Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s6: 3.6. Bilingual and Multilingual Inscriptions
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s6
- Language
- English
3.6. Bilingual and Multilingual Inscriptions
c8.s6.1
As will be clear from the several examples already noted in this chapter (and as would have been expected in any case in such a linguistically complex cultural area as India), inscriptions in two or more languages are common. The majority of these involve Sanskrit and one or more other languages; for example, Sanskrit and Prakrit (examples cited in 3.3.4) in inscriptions of the transitional period of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Beginning around the sixth century, inscriptions in Sanskrit and one of the Dravidian languages become common. In the medieval period, Sanskrit is often combined with one of the Islamic languages, especially Persian, or with one of the NIA languages.
c8.s6.2
These Sanskrit bilinguals are for the most part not “true” bilinguals, that is, the same text repeated in full in two languages, but rather contain a single text divided on functional grounds between the languages concerned. Typically, the invocatory, genealogical, and concluding portions will be in Sanskrit, while the “functional” portions recording the specific details of the gift, transaction, and the like, will be in the other language (3.3.4). In the medieval period we also find non-Sanskrit bilinguals, involving two NIA languages or an NIA and a Dravidian language (e.g., the Bhubaneswar Oriya-Tamil inscription, cited in 3.4.2). Among this group we do find some true bilinguals, for example, the Baripāṛā Museum Oriya-Hindi inscription (3.4.2).
c8.s6.3
Trilingual inscriptions are also not rare. Examples include the Kurgoḍ inscription (EI 14, 265–78) in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Kannada, and the Ciṟuvroli copper plates (EI 34, 177–88) in Sanskrit, Telugu, and Oriya.