Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t7: 4.3.7 Extra-Indian inscriptions
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t7
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4.3.7 Extra-Indian inscriptions
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Inscriptions in Indo-Aryan languages from outside of the geographical boundaries of traditional India as defined for this study (i.e., the modern nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) number in the thousands and constitute a major branch of the field of Indian epigraphy. Such extra-Indian inscriptions are found from Egypt to Vietnam, and from Azerbaijan to Indonesia.⁹⁷ Their form and content are equally diverse, sometimes very similar to corresponding material from India, as in the case of many of the specimens from Afghanistan and Southeast Asia, sometimes radically different, as in most of the material from Chinese central Asia. Almost without exception,⁹⁸ the epigraphs are written in Indic scripts, either in their original Indian form or in local variants or derivatives thereof (especially in Southeast Asia). Many of the extra-Indian inscriptions, particularly in Southeast Asia, are bilinguals.⁹⁹
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⁹⁷ In this book the inscriptions are grouped geographically by reference to modern nations rather than (as has generally been the practice) by obsolete designations (Champa, Annam, Turkestan, etc.) or broad regional categories (Indo-China, Southeast Asia, central Asia, etc.).
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⁹⁸ The only significant exception is the (partially) Indic texts in Aramaic script from Afghanistan (see 4.3.7.3).
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⁹⁹ "Bilinguals" in the broader sense of the term; see section 3.6. For a rare true bilingual from Cambodia, see Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, BEFEO 52, 1964, 2.
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Sources for the study of extra-Indian inscriptions are scattered in a very wide variety of publications in many languages, not always easily accessible; an attempt is made here to provide references to the major sources for each country. No comprehensive survey of this subject has been previously available, though brief accounts of some of the material can be found in SIE 202–18 (Chapter VI, "Indian Epigraphy Abroad") and IC I.171–2 (Southeast Asia only).
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4.3.7.1 Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
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Sri Lankan inscriptions in Indian and Ceylonese languages are published in *Epigraphia Zeylanica* [EZ]. Important anthologies are E. Müller, *Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon*, and S. Paranavitana, *Inscriptions of Ceylon*. For general bibliography, see H. A. I. Goonetileke, “Writings on Ceylon Epigraphy: A Bibliographical Guide,” in *Ceylon Historical Journal* 10, 1960–61, 171–207.
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Several thousand inscriptions in Sanskrit, Pāli, Tamil, and especially in various stages of Sinhalese have been discovered in Sri Lanka. The scripts employed include early regional varieties of Brāhmī, the Sinhalese script at various stages of development, and occasionally other northern and southern Indian scripts. Most of the Sri Lankan inscriptions are on stone, especially cave walls; a few are on copper and other metals. The great majority of Sri Lankan inscriptions are concerned with dedications of various kinds to the Buddhist monastic community and regulations concerning its affairs.
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The oldest Sri Lankan inscriptions consist mostly of dedications of caves to the Buddhist *saṃgha*, usually written in a local variety of old Brāhmī script above the entrance to the caves. These and other similar early inscriptions, numbering well over a thousand, are dated on historical and paleographic grounds from about the third century B.C. to the third or fourth century A.D. Their language is referred to as “Old Sinhalese” or “Sinhalese Prakrit” (see 3.1.4.2.2). Several of the earlier inscriptions of this group (39 out of 1,234 in Paranavitana, *Inscriptions of Ceylon* I) are written from right to left instead of the usual left to right; a few (e.g., no. 1099) are inscribed in boustrophedon (cf. 2.2.3.2.4).
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Most of the later Sri Lankan inscriptions are written in more advanced forms of the Sinhalese variety of Brāhmī script and of the Sinhalese language which developed out of Sinhalese Prakrit. Such inscriptions are relatively rare between the fourth to eighth centuries, but stone inscriptions, mostly recording royal proclamations and grants to Buddhist establishments, become very common in the ninth to twelfth centuries (see 3.4.7). A particularly interesting and important body of materials is the literary graffiti from Sīgiri, published by S. Paranavitana in *Sigiri Graffiti*.
