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Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9: 4 Survey of Inscriptions in the Indo-Aryan Languages

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9

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Contents

4 Survey of Inscriptions in the Indo-Aryan Languages

4.1 Typological Survey

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SIE 2–5; IIEP 73–5; IGI II.49–62; PIP 123–48; IC I.158–9; A. V. Naik, “Inscriptions of the Deccan,” 17–23; SITI III.², 181–209.

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In terms of their purpose and contents, the majority of the epigraphic materials in the Indo-Aryan languages fall into the two broad categories of “donative” and “panegyric” records (4.¹.1–4.1.3). However, the full range of their contents is very broad, comprising not only the several other categories described below but also combinations of the various types. Strictly speaking, few, if any, of the categories listed here are completely distinct and exclusive, and many of them overlap; for example, purely eulogistic inscriptions are rare, and most of the records placed in this group also partake of the character of donative and/or memorial records. Not only are the categories not mutually exclusive, they are also to some extent arbitrary; thus different writers on the subject have presented different arrangements, and no one formulation can be considered definitive. The divisions offered here should therefore be understood as convenient, rather than authoritative and mutually exclusive categories; various other classifications are given in the sources cited.

4.1.1 Royal donative and panegyric inscriptions (praśasti)

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Donative proclamations and panegyrics issued by or on behalf of ruling kings, called *praśastis*, are typically engraved on stone slabs or pillars.¹ Despite their largely panegyric content and tone, they are rarely purely eulogistic in content; nearly all of them record some donation or memorial which serves as the ostensible occasion for the record.²

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¹ See the following specimens in the Appendix: Kahāum pillar ins. (no. 7), Lakkhā Maṇḍal *praśasti* (no. 8), Burhānpūr ins. (no. 14).

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² As a matter of convenience and convention, royal inscriptions on stone are generally classed under the heading of panegyrics, as opposed to donative inscriptions on copper plates. But in actual practice, stone inscriptions sometimes closely resemble copper plate charters in style and content (see the earlier introductory comments).

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Royal inscriptions of a purely exhortatory character are rare, and in fact are virtually limited to the inscriptions of Aśoka (4.³.1.1). Purely administrative records are equally unusual, again being practically restricted to the earliest period, as in the Sohgaurā (SI I.82–3) and Mahāsthān (SI I.79–80) inscriptions which record official proclamations concerning measures for the prevention of famine. The Hāthīgumphā inscription of Khāravela (SI I.213–21), describing the king’s achievements year by year, approximates the character of a pure panegyric, which is rare elsewhere.

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More typical are the inscriptions of later centuries which sing the ruler’s praises on the occasion of a particular foundation or donation. Pillar inscriptions may record the erection of the pillar itself in memory of a king’s victories (*jayastambha* or *kīrtistambha*), for instance, the Allahabad pillar of Samudragupta (SI I.262–8) or the Mandasor pillar of Yaśodharman (SI I.418–20). Other pillar inscriptions are primarily religious in intent, being dedicated to deities such as Garuḍa (*garuḍadhvaja*; e.g., Besnagar pillar ins., Appendix, no. 2), Viṣṇu (*viṣṇor dhvajaḥ*; Meharaulī pillar ins., SI I.283–5; fig. 3), or Śiva (Bhitarī ins., SI I.321–4).³

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Most frequently, however, royal inscriptions on stone slabs and, less commonly, on pillars record donations, foundations, or endowments of temples, images, and public works of various kinds. The Aihoḷe stone inscription of Pulakeśin II (SI II.443–50), for example, records the erection of a Jaina temple, and the Deopāṛā stone inscription of Vijayasena (SI II.115–22) a temple and image of Pradyumneśvara (Harihara). Dedications of waterworks and wells are common, for instance, the Junāgaḍh inscription of Rudradāman (SI I.175–80) and the Tāḷagunda inscription of the time of Śāntivarman (SI I.474–9). Especially in the earlier period, inscriptions on cave walls record their construction and dedication to monastic or ascetic orders (4.2.1.³). Other types of endowments to monastic and Brahmanical orders or to individuals are also common, such as gifts of villages (similar to those recorded in copper plate inscriptions), for example, in the Mahākūṭa inscription of Maṅgaleśa (IA 19, 7–20). Inscriptions of this latter type, recording royal donations to temples and engraved on the temple walls themselves, became extremely common in southern India in the medieval period.

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Stylistically, such royal donative/panegyric records tend toward lofty poetic modes, whether composed entirely in prose (Hāthīgumphā, Junāgaḍh, Mahākūṭa), in mixed prose and verse (Allahabad), or in verse only (Aihoḷe, Deopāṛā, etc.). Verse compositions are generally preferred, especially in later centuries. Ornate poetic compositions of this sort are often signed by the composer, who was usually a court poet of the eulogized ruler; such figures as Hariṣeṇa, author of the Allahabad inscription, or Ravikīrti, composer of the Aihoḷe *praśasti*, are otherwise unknown, but others, such as Umāpatidhara, poet of the Deopāṛā inscription, are known from other compositions or at least from quotations in poetic anthologies (see 7.2.1.³).

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³ Pillar inscriptions in the form of *yūpas* may also memorialize Vedic sacrifices; see section 4.2.1.2.

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FIGURE 3. Meharaulī (Delhi Union Territory) pillar inscription with the inscription of Candra. Photograph courtesy of Timothy Lenz.

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A typical inscription of this class would begin with an auspicious sign or invocation such as *svasti* followed by one or more *maṅgala* (invocatory) verses, and then an account of the ruling king’s lineage, full of lavish praises of his own and his ancestors’ physical power and beauty, moral qualities and reputation, just rule, conquests, learning and artistic skills, and so on. The actual purpose of the inscription, namely, the dedication or memorial, is typically mentioned only at or near the end of the text. This is often followed by concluding, benedictory, and/or signature verses giving the composer’s name (e.g., Appendix, no. 8, vv. 21–23).

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FIGURE 4. Sātalur (Krishna Dist., AP) copper plate grant of Eastern Cālukya king Vijayāditya III. From Sivaramamurti, *IESIS*, pl. IV.

