Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s2.t7.75

c9.s2.t7.75

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.