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Sanskrit inscriptions written in either Sri Lankan or northern Indian scripts are considerably less common than those in Sinhalese; only seventeen are listed in Malini Dias, “Sanskrit and Pali Inscriptions of Ceylon” (*Ancient Ceylon* 1, 1971, 105–9). Among the most important specimens are the Tiriyāy rock inscription (seventh century; EZ 4, 151–60 and 312–19), eulogizing the *Girikaṇḍi-caitya*; the Jetavanārāma stone inscription (ninth century; EZ 1, 1–9), recording detailed regulations for the conduct of Buddhist monks; and the Indikaṭusāya copper plaques (EZ 3, 199–212; 4, 238–42), recording fragments of the *Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñā-pāramitā* and the *Kāśyapa-parivarta*.¹⁰⁰
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¹⁰⁰ See section 4.1.7 for other related inscriptions.
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Pāli inscriptions are, somewhat surprisingly, very rare; Dias (op. cit.) lists only three. An interesting example of a Pāli inscription (originally misread as “mixed Sanskrit”) is the Abhayagiri copper plate (EZ 3, 169–71), containing a verse from the *Vaṭṭaka Jātaka*.
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4.3.7.2 Nepal
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Anthologies of inscriptions from Nepal in Sanskrit and other languages (mainly Newari) include Bhagvânlâl Indraji and G. Bühler, “*Inscriptions from Nepal*,” IA 9, 1880, 163–94; S. Lévi, *Le Nepal* III; R. Gnoli, *Nepalese Inscriptions in Gupta Characters*;
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D. R. Regmi, *Medieval Nepal, Part IV*; D. R. Regmi, *Inscriptions of Ancient Nepal*; H. Jośī, *Nepāla ko Prācīna Abhilekha*; Dh. Vajrācārya, *Licchavikālakā Abhilekha*; and Dh. Vajrācārya and Ṭ. Śreṣṭha, *Śāhakālakā Abhilekha [Pahilo Bhāga]*. See also the *Abhilekha-saṃgraha*, and various articles in Nepali journals such as *Pūrṇimā*, *Kailash*, and *Journal of the Nepal Research Centre*.
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Sanskrit inscriptions in Brāhmī script and its local derivatives are found in Nepal in large numbers from the fifth century¹⁰¹ until recent times. The inscriptions of the Licchavi period (fifth–ninth centuries), numbering about two hundred, mostly on stone, have tended to attract the attention of epigraphists and historians; most of the anthologies cited here consist exclusively or mainly of inscriptions of this period.¹⁰² This material includes some outstanding specimens of the *praśasti* style, such as the Cāṅgu-Nārāyaṇa pillar inscription of Mānadeva (SI I.378–82), which is the oldest dated inscription of Nepal ([Śaka?] 386 = A.D. 464/65).
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¹⁰¹ The Aśokan (third-century B.C.) minor pillar inscriptions from Rummindeī and Nigālī Sāgar are from the Terai region of Nepal but are here treated together with the other Aśokan inscriptions (4.3.1.1.4).
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¹⁰² A useful inventory of Licchavi inscriptions is given in M. Slusser, *Nepal Mandala*, I.403–19.
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Inscriptions of the post-Licchavi period, though numerous, are in general less well documented, though they have begun to attract more attention in recent years in such publications as Regmi's *Medieval Nepal, Part IV*, *Abhilekha-saṃgraha*, Vajrācārya and Śreṣṭha's *Śāhakālakā Abhilekha*, and in several articles published in the journals cited earlier. Many of the later inscriptions are bilingual in Sanskrit and Newari.¹⁰³ Stone inscriptions continue to predominate, but copper plates are also not rare (cf. 4.1.2 n. 5).¹⁰⁴
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¹⁰³ Cf. section 3.5.3.3; see also Slusser, op. cit., 393.
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¹⁰⁴ See, e.g., M. R. Pant and A. D. Sharma, *The Two Earliest Copper-plate Inscriptions from Nepal*, and Regmi's *Medieval Nepal IV*, nos. 14, 17, etc.
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Some late inscriptions of Nepal, mostly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are written in Nepali¹⁰⁵ or Nepali and Sanskrit; for examples see Vajrācārya and Śreṣṭha's *Śāhakālakā Abhilekha* and *Abhilekha-saṃgraha* 12.
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¹⁰⁵ Cf. section 3.4.6; see also Slusser, op. cit., 394.