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This format is, of course, most typical of the classical and postclassical era, when both form and style became highly stylized and stereotyped. Panegyrics of the pre- and early classical periods tend to be more varied and original in their literary qualities, as in the vivid description of the destruction and rebuilding of Lake Sudarśana in the Junāgaḍh inscription.

4.1.2 Land grant (copper plate) charters

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B. Ch. Chhabra, "Diplomatic of Sanskrit Copper-Plate Grants"; A. Gaur, *Indian Charters on Copper Plates*, vii–xiii; SIE 103–60; PIP 145–6.

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Inscriptions on copper plates recording land grants⁴ are exceedingly common almost everywhere in India,⁵ numbering well into the thousands, and their study is an important subfield within Indian epigraphy. Such inscriptions are engraved on one or more plates of copper which vary widely in size but generally reproduce the shape of traditional nonepigraphic writing materials such as palm leaves and bark strips, or sometimes stone stelae. Smaller examples, usual in the earlier centuries, are typically about two to three inches high and five to six inches long; later specimens are often large, in the range of fifteen to twenty inches. The plates are usually prepared with some care in order to protect the writing from damage and wear; often the edges are raised to prevent the plates from rubbing together, and sometimes the outer plates or faces are left blank. The writing usually goes along the longer direction of the plates, though inscriptions written across the shorter dimension are not uncommon, especially in eastern India and in the plates of the Vijayanagara kings in southern India. Charters on multiple plates are joined together with a ring (occasionally two rings, one at each end) of copper or bronze which is inserted through holes in the plates. The ends of the ring are soldered together onto a seal, usually of bronze, which is intended to certify the authenticity of the document and to prevent tampering by the addition or removal of plates. The number of plates varies widely; in general, later specimens are larger and longer, and examples with several dozen plates and weighing as much as two hundred pounds total are known (Chhabra 4; SIE 124).

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⁴ See specimens in fig. 4 and Appendix: Baroda copper plate inscription of Karkkarāja (no. 10).

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⁵ Despite their abundance in India proper, copper plate inscriptions are generally not common outside of India, though they are sometimes found in Nepal (see 4.3.7.2) and Burma (see 4.3.7.5). In Indonesia, copper plate inscriptions in Javanese, but not in Sanskrit, are quite numerous.

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The usual purpose of copper plate inscriptions is to record donations, usually by kings or their functionaries, of villages or (somewhat less commonly) of cultivated fields to Brahmans who are felt to be especially deserving by virtue of their learning or holiness. They may also record endowments to temples or other religious institutions, and copies in stone of inscriptions of this type are frequently found engraved on the walls of the temples in question. Occasionally, the grantees may be *kṣatriyas* or other non-Brahmans, as in the grant of a field to a general (*senāpati*) in a Kadamba inscription from Halsi (IA 6, 23–4). Similar grants to Buddhist and Jaina venerables and institutions are also not uncommon, particularly in western, eastern, and southern India (e.g., SI I.531). The grantees were normally entitled to all rights and revenues accruing from the granted lands in perpetuity, the details of the grant and benefits thereof being spelled out, often in great detail.

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The earliest specimens of copper plate charters come from southern India, issued by the early Pallava and Śālaṅkāyana dynasties and datable, according to Sircar (SIE 107), to about the middle of the fourth century A.D.⁶ Although these early examples are in Prakrit, in form and style they are essentially the same as the more elaborate Sanskrit copper plate inscriptions which became so abundant in succeeding centuries. Probably the oldest extant copper plate grant from northern India is the Kalāchalā grant of Īśvararāta, in Sanskrit, dated on paleographic grounds by Sircar (EI 33, 303–6) to the later part of the fourth century A.D.

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⁶ The Tañjāvur grant of the Western Gaṅga king Arivarman dated Śaka 169 = A.D. 248 has been cited as possibly the earliest copper plate inscription (Gaur, *Indian Charters*, x and 8), but is in fact clearly a late forgery (Fleet, IA 8, 212).

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There is clear evidence, however, that the origins of the copper plate charters or their prototypes go back farther than the fourth century, for some of the donative cave inscriptions of the Western Kṣatrapa and Sātavāhana kings from Nāsik, datable to the first or second century, are evidently copies on stone of original documents written on portable materials, possibly copper (SIE 108). The antiquity of the practice of recording land grants on copper plates is also attested by their description in early *dharmaśāstra* texts such as the *Viṣṇu-* and *Yājñavalkya-smṛtis* and the commentaries thereon (SIE 104–5). Here and elsewhere (including in the inscriptions themselves), the copper plate charters are referred to by such terms as *tāmraśāsana*, *tāmrapaṭṭa*, *tāmraphalī*, *dānaśāsana*, and so on.

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Copper plate inscriptions in Sanskrit began to be more common in the Gupta period, and in the following centuries became abundant and more lavish in size and style. The genealogical, laudatory, and benedictory portions are often elaborated at great length and typically constitute the bulk of a record, as is the case in the Baroda copper plate grant of Karkkarāja (Appendix, no. 10), in which forty of the seventy-three lines of the inscription are taken up by the genealogy and eulogy of the donor. In this respect, the more elaborate copper plate inscriptions have come to resemble in content and style the panegyric stone inscriptions described previously (4.1.1).

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The tradition of recording land grants on copper plates continued throughout the medieval era and even into the European period,⁷ and in certain cases such documents have been adjudged to be still legally valid in modern times.⁸

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⁷ For examples of copper plate inscriptions in Sanskrit and/or vernacular languages as late as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, see ARIE 1957–58, nos. A.3–5; OHRJ 2, 1953, 47–56; and Gaur, *Indian Charters*, 23–4.

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⁸ See P. V. Kane, *History of Dharmaśāstra*, vol. II, pt.2, 865.

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In general, the donative or "functional" parts of the inscriptions are in prose, while the formal portions of the genealogy and so on are often versified, especially in the longer and more ornate specimens. But there are occasional examples of copper plate inscriptions written entirely in verse, such as the Rajamundry plates of Raghudeva (SI II. 195–209).

