Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s5.t3.3

c8.s5.t3.3

Aramaic and a mixed "Aramaeo-Iranian" are represented in six inscriptions of the Mauryan era from Pakistan (Taxila) and Afghanistan (see 4.3.7.3). Several hundred brief inscriptions in Sogdian have been found in the Shatial region on the upper Indus,⁹¹ as well as a few others from Ladakh.⁹² Some inscriptions in Parthian and Bactrian were also found on the upper Indus.⁹³ Inscriptions in Pahlavi have been found in western and southern India; the most important examples are the Pahlavi pilgrims' records in the Kāṇheri caves (IA 9, 265–8 = ICTWI 62–6) dating from the early eleventh century, and the Christian inscriptions in the churches at Madras and Koṭṭayam (IA 3, 308–16; West, EI 4, 1896–97, 174–6), some of which may be as early as the seventh or eighth century. A few Christian inscriptions in Syriac have also been found at Koṭṭayam and other places in South India (e.g., IA 3, 314).