Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s5.6

c12.s5.6

Inscriptions also provide us in a great many cases with the ancient names of places which are not known from other (i.e., literary) sources. For example, the original Sanskrit name of the modern village of Eraṇ in Sagar District, MP, which was a major city in the Gupta period, is given as Airikiṇa in inscriptions.⁷⁶ In many though by no means all cases, the small towns and villages mentioned in inscriptions (especially in copper plate charters) can be geographically identified with modern places bearing similar names. In such cases, however, particularly in connection with later inscriptions, it should not necessarily be assumed that the Sanskrit name given is actually the original toponym, as such names are sometimes ad hoc Sanskritizations of vernacular names.