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Since the use of copper instead of ordinary perishable writing materials reflects a desire to establish the document as a permanent record, in effect a deed to the granted lands, it is not surprising that copper plates are most often found underground where they had been buried for safekeeping by the grantees or their descendants according to the traditional Indian practice.⁹ Such finds are usually made accidentally by villagers in the course of plowing their fields or digging a foundation for a house. A copper plate inscription of the more ornate type would typically contain all or most of the following sections.¹⁰

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⁹ In several cases copper plates have been found inside buried urns in which they had been placed for further protection; see, e.g. EI 28, 1949–50, 175–6.

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¹⁰ The terminology and formulation here are based largely on that of Chhabra and Sircar (who mostly follows Chhabra). This scheme is intended merely as a typical pattern; in actual practice, copper plate charters vary widely in their ordering and inclusion or exclusion of the standard elements and in the degree of detail and elaboration accorded to them. For the historical background of the development of the stylistic conventions of copper plate and other formal records, see O. Stein, "Formal Elements in Indian Inscriptions," IHQ 9, 1933, 215–26.

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4.1.2.1 Preamble

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(a) Invocation. The invocation or *maṅgala* typically consists of an auspicious word, most commonly *siddham* (expressed by word or symbol), often followed by one or more verses in praise of various deities. [Appendix, no. 10, line 1]¹¹

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¹¹ For purposes of illustration, reference is given for each section to the appropriate lines in the copper plate inscription of Karkkarāja given in the Appendix.

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(b) Place of issue. The place of issue, normally the capital city of the issuing king or a military camp (*jayaskandhāvāra*), is usually mentioned after the invocation, typically in the ablative case. Most often this is just a single word or phrase, but in some ornate inscriptions this part is expanded into an elaborate poetic description of the place. In many inscriptions, however, the place of issue is not specified at all. [line 43]

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(c) Grantor’s name and genealogy. The name of the grantor, normally a king, is supplied along with his titles and epithets and often (especially in later inscriptions) detailed genealogical and other information. In ornate inscriptions this portion may be developed at great length, giving long and detailed, if bombastic and exaggerated, accounts of the dynastic history of the issuing authority. This portion is thus often the most important one from the historian’s point of view (cf. 7.1.1). [lines 1–41]

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(d) Address. After the grantor is introduced, the text specifies the officers and other authorities who are to be officially informed of the transaction. These are given in the accusative case as object of a verb such as *ājñāpayati* or *ādiśati* ‘commands’ or *bodhayati* ‘informs’, followed by a formulaic phrase such as *viditam astu vo yad* . . . (“Be it known to you that . . .”). The sometimes very extensive lists of officials provided here constitute an important source for the study of administrative structures (7.1.2). [lines 41–3]

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4.1.2.2 Notification

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(e) Specification of the gift. The grant usually next specifies the name and location of the granted land. This may be one or more villages or fields, specified in terms of the administrative subdivisions (*viṣaya*, *maṇḍala*, *bhukti*, etc.) in which they fall. The territory in question is often further delimited by specifying its borders (*sīman*, *āghāṭana*) with reference to neighboring villages and natural or artificial features such as rivers, forests, marking stones, and so on. This is usually followed by a list, often extensive, of *parihāras* ‘exemptions’ or ‘privileges’ to be enjoyed by the grantees, such as *acāṭabhaṭaprāveśya* ‘not to be entered by royal agents and police’, *sodraṅga* ‘together with the *udraṅga* revenues’, and so forth.¹² [lines 46–51]

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¹² A complete list of *parihāras* is given in IEG 388–408.

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(f) Names of the grantees. The names of the grantees, almost always Brahmans, are given with appropriate identification as to their descent, place of birth or residence, *śākhā* and *gotra* affiliation, and so on. Sometimes verses eulogizing the virtues of the grantees are inserted here. The number of grantees may be anywhere from one to over a hundred; the Karandai plates of Rājendra Coḻa (K. G. Krishnan, *Karandai Tamil Sangam Plates*, 55; cf. SIE 135) list 1,083 grantees. In the case of multiple recipients, the shares to be enjoyed by each grantee are usually separately specified. [lines 44–5]

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(g) Occasion. Land grants were typically announced on astrologically auspicious occasions for gift giving such as eclipses or *saṃkrāntis* (solar passages). Such a special occasion is mentioned where applicable, though this section is often omitted. [not in Baroda plates]

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(h) Intention and/or function. The grantor usually specifies the particular benefit which he hopes to obtain from his pious gift, such as long life, glory, or spiritual merit for the donor himself and his parents in this life and the next.¹³ This section is sometimes omitted. The function of the grant is also sometimes mentioned; this typically involves such pious activities as funding a Brahman's daily worship, feeding Brahmans, or maintaining a temple. [lines 43–4]

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¹³ The donor's intention is also sometimes alluded to at the beginning of the notification, with a reference to the transitory nature of earthly life and property as contrasted to the permanence of a gift. [ll. 40–1]

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4.1.2.3 Conclusion

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(i) Exhortation. This portion typically comprises the issuing king's command to respect the grant in perpetuity, often specifying the benefits of doing so and the evil consequences of violating a gift. This statement is usually supported by the quotation of well-known exhortatory verses attributed to Vyāsa, Manu, Rāma, and others about land gifts and their sanctity. Sometimes as many as twenty such verses are cited. Among the most commonly quoted verses, usually attributed to Vyāsa, is *bahubhir vasudhā bhuktā rājabhiḥ sagarādibhiḥ / yasya yasya yadā bhūmis tasya tadā phalam* // ("The Earth has been enjoyed by many kings from Sagara onward. Its fruits belong to whomever possesses it at any time").¹⁴ [lines 54–68]

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¹⁴ For a comprehensive list of such verses, see *SIE* 170–201.

