Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.t3: 3.4.3 Gujarati
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.t3
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3.4.3 Gujarati
c8.s4.t3.1
D. B. Diskalkar, *Inscriptions of Kathiawad*.
c8.s4.t3.2
Inscriptions in Gujarati from various parts of the modern state of Gujarat, especially the Kathiawar and Kacch regions, number well in the hundreds; for examples see Diskalkar, nos. 79, 82–3, 85, 87–8, 90, and so on, and ARIE 1969–70, nos. B.22–138. Gujarati linguistic features appear in some Sanskrit inscriptions of the fourteenth century (e.g., Diskalkar nos. 36–7, etc.; *New Indian Antiquary* 1, 587–8), and inscriptions written entirely or nearly entirely in Gujarati date from the second half of the fifteenth century on. The latest Gujarati inscription cited by Diskalkar (no. 193) is dated Vikrama Saṃvat 1935 = A.D. 1879.
c8.s4.t3.3
The majority of Gujarati inscriptions are private dedicatory or memorial records. The former typically record land grants, the foundation or repair of temples or mosques, or the digging of wells. Memorial inscriptions are very frequently seen on memorial pillars or *pāliyās*, typically recording deaths in battle ("hero-stones") or by *sahagamana* ("*satī*-stones"). Pilgrims' records are also common (e.g., ARIE 1969–70, no. B.24, etc.). Many of the Gujarati inscriptions are informally or incompetently written.
c8.s4.t3.4
Gujarati inscriptions are generally written in Devanāgarī script or its local variant, called Boṛiyā, but some are inscribed in script forms similar to modern Gujarati (NIA 1, 588). Bilingual (and sometimes trilingual) inscriptions, usually with Sanskrit or Persian, are found in some numbers, but the majority of Gujarati inscriptions are monolingual.