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The inscriptions of Nepal generally record royal grants of land or privileges (*prasāda*) of various kinds, temple endowments or reconstructions, dedications of images or *liṅgas*, and so forth. In style and formula they generally resemble the corresponding types of records from India. On the whole, inscriptions of Brahmanical affiliation predominate, especially in the earlier period, but Buddhist records are also common throughout.
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4.3.7.3 Afghanistan
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Six inscriptions of the time of Aśoka in Aramaic and/or Greek have been found, some of them in recent years, in Afghanistan.¹⁰⁶ Another fragmentary Aramaic inscription, probably of Aśoka, was found in Taxila (Pakistan); see SI I.78–9. While these records do not, strictly speaking, fall within the linguistic range of this book, they are worthy of mention here, first of all because most of them are translations or at least free adaptations of Indic (Prakrit) originals; thus, for example, the Kandahār [II] Greek inscription is a rendering of portions of Aśokan rock edicts XII and XIII (*JA* 252, 137–57). Moreover, two of the Aramaic inscriptions, namely Pul-i-Darunta (*BSOAS* 13, 80–88) and Kandahār [III] (*JA* 254, 437–70) consist of phrase-by-phrase renderings of the original Prakrit texts transliterated into Aramaic script and accompanied by glosses in the Aramaic language; these inscriptions thus constitute, in effect, bilingual Prakrit and Aramaic documents.
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¹⁰⁶ For references see Allchin and Norman's *Guide to the Aśokan Inscriptions* (*South Asian Studies* I, 1985), 46; F. R. Allchin and Norman Hammond, *The Archaeology of Afghanistan from Earliest* *Times to the Timurid Period* (London: Academic Press, 1978), 192–8; G. Djelani Davary, “A List of the Inscriptions of the Pre-Islamic Period from Afghanistan,” *StII* 3, 1977, 11–22 (esp. 11–12); and B. N. Mukherjee, *Studies in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Aśoka*, 23–42.
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During the Kuṣāṇa period (i.e., the early centuries of the Christian era), Kharoṣṭhī/Gāndhārī inscriptions, typically on reliquaries or potsherds, similar in form and content to the contemporary records from India (see 4.2.3.3), are common in Afghanistan. These are concentrated in the eastern part of the country, on the fringe of the Indian cultural region, but some also come from farther afield to the southwest (e.g., Dasht-e Nāwur) and north (e.g., Qunduz). Important examples include the Wardak relic bowl inscription (CII 2.1, 165–70), the Bīmarān vase inscription (CII 2.1, 50–2), the Begrām bas-relief inscription (*EI* 22, 11–14), and the Jalālābād stone inscription (*Acta Orientalia* 16, 234–40). Excavations in recent decades have revealed many more inscriptions of this type; among the more important specimens are those from Haḍḍa (*BEFEO* 66, 5–9), Dasht-e Nāwur (*BEFEO* 61, 19–22), and Qunduz (*BEFEO* 61, 58–61).¹⁰⁷
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¹⁰⁷ For further references see Davary, “A List of the Inscriptions,” 12.
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Some later Sanskrit inscriptions in late Brāhmī of about around the fifth to eighth centuries have also been found in Afghanistan in recent decades. Worthy of note are the Dilberjin fresco inscription (*Drevniaia Baktriia* [for reference see Index of Inscriptions Cited], 170–1); the Gardez inscription on an image of Gaṇeśa (*EI* 35, 44–7); and the Umā-Maheśvara image inscription from Tapa Skandar (*JESI* 1, 1–6). Several Buddhist inscriptions of this period with the “Buddhist creed” (cf. 4.1.7) on votive clay tablets have also been discovered at Ghaznī (*East and West*, n.s. 20, 74–7). An unusual and enigmatic Brāhmī inscription on a mud-plaster floor was found at Tapa Sardār (*East and West*, n.s. 29, 265–9).
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Several Sanskrit inscriptions in Śāradā script from the Ṣāhī period (eighth–ninth centuries) have also been found in Afghanistan.¹⁰⁸ Two such inscriptions from Laghmān have recently been published (*JESI* 12, 63–8), but the readings are uncertain due to their poor condition.
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¹⁰⁸ For references see Allchin and Hammond, *The Archaeology of Afghanistan*, 245, and Davary, *Studia Iranica* 10, 1981, 57–8.