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(j) Date. The inscriptions are usually dated, sometimes only by year (regnal or of an era), but often, especially in later records, with full details of month, fortnight, *tithi*, weekday, and sometimes also *nakṣatra* and other astronomical information (see 5.4.2.2). The location of the date within the inscription varies considerably; in some records it appears at the very beginning, or together with the "occasion" (item g). [line 52]

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(k) Names of officers and functionaries. The inscription usually gives at the conclusion the name(s) of one or more functionaries involved in the ordering and execution of the grant. Most commonly mentioned is the conveyer of the royal order, usually referred to as *dūta(ka)* or *ājñā*/*ājñapti*. The writer and scribe is also often named, and sometimes the composer and engraver as well (see 2.5.2.2). [lines 68–70]

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(l) Authentication. The inscription is often authenticated at the end by the purported¹⁵ signature of the issuing king, usually with the formula *svahasto 'yaṃ mama* . . . ("This is my signature . . ."). The signature is sometimes engraved in larger or more ornate characters (cf. 2.5.3.1), as if to demonstrate the king's authority or skill in writing. The document is further authenticated and guaranteed by the royal seal on the ring attached to the plate(s), which is often inscribed with a dynastic motto and/or the royal insignia. [lines 68–9]

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¹⁵ The signatures were presumably not actually engraved on the plate by the kings themselves but rather copied from an archetype.

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Special types of copper plate charters include "blanks" such as the Chittagong plate of Kāntideva (*EI* 26, 313–8), containing only the formulaic portions and omitting the functional section for details and specifications, which were presumably supposed to have been filled in at a later date. There are also several examples of reissues or palimpsests, wherein an old and presumably invalid or inoperative copper plate was reinscribed after the old inscription had been obliterated, as in the Veligalani grant (EI 33, 275–92). In some cases the original text is still partially legible, for example, the Nūtimaḍagu plates (EI 25, 186–94; cf. SIE 91, 124–5).

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Forged and altered copper plate inscriptions are also well documented. These include both copies or imitations made at a later date which were apparently meant to be passed off as the original documents, such as the Nālandā and Gayā spurious plates of Samudragupta (SI I.270–4), and altered plates wherein, for instance, the names of the donees or the granted village have been changed. Such "spurious" documents are usually crudely executed and more or less readily identifiable by their linguistic, stylistic, chronological, and paleographic inconsistencies.¹⁶

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¹⁶ For examples and details, see section 5.3.

4.1.3 Private donations

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Inscriptions recording private donations,¹⁷ usually of a religious character, are very numerous, ranging from simple brief records in Middle Indo-Aryan, Sanskrit, or regional languages, to highly elaborate *praśasti*-style Sanskrit inscriptions. The majority are on stone, though some, mostly image dedications, are on metal. A typical inscription of this type might mention the date (regnal or era); the donor's name, title(s), occupation, and place of residence or origin; the nature of the donation or endowment; its intention or purpose; and the names of the relatives and associates of the donor who are to partake of its benefits.

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¹⁷ See the following specimens in the Appendix: Besnagar pillar ins. (no. 2); Kalawān copper plate ins. (no. 4); Sārnāth umbrella shaft ins. (no. 5); Tiruveṇkāḍu temple ins. (no. 11); Nālandā ins. (no. 12); Pabhosā Jaina ins. (no. 15).

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Beyond these typical features, however, private donative records are highly diverse in content, character, and style. Ornate donative records such as the Mandasor stone inscription of the time of Kumāragupta and Bandhuvarman, recording the construction and subsequent renovation of a Sun temple by the silk weavers' guild (SI I.299–307), may be stylistically almost indistinguishable from royal *praśastis*; in fact, these classes sometimes overlap in that many of the "private" donations involve the relatives, officials, and other associates of kings. Less formal donative records, however, may contain only the basic information of the type outlined previously, or even just the donor's name in the genitive case on a donated object; numerous examples of this class are found among the inscriptions at Buddhist *stūpa* sites such as Sāñcī and Bhārhut.¹⁸

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¹⁸ For example, *Isidatasa dānaṃ* 'Gift of Isidata [Ṛṣidatta]' (Bhārhut A 86, CII 2.2, 47). See also section 4.2.1.3.

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The objects of private donations are in general similar to those of royal donations: tanks, wells, and drinking places; temples or endowments to temples for repairs, maintenance, or daily ritual activities; caves for monastic residences; images of deities; villages or agricultural lands; and so forth. Buddhist donative inscriptions typically record the dedication of *stūpa* structures or reliquaries (fig. 5) and other portable objects (cf. 4.2.1.5). Jaina donative inscriptions on temple walls and images are common, especially in western and southern India in the later centuries.

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FIGURE 5. Silver Buddhist reliquary of Prince Indravarman. Photograph courtesy of the Shumei Culture Foundation.

4.1.4 Memorial inscriptions

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Inscriptions in memory or honor of deceased persons, usually relatives of the sponsor of the inscription, are fairly common from an early period. Early examples, mostly in Prakrit, include records which refer to themselves by such terms as *laṭhi* or *yaṭhi* (Skt. *yaṣṭi*) ‘(memorial) pillar’,¹⁹ or *chāyākhambha*/*chāyāthambha* (*chāyāstambha*) ‘image pillars’,²⁰ found at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa and other Buddhist sites. Memorial pillars often commemorate persons killed in battle, as in some of the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa inscriptions (e.g., EI 35, 14–6) and in the Gaṅgaperuru inscription (EI 36, 207–8) memorializing one Gona who was killed in a cattle raid (*gogahana*). A well-known early (A.D. 510) Sanskrit inscription of the same class is the Eraṇ inscription of the time of Bhānugupta (SI I.345–6), recording the death in battle of Goparāja and his wife’s *satī*. A Jaina inscription of about the seventh century from Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa (EI 4, 22–8) commemorates the suicide by starvation of an *ācārya* Prabhācandra.

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¹⁹ For example, the Andhau inscriptions of the time of Caṣṭana and Rudradāman (SI I.173–5).

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²⁰ On the meaning of this term, see D. C. Sircar and K. G. Krishnan, EI 34, 1961–62, 20–1.

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Other Sanskrit memorial inscriptions commemorate a dead wife, as in the Sāngsi inscription (EI 28, 1

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FIGURE 6. Māṭ (Mathurā) portrait statue of King Kaniṣka: the inscription reads *mahārājā rājātirājā devaputro kaniṣka* ("The Great King, King over Kings, Son of the Gods, Kaniṣka"). From John M. Rosenfield, *The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans* (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967), fig. 2; reprinted by permission of the University of California Press.

