Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s6.2

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).