Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c13: 8 Bibliographic Survey

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c13

Language: English

c13.s1 8.1 Primary Sources: Notices and Editions of Inscriptions — 4 parts
c13.s2 8.2 Secondary Sources: Handbooks and Reference Works — 2 parts

8 Bibliographic Survey

8.1 Primary Sources: Notices and Editions of Inscriptions

8.1.1 Periodicals

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8.1.1.1 Exclusively or primarily epigraphic periodicals

*Epigraphia Indica* [EI]:¹ Vols. 1 (1892) to 42 (1977–78). From vol. 3, published by the Archaeological Survey of India under the texts of inscriptions in Roman transliteration with introduction and translation. In recent years, especially with the tardy and sporadic publication of EI, JES

8.1.2 Epigraphic serial publications

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Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum [CII; see also 6.3]: Presents collections for particular dynasties or classes of inscriptions in Devanāgarī or Roman transliteration, with extensive introduction and translation. The following volumes have been issued to date:

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1: *Inscriptions of Asoka*, by Alexander Cunningham, 1887; superseded by *New Edition* by E. Hultzsch, 1925. 2, part 1: *Kharoshṭhī Inscriptions with the Exception of Those of Aśoka*, by Sten Konow, 1929. 2, part 2: *Bhārhut Inscriptions*, by H. Lüders (revised by E. Waldschmidt and M. A. Mehendale), 1963. 3: *Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings and Their Successors*, by John Faithfull Fleet, 1888. Revised ed., *Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings*, by Devadatta Ramakrishna Bhandarkar, 1981⁶ (ed. Bahadurchand Chhabra and Govind Swamirao Gai). Fleet's original edition contained sixteen inss. of the Guptas and sixty-five inss. of related dynasties, while Bhandarkar's revised edition has forty-eight Gupta inss. but excludes those of contemporary and succeeding kings. 4, parts 1 and 2: *Inscriptions of the Kalachuri-Chedi Era*, by Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1955. 5: *Inscriptions of the Vākāṭakas*, by Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1963. 6: *Inscriptions of the Śilāhāras*, by Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi, 1977. 7: *Inscriptions of the Paramāras, Chandēllas, Kachchhapaghātas and Two Minor Dynasties*, by Harihar Vitthal Trivedi: part 1, *Introduction*, 1991; part 2, *Inscriptions of the Paramāras*, 1978; part 3, *Inscriptions of the Chandēllas, Kachchhapaghātas, etc.*, 1989.

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⁶ The revised edition consists principally of an edited version of Bhandarkar's manuscript, completed in 1949, with the addition of four inscriptions discovered subsequently.

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*South Indian Inscriptions* [SII]: Vols. 1–24++⁷ (1890–1982), by various editors, published by the ASI. Contains mostly inscriptions in Dravidian languages, but also some Sanskrit, Prakrit, and other Indo-Aryan inscriptions, especially in the earlier volumes. Texts are given in the appropriate Indian scripts (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Devanāgarī). English translations are given in vols. 1–3 only; the remaining volumes contain texts only.

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⁷ In this section the symbol ++ indicates an ongoing series, incomplete as of this writing.

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*Epigraphia Carnatica* [EC]: Original series by B. Lewis Rice and others, published by Mysore Government/Mysore Archaeological Survey; vols. 1–17, 1886–1965 [vols. 13–17 are supplementary volumes]. Texts presented in Kannada script and Roman transliteration, with translation. Mostly Dravidian language inscriptions, but also several Sanskrit and bilingual (Sanskrit and Kannada) records, usually copper plate grants.

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New edition: Vols. 1–8++, 1972–84, published by Institute of Kannada Studies, University of Mysore. Completely revised and expanded; in English and Kannada, with translations.

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*Archaeological Series* and *Epigraphical Series* of the Government of Andhra Pradesh:⁸ Both of these series, published since 1960 and 1965, respectively, include several important epigraphic publications. While most of them are principally concerned with Dravidian inscriptions, there is also much Sanskrit, Sanskrit/Dravidian bilingual, and Prakrit material. Among the most noteworthy publications in the *Archaeological Series* on epigraphic subjects are no. 5, *Copper Plate Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh Government Museum* by N. Ramesan (nos. 6 and 28); *Salihundam, A Buddhist Site in Andhra Pradesh* by R. Subrahmanyam (no. 17); and *Select Epigraphs of Andhra Pradesh* by P. V. Parabrahma Sastry (no. 31). In the Epigraphy series, besides the publications cited in section 8.1.3.2 (under Andhra Pradesh), particularly useful is the *Annual Report on Epigraphy in Andhra Pradesh* for 1965–67 (nos. 1, 4, 10; published 1965, 1972, 1974).

