Indian Epigraphy c11.t2.3

c11.t2.3

Similarly a stone inscription¹ (1531 A. D.) of the Vijayanagara king Acyutarāya, found in the Viṣṇupāda temple at Gayā, is called his *dharma-śāsana* since it records how a person visited Gayā on behalf of the king and performed the *śrāddha* ceremony of the king's dead ancestors. Although it is called an edict for religion (i.e. religious merit), it is not a *śāsana* in the real sense of the term. It is so called because in the late medieval period any royal record was a *śāsana*. A similar stone inscription² (1521 A. D.) of king Kṛṣṇadevarāya, the predecessor and brother of Acyutarāya, recording the king's performance of a pilgrimage to Gayā through a proxy, is styled a *vijaya-śāsana* (a document relating to victory) although this *vijaya* can only be regarded as *dharma-vijaya*, i.e. success relating to religion or religious merit.