Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s5.t1.8

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Next to Tamil, Kannada is the earliest and most important of the Dravidian epigraphic languages. The earliest Kannada epigraphs, such as the Halmiḍi (S. Śrīkaṇṭha Śāstri, *Sources of Karṇāṭaka History* [for reference see Index of Inscriptions Cited], 20) and Bādāmi Vaiṣṇava cave (IA 10, 59–60) inscriptions, date from around the late sixth or early seventh century A.D. From this time onward, inscriptions in Kannada, mainly private donative records on stone but also some royal copper plate charters, are extremely common.⁸⁸ Many of these are bilingual with Sanskrit or occasionally other languages.