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⁸ The former supersedes the Hyderabad Archaeological Series of the Archaeological Department of Hyderabad.

8.1.3 Anthologies of inscriptions

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8.1.3.1 General anthologies

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The largest, most complete, and most reliable anthology is Dinesh Chandra Sircar's *Select Inscriptions Bearing on Indian History and Civilization* [SI], in two volumes. *SI* is unquestionably the authoritative collection of inscriptions in the Old and Middle Indo-Aryan languages,⁹ and Sircar's selections have virtually defined the scope of the field for students and nonspecialists. Subsequent anthologies, such as Sadhu Ram's *Some Important Inscriptions of Asoka, The Guptas, The Maukharis and Others*, Raj Bali Pandey's *Historical and Literary Inscriptions*, Śrīrāma Goyala's *Prācīna Bhāratīya Abhilekha Saṃgraha*, Parameśvarīlāla Gupta's *Prācīnā Bhārata ke Pramukha Abhilekha*, Vāsudeva Upādhyāya's *Prācīna Bhāratīya Abhilekha* (vol. 2), and Radhakrishna Chaudhury's *Inscriptions of Ancient India*, are more or less derivative of *SI*. K. G. Krishnan's *Uṭṭaṅkita Sanskrit Vidyā Araṇya Epigraphs*. Vol. 2: *Prakrit and Sanskrit Epigraphs 257 B.C. to 320 A.D.* is a more extensive anthology (218 inscriptions) than most of the others, and seven further volumes of Sanskrit inscriptions up to A.D. 1600 are planned (foreword, v–vi). Jan Gonda's *Twenty-five Sanskrit Inscriptions for Use in Universities* presents an interesting selection in a small pamphlet, including several little-known late inscriptions. G. S. Gai's recent book *Some Select Inscriptions* consists of reprints of his articles from *EI*.

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⁹ *SI* contains, however, almost no Dravidian material. The only general anthology of Dravidian inscriptions is V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar's *Selected South Indian Inscriptions (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada)*.

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There are also several anthologies which are primarily oriented toward inscriptions as literary specimens. These include Bhavadatta Śāstrī and Kāśīnātha Pāṇḍuraṅga Paraba's *Prâcîna-lekha-mâlâ*, Bahadur Chand Chhabra's *Abhilekhasaṃgrahaḥ*, and D. B. Diskalkar's *Selections from Sanskrit Inscriptions*.

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8.1.3.2 Regional anthologies

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8.1.3.2.1 *Anthologies arranged according to modern Indian states

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Andhra Pradesh: P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, *Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh*; P. Sreenivasachar, *A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts of H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions*. See also *Epigraphia Andhrica*, vols. 1–4 = Andhra Pradesh Epigraphical Series, nos. 4a–6, 11 (1974). For list and summaries, see M. Rama Rao, *Inscriptions of Āndhradēśa*. Assam: Padmanātha Bhaṭṭācārya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī*; Dimbeswar Sarma, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī*; Mukunda Madhava Sharma, *Inscriptions of Ancient Assam*. [West] Bengal: Akshaya Kumara Maitra, *Gauḍalekhamālā*; N. G. Majumdar, *Inscriptions of Bengal*, vol. 3; Ramaranjan Mukherjee and Sachindra Kumar Maity, *Corpus of Bengal Inscriptions Bearing on History and Civilization of Bengal*. Bihar: Radha

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8.1.3.4 Anthologies by religion

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Inscriptional anthologies by religion are mostly limited to Jaina inscriptions, which are much better documented than most others. The principal Jaina anthologies¹¹ are A. Guérinot, *Répertoire d'épigraphie Jaina* [summaries only]; Puran Chand Nahar, *Jain Inscriptions (Jaina Lekha Saṃgraha)*; Muni Jinavijaya, *Prācīnajainalekhasaṃgraha*; Hīralāla Jaina et al., *Jaina-śilālekhasaṃgrahaḥ*; and Ram Vallabh Somani, *Jain Inscriptions of Rajasthan* [study with texts of inss. in appendix].

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¹¹ For further references, see IIEP, bibliography, 134, s.v. "Jain Inscriptions."

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An anthology of Buddhist inscriptions, though sorely needed, is yet to appear. An extensive list with summaries of Indian Buddhist inscriptions is, however, available in Masao Shizutani's *Indo Bukkyō Himei Mokuroku*.

8.1.4 Separate monographs

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Monographs on particular inscriptions or groups of inscriptions are too numerous to be listed completely here. A few examples of important or model monographs are Benimadhab Barua, *Old Brāhmī Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khaṇḍagiri Caves*; D. C. Sircar, *Epigraphical Discoveries in East Pakistan* and *Some Epigraphical Records of the Medieval Period from Eastern India*; and R. L. Turner, *The Gavīmaṭh and Pālkīgụṇḍu Inscriptions of Aśoka*. Important new additions to this group are Shobhana Gokhale's *Kanheri Inscriptions* and I. K. Sarma and J. Varaprasada Rao's *Early Brahmi Inscriptions from Sannati*.

