Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.3

c8.s4.3

The neglect of the NIA inscriptions is attributable to various factors (see Diskalkar, 129). For one thing, none of them can claim any great antiquity. Moreover, they have on the whole less historical importance than those in the other Indic and Islamic languages (i.e., Arabic and Persian; see 3.5.2), the majority of them being private records of a rather humble character. Nevertheless, they are worthy of much more attention than has until now been accorded to them, as they are potentially excellent sources of data for such subjects as social history, religion, and historical linguistics.