Indian Epigraphy c10.s1.40

c10.s1.40

There were manuals for the guidance of the clerks for the preparation of documents. Kṣemendra Vyāsadāsa’s *Lokaprakāśa* shows how different kinds of bonds, bills of exchange (*huṇḍi*), etc., were to be drafted while the *Lekhapañcāsikā* indicates how private letters as well as land-grants, treaties, etc., should be drawn.² One such work entitled *Lekhapaddhati* containing numerous specimens of letters and documents of various kinds has been published in the Gaekwad Oriental Series. The *praśast-āvali* works of Mithilā deal with the epistolary art and contain forms of communications to be addressed to feudatory and imperial rulers, both indigenous and foreign, as well as to one’s feudatories, learned men, private citizens, etc. They also contain specimens of private communications. A notable work of this class is the *Patrakaumudī* ascribed to Vararuci.³