8.2 Secondary Sources: Handbooks and Reference Works

8.2.1 Handbooks of epigraphy and paleography

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The only truly authoritative handbook of Indian epigraphy (as opposed to paleography) is D. C. Sircar's *Indian Epigraphy* [SIE]. Though not comprehensive in all respects, this is the definitive work on the subject to date. Technical matters such as dating systems and official and legal terminology are treated in particular detail. Also useful, though partly overlapping, is Sircar's "Introduction to Indian Epigraphy and Palaeography" [IIEP] in JAIH 4, 72–136. K. V. Ramesh's *Indian Epigraphy* [RIE] is not a comprehensive handbook but rather a collection of essays on various epigraphic subjects. G. S. Gai's *Introduction to Indian Epigraphy [with Special Reference to the Development of the Scripts and Languages]* [IIE] provides a brief general survey of the subject from a primarily southern Indian point of view.

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A useful though outdated general survey is found in ch. 1, "Epigraphy," by J. F. Fleet, of vol. 2 of *The Imperial Gazetteer of India*, 1–88 [IGI].¹² Also useful is Fleet's survey of "Indian Inscriptions" in the 11th edition (1910–11) of the *Encyclopaedia Britannica* (s.v. "Inscriptions," vol. 14, 621–6). More up to date, but briefer, is the section on epigraphy (I.156–72) in L. Renou and J. Filliozat, *L'Inde classique* [IC].

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¹² Fleet's essay "The Present Position of Indian Historical Research" (IA 30, 1901, 1–27; see also 7.1.1) is essentially a briefer version of the same work.

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An excellent brief summary of southern Indian materials is to be found in K. A. Nilakanta Sastri’s *History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagara*, 13–9.

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Despite its title, Raj Bali Pandey’s *Indian Palaeography* [PIP] is not strictly speaking a work of paleography but more a general study of epigraphy. It generally reflects a traditionalist point of view, as manifested, for instance, in Pandey’s arguments in favor of an indigenous Indian origin for both Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī scripts. The first volume of Vāsudeva Upādhyāya’s *Prācīna Bhāratīya Abhilekha*¹³ discusses Indian inscriptions in general terms and with reference to their importance for the study of Indian history and culture. A series of articles published by D. B. Diskalkar in *JIH* 32–38 constitutes in effect a general introduction to the field; although deficient in some respects, this work has the merit of covering a broader range than the other general works, including surveys of inscriptional materials in all languages (including European and other non-Indic languages) from all periods.¹⁴ The chapter on “South Indian Epigraphy” in T. N. Subramanian’s *South Indian Temple Inscriptions* [SITI] (III.2, 161–251) also gives a useful overview of the subject and is not strictly limited to southern India. V. V. Mirashi’s brief survey of “Epigraphical Research”¹⁵ concentrates on dating systems and eras.

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¹³ On vol. 2 of this work, which contains an anthology of Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions, see section 8.1.3.1.

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¹⁴ See the bibliography, s.v. Diskalkar, for details.

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¹⁵ In P. J. Chinmulgund and V. V. Mirashi, eds., *M. M. Chitraoshastri Felicitation Volume: Review of Indological Research in Last 75 Years* (Poona: M. M. Chitraoshastri Felicitation Committee and Bharatiya Charitrakosha Mandal, [1967]), 505–29.

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Most other standard works on the study of Indian inscriptions are primarily or exclusively paleographic, rather than epigraphic, studies. Outdated but in some respects still the standard and model for later works is Georg Bühler’s *Indische Palaeographie von circa 350 A. Chr.–circa 1300 P. Chr.* [BIP], more usually cited from J. F. Fleet’s English translation (*Indian Paleography from About b.c. 350 to About a.d. 1300*). Gaurīśaṃkara Hīrācaṃda Ojhā’s *Bhāratīya Prācīna Lipimālā*, though also outdated, includes useful plates with specimens of various scripts in facsimile. The most important recent paleographic study is Ahmad Hasan Dani’s *Indian Palaeography* [DIP], which significantly refines and revises the standard terminology and understanding of the development of Brāhmī script and it derivatives. Also useful are the sets of script charts for “Ancient Indian Alphabets,” “Medieval Indian Alphabets,” “Indian Alphabets Abroad,” and “Ancient Indian Numerals,” prepared under the supervision of P. L. Gupta.

