Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s3.t1.3

c8.s3.t1.3

The Ayodhyā inscription records in two lines of essentially standard Sanskrit the foundation by the “righteous king” (*dharmarājñā*) Dhana[*deva*?] of a structure (*ketanam*) in memory of his father Phalgudeva.⁴⁴ The formation of the compound *dharmarājñā* instead of the theoretically correct *dharmarājena* is of no great consequence, since compounds of this type are found frequently in less formal registers of Sanskrit. Also worthy of note is the apparent use of the genitive instead of the ablative in *puṣyamitrasya ṣaṣṭhena*, assuming that the usual interpretation⁴⁵ as "sixth [in descent] of [i.e., 'from'] . . ." is correct. But here, too, the intrusion of the stronger genitive case into the domain of the weaker ablative is not uncommon in informal Sanskrit usage.