4.1.6 Pilgrims' and travelers' records

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Brief inscriptions recording the visits of pilgrims are often found at various sites,²⁵ especially on the walls or pathways of temples and other sacred sites of Buddhist, Brahmanical, and Jaina affiliation. Most commonly such inscriptions consist simply of the pilgrim's name in the nominative or bare stem form, or occasionally in the genitive. Large numbers of inscriptions of this type are often grouped together, for instance, at such sites as Bhuilī (ARIE 1961–62, nos. B.909–66) and Devaprayāg (ARIE 195) including gold leaves³⁰ from Burma³¹ and Indonesia.³² A similar gold leaf manuscript of the *Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā* has recently been discovered at Jetavanārāma (Anurādhapura), Sri Lanka.³³

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²⁵ See the following specimen in the Appendix: inscription on the Kosam pillar (no. 13).

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³⁰ Documents of this type are formally and functionally speaking equivalent to manuscripts, but since they are inscribed on a hard material they are conventionally treated as inscriptions in the scholarly literature.

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³¹ In Pāli; see section 4.3.7.5.

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³² See J. G. de Casparis, *Prasasti Indonesia* II.47–167; see also section 4.3.7.11.

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³³ *Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen*, 1983, 189–207. See also section 4.3.7.1 for another inscribed version of this text from Sri Lanka.

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Most common of all are the copies on bricks, metal images, terra-cotta plaques, and other materials of the so-called Buddhist creed, that is, the ubiquitous verse *ye dharmā hetuprabhavā* . . . or its equivalents in hybrid Sanskrit or Pāli, which are found in great numbers both in India³⁴ and in other Buddhist countries (see, e.g., 4.3.7.3, 4.3.7.5, and 4.3.7.6). Inscriptions on stone and other materials of *dhāraṇīs* are also common in India (e.g., Cuttack Museum, EI 26, 171–4) and elsewhere, for example, Sri Lanka (Abhayagiri, JIABS 5, 100–8) and China (see 4.3.7.12). Also in this class are the ubiquitous Tibetan “prayer-stones” inscribed with *oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ* and other Sanskrit *mantras* (see 4.3.7.12, n. 134).

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³⁴ E.g., Guṇṭupalli (I. K. Sarma, JESI 5, 59) and Ratnagiri (D. Mitra, *Ratnagiri*, II.284, 290. See also Daniel Boucher, “The *Pratītyasamutpādagāthā* and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics,” JIABS 14, 1991, 1–27.

4.1.8 Literary inscriptions

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Under this heading comes a small but important set of inscriptions whose content is primarily literary. Some well-known examples present the texts of otherwise unknown dramas inscribed on stone slabs: the *Lalitavigraharāja-nāṭaka* and *Harakeli-nāṭaka* from Ajmer (IA 20, 201–12) and the *Pārijātamañjarī-nāṭikā* or *Vijayaśrī-nāṭikā* from Dhār (EI 8, 96–122). Although these dramas also partake of the character of *praśastis* in that they are intended to glorify the kings in whose courts they were composed and inscribed (the *Pārijātamañjarī* is explicitly described as a *praśasti*; EI 8, 98), they can nevertheless be considered essentially literary pieces (see also 7.2.2.2.2).

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The occasional examples of inscriptional *khaṇḍa*- and *mahā-kāvyas*, such as the huge *Rājapraśasti-mahākāvya* of Raṇachoḍa in twenty-four *sargas* inscribed at Udaypur (EI 29–30, Appendix; see 7.2.2.2.1), are of a similar character; though in form the Udaypur inscription is a *mahākāvya*, in content it is primarily eulogistic and dedicatory.

4.1.9 Seal inscriptions

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Inscriptions on seals and sealings,³⁵ which were used to authenticate and protect letters, legal and administrative documents, and the like, form an important field of study which, though closely allied to numismatics, is traditionally treated within the sphere of epigraphy. Thousands of inscriptions in this class are known, often found in large numbers at a single archaeological site; for instance, 710 individual pieces with 1,100 separate seal impressions, mostly inscribed, were found at Basāṛh, the ancient Vaiśālī (ASIAR 1903–4, 101–22). Other important sites which have yielded large numbers of seal inscriptions include Bhīṭā, Nālandā, Besnagar, and Rājghāṭ. Seals and seal inscriptions are most frequently published in the various reports of the ASI and in the *Journal of the Numismatic Society of India* and other numismatic publications. Kiran Kumar Thaplyal's *Studies in Ancient Indian Seals* provides a detailed survey of the subject.

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³⁵ Technically, a seal is a mold made of a hard material such as fired clay, stone, or copper used to form an impression or sealing on a soft material, usually clay. Thus a seal inscription in the strict sense appears in reverse or mirror image, while a sealing inscription appears in the normal direction. In practice, however, the term "seal" is often loosely used to apply to sealing inscriptions (which are much more common) as well as to seals in the proper sense.

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Inscribed seal(ing)s typically comprise a graphic or symbolic device accompanied by a legend below or around it. The simplest legends consist of the owner's name given in the nominative, genitive, or bare stem form. More elaborate formulae may add the individual's title(s), father's name, and other genealogical information. The most extended formulae are found on royal seals such as those of the Gupta and other kings, providing a full dynastic genealogy; see, for instance, the Nālandā clay seals of Narasiṃhagupta, Kumāragupta [III], and Viṣṇugupta (CII 3, rev. ed., 354–8, 364).³⁶

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³⁶ Similar seal inscriptions on metal (usually bronze or copper) were usually originally parts of copper plate grants from which they have been detached (e.g., the Asīrgaḍh copper seal ins. of Śarvavarman, CII 3, 219–21; fig. 7). In such cases the inscriptions are often described and treated as separate "seal inscriptions." But there are also copper and bronze seals which were originally separate items (see 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2).

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Besides royalty and private individuals, many seal inscriptions belong to various governmental officials, guilds and other economic organizations, or temples, monasteries, and other religious institutions. Others are devotional in character, recording the name of a deity or pious formulae such as *jitaṃ bhagavatā* ("The Lord has triumphed") or *dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ* ("Dharma protects when protected").³⁷ Among Buddhists, seal(ing)s with the *ye dharmā hetuprabhavā* formula are common (see 4.1.7).