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Harry Falk’s *Schrift im alten Indien* [SAI] is, as the title indicates, strictly speaking neither a study of epigraphy nor of paleography as such, but rather of the origin, history, and cultural position of writing, epigraphic and otherwise. Nonetheless it contains a wealth of information on epigraphic and paleographic materials, including an extensive bibliography (15–66).

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Besides these general texts, there are numerous specific studies of various aspects of Indian epigraphy and paleography, such as Chandrika Singh Upasak’s *History and Palaeography of Mauryan Brāhmī Script* and Thakur Prasad Verma’s *The Palaeography of Brāhmī Script in North India*. Southern scripts are covered in Arthur Coke Burnell, *Elements of South-Indian Palaeography*, C. Sivaramamurti, *Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts* [IESIS], and T. V. Mahalingam, *Early South Indian Palaeography* [ESIP]. The paleography of Kharoṣṭhī is treated in Charu Chandra Das Gupta, *The Development of the Kharoṣṭhī Script* [DKS]. Brāhmī script as found in central Asian manuscripts is analyzed in detail in Lore Sander, *Paläographisches zu den Sanskrithandschriften der Berliner Turfansammlung*. There are also some *India from About A.D. 500* in EI 7 and 8; H. Lüders, *A List of Brahmi Inscriptions from the Earliest Times to About A.D. 400* in EI 10; and D. R. Bhandarkar, *A List of the Inscriptions of Northern India in Brahmi and Its Derivative Scripts, from About 200 A.C.* in EI 19–23 [revision of Kielhorn's list in EI 5].

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Other important lists¹⁶ include: Hira Lal, *Inscriptions in the Central Provinces and Berar*; Hariharanivāsa Dvivedī, *Gvāliyara Rājya ke Abhilekha*; A. V. Naik, "Inscriptions of the Deccan: An Epigraphical Survey" (*Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute* 9; contains an extensive and useful introduction as well as relatively detailed descriptions of each inscription); Robert Sewell, *The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India . . .*; and T. V. Mahalingam, *A Topographical List of Inscriptions in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala States*. For Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions, N. G. Majumdar, "A List of Kharoṣṭhī Inscriptions" in *JASB*, n.s. 20, 1924, 1–39, is by now outdated and superseded by Konow's *Kharoshṭhī Inscriptions* (CII 2.1). The latter, in turn, is now extensively supplemented by the references provided in Gérard Fussman's "Gāndhārī écrite, Gāndhārī parlée" (see the bibliography), 444–51 and 488–98.

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¹⁶ For further references, mostly to lists of primarily local interest and of non-Indo-Aryan inscriptions, see the bibliographic accounts in SIE 10 n. 2; IIEP, 134–5 (s.v. "Lists of Inscriptions"); and EINES, 89. See also the references given in section 8.1.3. For lists of Indic inscriptions from Southeast Asia, see sections 4.3.7.5–4.3.7.11.

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Lists of inscriptions of particular dynasties are also to be found as appendices to some dynastic histories; for instance, "Inscriptions of the Candellas" (Appendix A) in R. K. Dikshit, *The Candellas of Jejākabhukti*; "List of Pratīhāra Inscriptions of Kanauj" (Appendix A) in B. N. Puri, *The History of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras*; and "Important Inscriptions of the Vātāpi Chalukyas and Their Contemporaries" in K. V. Ramesh's *Chalukyas of Vātāpi*.

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For information on provenance of inscriptions, see R. Stroobandt's atlas of *Epigraphical Find-spots*. Toponyms mentioned in inscriptions are collected and identified in Parmanand Gupta's *Geography in Ancient Indian Inscriptions*.¹⁷

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¹⁷ For further information, see section 7.6.

8.2.3 Miscellaneous studies and collections

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Important recent collections of epigraphic essays by different authors include Noboru Karashima, ed., *Indus Valley to Mekong Delta: Explorations in Epigraphy* [IVMD], and Frederick M. Asher and G. S. Gai, eds., *Indian Epigraphy: Its Bearing on the History of Art* [IEBHA]. Also useful for epigraphic researches are the collected papers of various specialists in the field. Particularly important are the *Kleine Schriften* of Franz Kielhorn and Heinrich Lüders, and also Lüders' *Philologica Indica*. The collections of D. C. Sircar's essays on epigraphic and related subjects are indispensable: *Early Indian Numismatic and Epigraphical Studies* [EINES], *Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India*, *Studies in the Political and Administrative Systems in Ancient and Medieval India*, *Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India*, and *Studies in the Society and Administration of Ancient and Medieval India*. Other recent collections with large epigraphic content are V. V.

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Mirashi's *Studies in Ancient Indian History and Studies in Indology*, Jagannath Agrawal's *Researches in Indian Epigraphy and Numismatics*, and G. S. Gai's *Studies in Indian History, Epigraphy and Culture