Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.5

c8.s4.5

The dates of earliest epigraphic attestation for the various NIA languages vary widely, as do the degrees to which they are developed as epigraphic languages. These discrepancies are due to various historical and geographical factors, most importantly the date and extent to which Islamic governments were established in the different regions (see *SIE* 53). In those portions of northern and central India in which Islamic rule was firmly entrenched at an early date, the Islamic languages directly supplanted Sanskrit as the principal epigraphic medium, whereas the NIA languages developed in this function in areas where Islamic rule was established only later in the medieval period. This accounts, for example, for the discrepancy between Oriya, which became one of the most important NIA epigraphic languages, and neighboring Bengali, which was almost negligible in this respect; for Bengal was one of the first parts of India to come under Islamic rule, while Orissa was among the last.