Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s6.1

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.