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4.3.7.4 Uzbekistan and neighboring central Asian republics
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Archaeological excavations in recent decades in southern Uzbekistan (formerly USSR) have yielded several dozen specimens of Indic inscriptions from various sites in the region of ancient Bactria, mainly Kara Tepe and Faiaz Tepe near Termez in Uzbekistan. (A few have also been found at Pendzhikent, Adzhina Tepe, and other sites in neighboring Tajikistan.) Most of these date from the Kuṣāṇa period. The majority of the relics (like the contemporary ones from nearby Afghanistan) are potsherds with dedicatory inscriptions in Kharoṣṭhī script and Gāndhārī language; these are collected by M. I. Vorob’eva-Desiatovskaia in “Pamiatniki pis’mom kxaroshtxi i braxmi iz sovetskoi Srednei Azii” (see the bibliography), and by V
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Similar inscriptions in Pāli and Sanskrit on votive clay tablets of the eleventh century were also found at Pagàn (ASIAR 1926–27, 161–71). A bilingual Sanskrit and Tamil inscription from Pagàn in Grantha and Tamil characters of the thirteenth century records a dedication to a Vaiṣṇava temple by a native of southern India (EI 7, 197–8).
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Pāli inscriptions, usually bilingual with Burmese or other local languages, are common in later times, even up to the modern era (see Duroiselle’s *List of Inscriptions*, passim). An exceptionally important late (A.D. 1476) bilingual (Pāli and Talain [Mon]) document is the Kalyāṇasīmā (Pegu) inscription of King Dhammaceti (Taw Sein Ko, *The Kalyāṇī Inscriptions*). This lengthy document on ten slabs, recording the consecration of and establishing regulations for the meeting place (*sīmā*) of monks, contains a vast body of information on the history and practice of Buddhism in Burma.
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4.3.7.6 Thailand
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Inscriptions in Indic languages are found, along with those in Thai and other non-Indian languages, in the following anthologies: G. Coedès, *Recueil des inscriptions du Siam* (note especially the “Liste des inscriptions du Siam” in vol. 1, 13–36); *Prachum Silā Chāruk* [reprint and continuation of Coedès’ *Recueil*]; *Chāruk nai Prathēt Thai*; *Chāruk Samai Sukhōthai*.
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Several dozen Sanskrit and Pāli inscriptions dating from about the fifth to sixteenth centuries A.D. have been found in Thailand. Probably the earliest Sanskrit inscription of Thailand is the Srideb inscription (B. Ch. Chhabra, *Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture*, 70–2), dated paleographically to around the fifth century. In the seventh to twelfth centuries, Sanskrit inscriptions become quite common; see, for example, the Khăn Thevăda and Ban Bụng Kē stele inscriptions (BEFEO 22, 57–60 and 62–4).
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Several of the major Sanskrit inscriptions of eastern Thailand belong to the Khmer kings of neighboring Cambodia (cf. 4.3.7.7 and 4.3.7.9). A particularly important record of this class is the bilingual (Sanskrit and Khmer) Sdok Kak Thom inscription of Udayādityavarman (A. Chakravarti, *The Sdok Kak Thom Inscription*), which relates in detail the history of a prominent priestly family and their relations with contemporary kings over two and a half centuries. There are also a few Sanskrit inscriptions from southern (peninsular) Thailand, such as the Ligor inscription of King Viṣṇu of Śrīvijaya (Coedès, *Recueil*, II.20–4) recording the dedication of several Buddhist *stūpas* and *caityas*.
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In later centuries, Pāli inscriptions (often bilingual with Thai) are more common, while Sanskrit becomes rarer, for example, the Văt Don bilingual stele inscription of the early thirteenth century (BEFEO 25, 189–92). Votive tablets bearing the familiar Buddhist creed are often found in Thailand, in both Sanskrit and Pāli.¹¹¹
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¹¹¹ See G. Coedès, “Tablettes votives bouddhiques du Siam,” in *Études Asiatiques* 1, Publications de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient 19 (Paris, 1925), 145–67.