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³⁷ See Thaplyal, *Studies in Ancient Indian Seals*, 163–4, 328.

4.1.10 Miscellaneous inscriptions

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Inevitably, there is a residue of miscellaneous inscriptions which do not fit into any of the usual categories just described.³⁸ Among these are examples of inscriptional types which, though common in other ancient cultures, are rare in India. These include inscriptions of purely administrative content (other than the ubiquitous donative land grant and temple endowment records), which, except for the very early Mahāsthān and Sohgaurā inscriptions, are very rare in India proper. Many of the Kharoṣṭhī documents from central Asia, however (see 4.3.7.12), do fall into this class. Records of purely secular foundations, as opposed to the ubiquitous religious donations, are also rare; an example is the Bādāmi inscription of Vallabheśvara (EI 27, 4–9) commemorating the fortification of the hill of Vātāpi. Secular economic records and documents from ancient and medieval India are also extremely rare, presumably because they were recorded only on perishable materials, but are well represented among the central Asian Kharoṣṭhī documents.

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³⁸ See the following specimen in the Appendix: Niya (central Asian) Kharoṣṭhī document (no. 6).

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What might be called “personal” or “lyrical” inscriptions are also rare, though a few interesting exceptions are known, notably the very early Jogīmāṛā and Sītābeṅgā inscriptions (see 4.3.1.2). An example from later times is the newly discovered Gwalior stone inscription recording the hunting exploits³⁹ of King Naravarman (thirteenth century A.D.; EI 38, 310).

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³⁹ Memorial inscriptions recording hunting exploits are common in Kannada inscriptions; see C. V. Rangaswami, “Memorials for Pets, Animals and Heroes,” in S. Settar and G. D. Sontheimer, eds., *Memorial Stones*, 235–41.

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There are also some special inscriptional genres which are characteristic of and peculiar to India. Notable among these are the grammatical inscriptions from Ujjain, Dhār, and Ūn (CII 7.2, 83–9), which summarize the traditional scheme of Sanskrit grammar in elaborate serpentine designs (*sarpabandha*), one of which (Ujjain) is described in the accompanying verse as a *varṇanāgakṛpāṇikā* or ‘alphabetical snakescimitar’ (fig. 8). Also characteristically Indian are the “footprint” inscriptions, consisting of a descriptive or eulogistic text accompanying a pair of engraved footprints of a deity, saint, or king, as in the Nāgārjunakoṇḍa footprint slab ins. (EI 33, 247–50). Several outstanding early examples of this genre have also been found in Java.⁴⁰

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⁴⁰ See J. Ph. Vogel, “The Earliest Sanskrit Inscriptions of Java”; see also sections 4.2.1.1 and 4.3.7.11.

4.2 Survey by Form and Material

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D. B. Diskalkar, *Materials Used for Indian Epigraphical Records*; SIE 61–82; IGI II.24–49; BIP 92–8; PIP 67–87; BPLM 142–58; IC I.157; A. V. Naik, “Inscriptions of the Deccan,” 1–13; SITI III.2, 213–29; SAI 308–13.

4.2.1 Stone

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By far the commonest materials used for Indic inscriptions are stone surfaces of various types. In general, softer varieties of fine-grained stones are preferred; frequently used types include sandstone, basalt, slate, trap, and steatite. Inscribed stone objects comprise a wide variety of forms, which may be summarized as follows.

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4.2.1.1 Slabs

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Some inscriptions, particularly from the earlier periods, are inscribed directly onto rough stones with little or no preparation of the surface. Such is the case, for instance, with the Aśokan rock inscriptions. More commonly, however, the rock surface is subjected to varying degrees of preparation involving smoothing and polishing of the area to be inscribed. Later and more elaborate stone inscriptions, especially those of the *praśasti* class (see 4.1.1), are typically inscribed on rectangular stone slabs, sometimes very large, which were previously cut to size and carefully polished. Such slabs would usually be built in the walls or other parts of temples, palaces, and other structures. Long inscriptions, especially those of literary content (4.1.8), could be inscribed on a series of slabs (as many as twenty-five in the case of the *Rājapraśasti* at Udaypur). Stone slab inscriptions may also serve devotional purposes, as in the inscribed and sculpted slabs (*āyāgapaṭas*) of the Buddhists and Jains, or the inscribed footprint slabs of gods or revered personages (see 4.1.10).

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4.2.1.2 Freestanding pillars and steles

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Early examples of inscribed columns include the Aśokan pillars and the Besnagar pillar of Hēliodōros (see Appendix, no. 2). Later pillar inscriptions may be panegyric, donative, devotional, or memorial in function (4.1.1 and 4.1.4). *Yūpas* or sacri- FIGURE 8. Dhār (Mahākāleśvara Temple) *sarpabandha* inscription. From CII 7.2, pl. XXVII; copyright, Archaeological Survey of India.

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ficial pillars commemorating the performance of Vedic sacrifices are common in the early centuries of the Christian era.⁴¹

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⁴¹ See B. Ch. Chhabra, “Yūpa Inscriptions,” in *India Antiqua: A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented by His Friends and Pupils to Jean Philippe Vogel, C.I.E.* (Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1947), 77–82; see also section 7.3.1.1.

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Inscribed steles or freestanding upright stones are most commonly seen in India proper in the form of hero- or *satī*-stones from western and southern India (4.1.4). Stele inscriptions in general are much more prevalent in Cambodia (4.3.7.7) and other parts of Southeast Asia, where they are the usual material for stone inscriptions.

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4.2.1.3 Structural elements

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From the earliest times inscriptions, usually of a dedicatory character, were commonly engraved on the walls, facades, columns, pillars, pilasters, railings, gates, doorways, and other parts (including even floors and ceilings) of stone structures such as excavated caves, *stūpas*, temples, palaces, and wells.⁴² The cave temples of western India and the *stūpas* of central India such as Sāñcī and Bhārhut, for example, bear hundreds of dedicatory and explicatory inscriptions (4.1.3 and 4.1.5). In later centuries many temples, especially Jaina temples in western India and Hindu temples in the south, were heavily inscribed on their walls and pillars with inscriptions recording dedications and endowments.

