Uttam Kamal Jain's *Jaina Sects and Schools*. As examples of particular epigraphic documents with significant bearing on sectarian history, we may cite an inscription from Pattana (EI 1, 1892, 319–24) which provides a list of twenty-four heads of the Kharatara-gaccha and describes the patronage of that community by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and an old manuscript copy of a lost inscription from Śatruñjaya recording the resolutions of a council of Śvetāmbara monks in A.D. 1242.⁴⁷

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⁴⁷ See Umakant Premanand Shah, "A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Śvetāmbara Jaina Church or A Documentary Epigraph from the Mount Śatruñjaya," *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay* 30, 1953, 100–13.

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Studies of other aspects of Jaina history and practice may also benefit from epigraphic evidence, as, for example, in S. Settar's *Inviting Death*, a study of ritual death among Jains at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa based largely on over one hundred commemorative records.

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Inscriptions are also sometimes useful in the historical study of minor sects. A. L. Basham, for example, in his classic study of the Ājīvikas,⁴⁸ cites inscriptions attesting to the continued presence of members of this sect in the Tamil country as late as the fourteenth century. Even the heterodox skeptics of the Lokāyata tradition are attested in inscriptions, as noted by B. A. Saletore,⁴⁹ who has traced several references to them in Karnataka inscriptions of the tenth to fifteenth centuries.

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⁴⁸ *History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas: A Vanished Indian Religion* (London: Luzac, 1951; reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981), 187–96.

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