Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s6: 7.7 Other Fields
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c12.s6
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7.7 Other Fields
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The subjects discussed so far do not begin to exhaust the contributions of inscriptions to Indological studies as a whole, and the list could be expanded almost ad infinitum; in this section only a few more examples may be given. For one, epigraphy constitutes a prime source of information for the field of *onomastics*. The principal general work on this field (now outdated but still unsuperseded), Alfons Hilka's *Die altindischen Personennamen*,⁷⁸ makes extensive use of inscriptional evidence along with literary sources. The only major recent study in this field is Tej Ram Sharma's *Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Inscriptions*.⁷⁹
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⁷⁸ *Indische Forschungen* 3: *Beiträge zur Kenntnis der indischen Namengebung* (Breslau: M. & H. Marcus, 1910).
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⁷⁹ For an example of a detailed onomastic study based on epigraphic data, see I. K. Sarma, “Significance on Gotras and Matronymics in Some Early Inscriptions,” JESI 8, 1981, 67–75.
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The study of *law*, which is constricted by the theoretical and normative character of the textual sources, is supplemented by occasional inscriptional records attesting to the dispensation of actual cases, which are practically never cited in the texts. Thus certain inscriptions describe the resolution of disputes over land tenure; see, for example, SII 20, xxiv and 282–4 (no. 232).⁸⁰ A rare document testifying to the enforcement of criminal law is provided by the Lāhaḍapura inscription (EI 32, 305–9), recording a *saṃvid* (decree) declaring the penalties imposed on thieves by a council of Brahmans. The charter of Viṣṇuṣeṇa (EI 30, 163–81) provides an interesting list of seventy-two *ācāras*, or customary laws, which were current in western India in the sixth century. The Jaunpur brick inscription (JUPHS 18, 196–201) records a loan by two bankers.⁸¹
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⁸⁰ See also Kishori Mohan Gupta, “Land System in Accordance with Epigraphic Evidence with Notes on Some of the Inscriptions and on Some Terms Used in Them,” IA 51, 1922, 73–9.
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⁸¹ For further examples of data on law (including criminal law) in inscriptions, see J. F. Fleet, “The Present Position of Indian Historical Research” (IA 30, 1901), 18–20; J. Duncan M. Derrett, *Religion, Law and the State in India* (New York: The Free Press, 1968), 168, 188–91; and Derrett, *History of Indian Law (Dharmaśāstra)*, Handbuch der Orientalistik II.3 (Leiden/Köln: E. J. Brill, 1973), 21–3.
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The latter inscription (op. cit., 200–1) also provides the name of an otherwise unknown coin type (the *ṣaḍboddika-dramma*), as do several other inscriptions, notably Sīyaḍoṇī (EI 1, 162–79),⁸² which thereby constitute useful supplements for the study of *numismatics*. Several references to coin types in Karnataka inscriptions are compiled and discussed by A. V. Narasimha Murthy in "The Role of Epigraphy in the Study of South Indian Numismatics" (IVMD, 77–85).
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⁸² Cf. D. C. Sircar, *Studies in Indian Coins* (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1968), 299–303.