Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c6.24

c6.24

The decline of Indian epigraphic studies may be attributed, in part at least, to the special difficulties and problems involved in this field.¹⁷ Not only is the material vast, voluminous, and inherently difficult; it also requires a command of a range of languages, dialects, and script forms far greater than that needed for epigraphic studies in most other parts of the world. The inscriptions include materials in virtually all the major languages of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian families and also involve several non-Indian languages of Southeast Asia and other regions. The variety of scripts is enormous, these being subject to the same pattern of extensive local and chronological variation as are Indian languages and dialects. Indian epigraphy is thus a subject of vast complexity which requires many years of study, but its inherent importance and the rewards to be gained from it more than justify the effort.