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4.3.7.7 Cambodia
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The main collections of Cambodian inscriptions in Indian languages (some together with inscriptions in Khmer) are A. Barth and A. Bergaigne, *Inscriptions sanscrites du*
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*Cambodge*; G. Coedès, *Inscriptions du Cambodge*; R. C. Majumdar, *Inscriptions of Kambuja*; and C. Jacques, *Corpus des inscriptions du pays khmer*. Facsimiles of the inscriptions were published by L. Finot in *Inscriptions du Cambodge*. There are numerous studies of the Cambodian inscriptions from various standpoints; noteworthy are K. Bhattacharya, "Recherches sur le vocabulaire des inscriptions sanskrites du Cambodge"; Bhattacharya, *Les Religions brahmaniques dans l'ancien Cambodge d'après l'épigraphie et l'iconographie*; M. K. Sharan, *Studies in Sanskrit Inscriptions of Ancient Cambodia*; and S. Sahai, *Les Institutions politiques et l'organisation administrative du Cambodge ancien (VIe-XIIIe siècles)*.
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The Indic inscriptions of Cambodia constitute the largest and most important corpus among the extra-Indian inscriptions in Sanskrit. They number in the hundreds, including several of great length, and range in date from about the fifth or sixth to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. The great majority are in Sanskrit, including many Sanskrit and Khmer bilinguals, besides the numerous inscriptions in Khmer alone; a few late inscriptions are in Pāli (e.g., K 501, 754).¹¹²
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¹¹² Following the standard practice, Cambodian inscriptions are cited here according to the numbers in Coedès' *Liste générale des inscriptions du Cambodge* = *Inscriptions du Cambodge*, vol. 8, 73–255, which is a revised version of the Cambodian portion of Coedès' *Liste générale des inscriptions du Champa et du Cambodge*. In Coedès' system, K = Khmer, i.e., Cambodia, as opposed to C = Champa, i.e., Vietnam.
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The Cambodian inscriptions are generally written on stone, especially on stelae found at the great temple sites of Angkor Vat, Angkor Thom, and others. Like most of the Indic inscriptions of Southeast Asia, they are usually written in scripts related to southern and western Indian styles of late Brāhmī and in the local script derived therefrom,¹¹³ but several inscriptions from the time of Yaśovarman (ninth–tenth centuries) are recorded as biscripts in the local script and in northern Indian Siddhamātṛkā. The inscriptions are usually dated in the Śaka era.
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¹¹³ See section 2.2.5.6 n. 121 for references.
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The primary purpose of virtually all of the Cambodian inscriptions is to record pious donations or foundations of various types by kings and other royal figures, government officials, and private individuals. The recipients include both religious institutions and learned or venerated individuals. In general, Śaiva institutions predominate, although Vaiṣṇava and Buddhist establishments are by no means neglected, and references to syncretistic cults, especially of Śiva and Viṣṇu, are characteristic. The gifts themselves are often lavish, as in the Práḥ Khan inscription of Jayavarman VII (K 908) recording the donation of 20,400 images, 13,500 villages, 306,372 slaves, and so on (v. 177). The provisions of the grants are often spelled out in great detail, usually in the Khmer portions of bilingual inscriptions but sometimes also in Sanskrit.
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The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia have won praise for their literary and scholarly qualities and the skill of their composition and execution. They are composed, almost without exception, in classical verse, and many are quite long, consisting of as many as 218 (Mébon inscription of Rājendravarman, K 528) or even 298 verses (Prè Rup inscription of Rājendravarman, K 806).¹¹⁴ Ornate meters such as *Śārdū-* *lavikrīḍita* or *Sragdharā* are frequently used, as is learned vocabulary (see K. Bhattacharya, “Recherches sur le vocabulaire”). The style is typically highly ornate, especially in the eulogistic portions of royal grants, which often carry the *praśasti* style to extremes. Also characteristic of the Cambodian Sanskrit inscriptions are learned references to literary and technical texts, some of which are useful for historical studies of Sanskrit literature.¹¹⁵ Pāṇinian grammatical allusions, as in vv. 48, 124, 214, and 219 of Prè Rup, are also typical.
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¹¹⁴ These inss. have been translated into English by M. K. Sharan in *Select Cambodian Inscriptions (The Mebon and Pre Rup Inscriptions of Rajendra Varman II)*.
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¹¹⁵ See, e.g., IC I.171, on the date of Suśruta.