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⁴² Cf. Naik, “Inscriptions of the Deccan,” 4.

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4.2.1.4 Images and statuary

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Stone sculptures, most commonly images of deities and other religious figures but also sometimes portraits of royal and other secular personages, are often inscribed, usually by way of recording the donor of the images and/or identifying the portrait (4.1.5). In some early examples the inscription is written on the object itself, as in the case of the Patna *yakṣa* inscription (SI I.93–4), carved on the shoulder of the statue. In the case of Buddhist images, the inscription may be written on the halo around the deity’s head, as in the “Aśo-raya” inscription (JRAS 1982, 142–3 and 149–50). In later examples, however, the usual practice was to record the donation on the pedestal of the statue; such pedestal inscriptions are common in the Brahmanical, Buddhist, and especially the Jaina traditions.

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4.2.1.5 Portable objects

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Inscriptions on smaller, portable stone objects are also common, particularly among the Buddhists. Inscribed stone reliquaries for bodily relics of the Buddha and other venerables are common in the earlier centuries. Stone bowls are also occasionally inscribed (e.g., Kailwan, EI 31, 229–31; Termez, *Vestnik Drevnei Istorii* 1974.1, 117–22), as are other miscellaneous items such as lamps (e.g., Utmanzai, EI 23, 289) and weights.⁴³

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⁴³ Diskalkar, *Materials*, 28. See also Stanislaw J. Czuma, *Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India* (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985), 163–4.

4.2.2 Metals

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4.2.2.1 Copper

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Copper, by far the most common metal used for inscriptions in India, is second only to stone in overall frequency. The great majority of inscriptions on copper are copper plate land grant charters, which number in the thousands (4.1.2). Though far less common, other types of inscriptions on copper are also known, especially Buddhist records on such copper objects as dedicatory tablets,⁴⁴ relic caskets,⁴⁵ ladles,⁴⁶ seals,⁴⁷ and bells.⁴⁸

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⁴⁴ E.g., Sui Vihār, CII 2.1, 138–41, and Kara, EI 22, 37–9.

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⁴⁵ E.g., Kurram, CII 2.1, 152–5.

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⁴⁶ E.g., Taxila and Bedadi, CII 2.1, 87–9.

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⁴⁷ Taxila, CII 2.1, 100–1, nos. 4–9 and 11; see also Thaplyal, *Studies in Ancient Indian Seals*, 3 and n. 3.

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⁴⁸ Cambā; B. Ch. Chhabra, *Antiquities of Chamba State* II.175–6.

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4.2.2.2 Bronze

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Inscriptions on bronze are also fairly common, though much less so than on copper. The most common types of bronze inscriptions are those on religious images, recording dedicatory and/or devotional messages on the pedestals (e.g., the Ākoṭa Jaina bronzes, ARIE 1952–53, nos. B.16–48), and on seals. The latter are most commonly found attached to copper plate charters (see 4.1.2), although separate bronze seals are also known.⁴⁹ The Sohgaurā plaque, though often referred to as "copper," is actually of bronze (SIE 79) and is hence the earliest specimen of an inscription in that metal. Other inscribed objects, notably Buddhist relic caskets, are also sometimes of bronze (e.g., Wardak, CII 2.1, 165–70).

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⁴⁹ See Thaplyal, *Studies in Ancient Indian Seals*, 3 and n. 4.

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4.2.2.3 Brass

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Inscriptions on brass and similar alloys are found most commonly on sculptured images (especially Jaina ones, according to Diskalkar).⁵⁰ A few inscribed Brahmanical brass images of about the eighth century have been published.⁵¹ Occasionally inscriptions are found on other brass objects, such as a seal (Kosambi, ASIR 10, 4) or trident (Uttarkāśī, *New Indian Antiquary* 3, 34–6). Inscribed masks of royal or divine figures made of brass or similar alloys are sometimes found in the Himalayan regions, for instance, the *aṣṭadhātu* mask from Nirmaṇḍ (*Acta Orientalia* 1, 230–4) and the "Court Mask" (JA 279, 137–74).

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⁵⁰ *Materials*, 33; cf. Ojhā, BPLM 154.

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⁵¹ See J. Ph. Vogel, ASIAR 1902–3 ("Inscriptions of Chamba State"), 240–4.

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4.2.2.4 Iron

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Inscriptions on iron are rare, the only important specimen being the inscription of King Candra (= Candragupta II?) on the iron pillar at Meharauli (CII 3, 139–42). An iron object, believed to be a branding iron, with the Brāhmī letters *jaya* in reverse was found at Nālandā (JBORS 23, 128–9). In later times, iron weapons such as cannons were sometimes inscribed, most commonly in NIA or Islamic languages but sometimes also in Sanskrit (e.g., Ajaygaṛh, ARIE 1969–70, no. B.203).

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4.2.2.5 Gold

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Inscriptions, usually Buddhist dedicatory, votive, or ritual records, are sometimes found on gold. Among these are Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions on a gold plate and on two rings from Taxila (CII 2.1, 83–6, 100, nos. 1 and 2), as well as the recently discovered Senavarma gold plaque inscription (IIJ 29, 261–93). Another newly found Kharoṣṭhī reliquary has letters inset with gold on a schist reliquary box (Utarā ins., IIJ 31, 169–77). Buddhist canonical texts were written on gold leaves in several Buddhist countries, including Burma (4.3.7.5), Sri Lanka (4.1.7), and Indonesia (4.1.7; 4.3.7.11). Gold bars with Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions have been found in Uzbekistan (4.3.7.4).

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4.2.2.6 Silver

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As with gold, most inscriptions on silver are Buddhist Kharoṣṭhī records. Inscriptions of this class published in CII 2.1 include a scroll (70–7), vase (81–2), cups (97–8), plates (98–9), and a sieve (99), all from Taxila, and a disk (151) from Māṇikiāla. An inscribed silver scroll was also found at Bhaṭṭiproḷu (Lüders, *Philologica Indica*, 223). According to Ojhā (BPLM 152 and n. 4), inscribed silver plates and other objects can also be found in Jaina temples.

