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Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t1: 4.2.1 Stone

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t1

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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.

Cites (4)