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As sources for political and cultural history the Cambodian inscriptions are of incomparable value not only for their volume but also for their relative precision as to dates and historical details. The Práḥ Nok inscription (K 289), for instance, describes the military campaigns of a General Saṃgrāma in far more detail than is usually to be found in Indian inscriptions.
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4.3.7.8 Vietnam
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Sanskrit inscriptions from Vietnam are compiled in A. Bergaigne, *Inscriptions sanscrites de Campā*, and R. C. Majumdar, *Champa*.
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The kingdom of Campā in modern Vietnam has yielded several dozen Sanskrit or bilingual Sanskrit and Cham inscriptions dating from approximately the third (Võ-cạnh; see next paragraph) to the early fourteenth century. Most of these inscriptions are on stelae, but some are on stone or metal (e.g., C 145¹¹⁶ = Majumdar no. 130, on a silver jug). Most are dated in the Śaka era. They are generally in verse or mixed verse and poetic prose (Bergaigne, 183), though some early records are primarily or exclusively in prose. The great majority record royal dedications or donations to temples and monasteries, especially Śaivite but also sometimes Vaiṣṇava (e.g., C 1 and 136 = Majumdar nos. 121 and 11) and Buddhist (C 66 and 138 = Majumdar nos. 31 and 37).
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¹¹⁶ Inscriptions from Vietnam are conventionally referred to by their number (C = Champa, i.e., Vietnam) in Coedès’ *Liste générale des inscriptions du Champa et du Cambodge*; cf. n. 112).
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The Võ-cạnh inscription (C 40 = Majumdar 1) is considered the earliest Sanskrit inscription of Southeast Asia, although its precise dating is a matter of controversy.¹¹⁷ It is usually placed in the third century.¹¹⁸
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¹¹⁷ See de Casparis, “Palaeography as an Auxiliary Discipline” (ref. in 2.2.5.6 n. 121), 382, and references given there and on 392 n. 13; see also section 5.4.1.
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¹¹⁸ The inscribed seals found at Oc-eo (Vietnam) are evidently older, but they were probably made in India and imported to Southeast Asia; see de Casparis, op. cit., 381.
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In style, the Campā inscriptions generally follow the *praśasti* mode, though they are not as impressive as the Cambodian inscriptions. Some characteristic peculiarities of usage have been noted in them, such as *hi* and *sma* in initial position and the optative with preterite sense (Bergaigne, 189 and 220–1). Typical examples of elaborate Campā inscriptions are the two inscriptions on the faces of a stele from Glai Lamau (C 24 = Majumdar 24 a and b), recording in ornate (but not always classically correct) prose and verse King Indravarman I’s dedication of an image of Śiva (ins. a) and donations to Śaṅkara-Nārāyaṇa (b).
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4.3.7.9 Laos
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There are a few inscriptions in Indian languages from Laos,¹¹⁹ mostly Sanskrit records of the Khmer empire from the seventh to the twelfth century A.D. (e.g., K 363, 367). An interesting early record (ca. fifth century) is the Văt Luong Kău inscription of King Devānīka, recording the foundation of a new Kurukṣetra *tīrtha* (K 365). The Sai Fong inscription (K 368) of Jayavarman VII provides a detailed account of the dedication and regulations of a hospital.
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¹¹⁹ The inscriptions from Laos are generally treated together with those of Cambodia; for sources and references see section 4.3.7.7.
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Buddhist inscriptions in Pāli occur in the later centuries; see, for example, BEFEO 3, 1903, 660–3 (L. Finot), for inscriptions of about the sixteenth century on votive steles and gold leaves.
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4.3.7.10 Malaysia
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Indic inscriptions from Malaysia are listed by R. C. Majumdar in "Early Inscriptions in the Malay Peninsula (up to the Fifth Century A.D.)" (Appendix to ch. I.V of *Suvarṇadvīpa*, 88–90). Some of these inscriptions were published by B. Ch. Chhabra in *Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture*, 18–26 and 35–6. Reproductions of several of the inscriptions are provided in S. Durai Raja Singam, *India and Malaya Through the Ages (A Pictorial Survey)*, 3d ed. (Kuantan, Malaya, 1954).