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4.2.2.7

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4.2.3.2 Bricks

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Bricks with passages from canonical texts or *dhāraṇīs* have been found at several Buddhist sites (e.g., Nālandā; 4.1.7). Brahmanical inscriptions recording Vedic sacrifices such as the *aśvamedha* are sometimes found on bricks which were presumed to

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4.2.5.3 Carnelian

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A few inscribed carnelian seals are known, for example, the Paris carnelian (CII 2.1, 7) and the Perak (Malaysia) seal of Viṣṇuvarman (Chhabra, *Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture*, 35–6).⁶¹

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4.2.5.4 Ivory and bone

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Ivory and bone seals with Brāhmī inscriptions have been found at several sites, such as Bhīṭā (ASIAR 1911–12, 48), Rupar (IAAR 1953, 123), Kauśāmbī (IAAR 1958, 76), Besnagar ( "Survey of the Inscriptions" in the *Encyclopaedia Britannica*, 11th ed. (1910–11), vol. 14, 623–5 (through the sixth century A.D. only).

4.3.1 Inscriptions of the Mauryan period (third century B.C.)

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4.3.1.1 Inscriptions of Aśoka

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E. Hultzsch's edition of the Aśokan inscriptions in CII 1 is still the standard reference source, though out of date in several respects, especially in that it does not include inscriptions discovered since its publication in 1925 (Erraguḍi, Bombay-Sopārā, Amarāvatī, Sannati, ten versions of the minor rock edicts, and the Greek and Aramaic inscriptions). J. Bloch's *Les Inscriptions d'Asoka* (1950) is a convenient and reliable shorter text and translation edition, but it is also seriously outdated. Older editions such as those of É. Senart (*Les Inscriptions de Piyadassi*, 1881) and A. C. Woolner (*Aśoka Text and Glossary*, 1924) are superseded by the more recent ones. The new discoveries up to 1979 are presented in D. C. Sircar's *Aśokan Studies*. A new complete edition of the Aśokan inscriptions is an urgent desideratum (cf. 6.6).

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There are many other general editions and translations of the Aśokan edicts, too numerous to mention here. Among the abundant translations into English and many other languages, D. C. Sircar's *Inscriptions of Aśoka* (1967) is worthy of note as a reliable semipopular edition.

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Bibliographical information is provided in M. A. Mehendale's *Aśokan Inscriptions in India* (1948), 60–99; in F. R. Allchin and K. R. Norman's "Guide to the Aśokan Inscriptions" (*South Asian Studies* 1, 1985, 43–50); and in the bibliographic supplement (732–5) to the English edition of É. Lamotte's *History of Indian Buddhism from the Origins to the Śaka Era* (1988). The last two provide references to many of the new discoveries, except for the most recent ones (see 4.3.1.1.1).

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Several more recent books and monographs have concentrated on detailed critical editions of particular subgroups, by type or by location, within the Aśokan corpus. These include L. Alsdorf's *Aśokas Separatedikte von Dhauli und Jaugaḍa* (1962), U. Schneider's *Die Grossen Felsen-Edikte Aśokas* (1978), P. K. Andersen's *Studies in the Minor Rock Edicts of Aśoka*. Vol. 1: *Critical Edition* (1990), and U. Niklas' *Die Editionen der Aśoka-Inschriften von Erraguḍi* (1990).

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Articles on particular inscriptions or linguistic, textual, and historical aspects of the Aśokan records are far too numerous to list here comprehensively. Worthy of note among the more recent works are those of Ludwig Alsdorf, Collette Caillat, Klaus Janert, K. R. Norman, Ulrich Schneider, and D. C. Sircar; partial listings can be found in the bibliographic sources noted here, although no complete and up-to-date bibliography exists. The articles of some of these authors are conveniently available in collections of their articles such as Sircar's *Aśokan Studies*, Alsdorf's *Kleine Schriften*, and, especially, Norman's *Collected Papers*.

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The inscriptions of Aśoka, the great Mauryan emperor and patron of Buddhism who ruled ca. 272–232 B.C., are the best-known and most widely studied Indian inscriptions. But they are also highly untypical in several respects, first of all in their pattern of distribution, with the same or similar texts duplicated in widely scattered parts Some Major Epigraphic Sites [Figure: Map 3 Location of Aśokan Inscriptions]

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of the country. Their style and content are also unusual, for the most part involving proclamations of the emperor's moral and religious sentiments as expressed personally by him in the first person. Despite having been intensively studied for over a century and a half, the Aśokan inscriptions remain problematic in several respects, and many points of interpretation are still controversial.

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The Aśokan inscriptions are written in various MIA dialects which are referred to collectively as the "Aśokan Prakrits." The principal dialect is the eastern, which evidently represents the imperial language of the Mauryan dynasty and its capital at Pāṭaliputra (modern Patna, Bihar). All of the pillar edicts and several of the rock edicts are in this language. Other rock inscriptions, however, are written in the western (notably Girnār) and northwestern ("Gāndhārī"; Shāhbāzgaṛhī and Mānsehrā) dialects.⁶⁶

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⁶⁶ For details see section 3.1.2.

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With the exception of the northwestern rock edicts (and those in non-Indian languages, i.e., Greek and Aramaic; see 4.3.7.3), all of the Aśokan inscriptions are written in the earliest attested form of the Brāhmī script. Only the Shāhbāzgaṛhī and Mānsehrā rock inscriptions are in Kharoṣṭhī.⁶⁷

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⁶⁷ There is, however, one word, *lipikareṇa*, 'by the scribe', written in Kharoṣṭhī in the scribe's signature appended to the minor rock edicts (otherwise in Brāhmī) at Brahmagiri, Śiddāpura, and Jaṭiṅga-Rāmeśvara.

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The Aśokan inscriptions are the earliest Indian epigraphs which can be dated with any certainty, if not the absolutely earliest ones.⁶⁸ The inscriptions are dated in the regnal years of Aśoka, ranging from the eighth (rock edict XIII) to the twenty-seventh (pillar edict VII, Delhi-Toprā). These regnal dates can be correlated to absolute years, that is, approximately 264–245 B.C., from various external sources, mainly by the references by name to five contemporaneous Greek kings (*yonarāja*) in rock edict XIII.

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