Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s2.t2.20

c8.s2.t2.20

All in all, the theories based on the status of Sanskrit seem to provide the strongest explanation for the gradual hybridization of the inscriptional Prakrits, and for the ultimate Sanskritization of Indian epigraphy. The status of Sanskrit was so deeply ingrained in traditional India that it slowly but surely eroded the precedent established by Aśoka (presumably for Buddhistic motivations) of using Prakrit for epigraphic purposes.