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Most of the relatively few Indic inscriptions from Malaysia are short Sanskrit records of Buddhistic content on stone, dating from about the fourth to the eighth century, found in the northwestern corner of the country. The most notable among them is the Buddhagupta inscription of about the fifth century (Chhabra 20–6), recording a dedication by a sea captain (*mahānāvika*) from Raktamṛttikā, probably in Bengal (SI I.497 n. 3). Several Buddhist inscriptions have also been found at Kedah.¹²⁰
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¹²⁰ See Chhabra, *Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture*, 18–20, and H. G. Quaritch Wales, *Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society* 18, 1940, 7–10 and 23–4.
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4.3.7.11 Indonesia
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For general reference (but not a complete list) see L.-C. Damais’ "Liste des principales inscriptions datées de l'Indonésie" (BEFEO 46, 1952, 1–105). Anthologies of Indonesian inscriptions in general are found in J. G. de Casparis, *Prasasti Indonesia* and B. R. Chatterjee, *India and Java*. Part II: *Inscriptions* [including inscriptions of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra]. See also the various articles by H. Kern collected in vols. 6 and 7 of his *Verspreide Geschriften*. For Java, see H. B. Sarkar, *Corpus of the Inscriptions of Java*; for Bali, W. F. Stutterheim, *Oudheden van Bali I*.¹²¹
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¹²¹ The Sanskrit inscriptions in Roelof Goris, *Prasasti Bali*. Vol. 1: *Inscripties voor Anak Wungçu*, 108–15, are taken directly from Stutterheim.
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Sanskrit inscriptions on stone slabs, pillars, images, and other materials are found in good numbers in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java but also on Sumatra, Borneo, and Bali. These inscriptions are mostly written in varieties of late Brāhmī resembling the Pallava script of southern India and in the local scripts (Old Javanese, etc.) derived therefrom; but a few are also in a northeastern Indian script conventionally referred to as "Pre-Nāgarī"¹²² or "Early Nāgarī."¹²³ A few of the Indonesian inscriptions are bilinguals, consisting of texts in Sanskrit and local languages such as Old Malay and Old Javanese.
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¹²² E.g., de Casparis, *Prasasti Indonesia*, II.176.
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¹²³ See de Casparis, *Indonesian Palaeography*, 35–7.
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Possibly the earliest Indonesian inscriptions are the Kutei (Borneo) Yūpa stone inscriptions of King Mūlavarman (SI I.498–500) of about the early fifth century, though later inscriptions from Borneo are rare.¹²⁴
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¹²⁴ See Chhabra, *Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture*, 48–57.
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Of a similar antiquity are the inscriptions of King Pūrṇavarman from western Java.¹²⁵ There are several more Sanskrit inscriptions in Java in the middle period, around the eighth and ninth centuries, and a few later ones, mostly Buddhist, from the eleventh to fourteenth centuries.
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¹²⁵ See J. Ph. Vogel, "The Earliest Sanskrit Inscriptions of Java."
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Sanskrit inscriptions from Sumatra range in date from the seventh or eighth¹²⁶ to the fourteenth century. As in Java, most of the later inscriptions are Buddhistic.
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¹²⁶ De Casparis, *Prasasti Indonesia*, II.6–10.
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A few Sanskrit inscriptions, mostly dating to about the ninth and tenth centuries, have been found on Bali.¹²⁷
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¹²⁷ Stutterheim, *Oudheden van Bali*. See also Stutterheim, "A Newly Discovered Pre-Nāgarī Inscription on Bali," *Acta Orientalia* 12, 1933, 126–32 (but note corrections by L.-C. Damais in BEFEO 44, 1951, 121–8).
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4.3.7.12 China
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The Kharoṣṭhī documents from Xinjiang were published by A. M. Boyer, E. J. Rapson, and E. Senart in *Kharoṣṭhī Inscriptions Discovered by Sir Aurel Stei* [KI] and translated by T. Burrow in *A Translation of the Kharoṣṭhī Documents from Chinese Turkestan*; see also Burrow's *Language of the Kharoṣṭhī Documents from Chinese Turkestan*.
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Archaeological expeditions in Chinese Central Asia (i.e., the region of the Takla Makan Desert in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, formerly referred to as Chinese Turkestan) have yielded, besides a wealth of ancient literary documents in Sanskrit, hundreds of epigraphic and quasi-epigraphic texts in Indic scripts and languages. These materials for the most part are radically different in form and content from epigraphs found in India and elsewhere.
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The largest body of material in this category consists of the documents written in Kharoṣṭhī script and in a local variety, sometimes called Niya or Kroraina Prakrit, of northwestern or Gāndhārī Prakrit (3.1.4.2.1). Boyer, Rapson, and Senart published 764 documents from the Niya River, Endere, and Lou-lan sites in KI, and 18 additional texts were subsequently published by J. Brough (BSOS 9, 1937–39, 111–23); in recent years several more documents of this type have come to light.¹²⁸ These documents are usually written with ink on wooden or leather tablets.¹²⁹ They are mostly official and economic records of about the third century of the local kingdom known as Kroraina or Shan-Shan, and provide detailed information about the everyday bureaucratic workings of this kingdom. They thus constitute a body of practical data of a type which is very rare in India itself for the corresponding period.
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¹²⁸ See R. Salomon, *Bulletin d'Études Indiennes* 4, 1986, 341–51, and *Central Asiatic Journal* 32, 1988, 98–108; Lin Meicun, BSOAS 53, 1990, 283–91.
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¹²⁹ They are thus not "inscriptions" in the strictest sense of the term but are conventionally treated as such; see preface.
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Other sites in central Asia have yielded various specimens of Indic epigraphic and quasi-epigraphic records in both Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī. At Mīrān, for example, there are several short Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions among the wall paintings.¹³⁰ Paintings at other cave temple sites such as Qyzyl and Bezeklik are sometimes labeled with Sanskrit inscriptions in central Asian Brāhmī; outstanding examples were found in Bezeklik temple no. 9.¹³¹
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¹³⁰ M. A. Stein, *Serindia*, I.529–32. For inscriptions on silk from Mīrān and Lou-lan, see section 4.2.5.6.
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¹³¹ H. Lüders, *Sitzungsberichte der königlich Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften* [Berlin], 1913, 864–84 = *Philologica Indica*, 255–74.
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A rare example of an Indian inscription from China proper is the Kharoṣṭhī stone record from the neighborhood of Lo-yang (*BSOAS* 24, 517–30). Recently, a bronze Buddha with a pedestal inscription in Kharoṣṭhī has also been found at Shifosi in Chang’an county, Shaanxi Province.¹³² Inscriptions recording Sanskrit Buddhist *dhāraṇīs* in Siddhamātṛkā and other Indic scripts are found in some numbers in China; an outstanding example is the polyglot inscriptions from Chü Yung Kuan with the *Uṣṇīṣavijaya-* and *Tathāgatahṛdaya-dhāraṇīs* in Lanstsha (Nepali) as well as in Tibetan and four other non-Indic scripts.¹³³ Several other *dhāraṇī* inscriptions in Siddhamātṛkā on stone, brick, and other materials have been found in Yünnan Province.¹³⁴
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¹³² Lin Meicun, “A Kharoṣṭhī Inscription from Chang’an,” in Li Zheng et al., eds., *Papers in Honour of Prof. Dr. Ji Xianlin*, 119–31.
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¹³³ See Jiro Murata, ed., *Chü-Yung-Kuan: The Buddhist Arch of the Fourteenth Century A.D. at the Pass of the Great Wall Northwest of Peking*, 2 vols. (Kyoto: Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, 1957).
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¹³⁴ See Walter Liebenthal, *Monumenta Serica* 12, 1947, 1–40; D. C. Sircar, *JAIH* 3, 1969–70, 36–41; and Oskar von Hinüber, *Journal of the Siam Society* 77, 1989, 55–59. Similar Buddhist ritual inscriptions of Sanskrit *mantras* or *dhāraṇīs* in Siddhamātṛkā are also found in Japan and other Buddhist countries of East Asia. Ritual inscriptions of Sanskrit *mantras* in Tibetan script, especially the *oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ* prayer stones, are ubiquitous in Tibet (cf. 4.1.7).
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4.3.7.13 Egypt
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A few records in Indic languages and scripts of about the first or second century A.D., evidently written by Indian traders, have been found in Egypt, including a Prakrit inscription in southern Brāhmī on a potsherd from Quseir (*JAOS* 111, 731–6). There are also a few fragments of Old Tamil inscriptions from the same site (ibid.).