Indian Epigraphy c14.6

c14.6

Thirdly, the box-headed alphabet used in certain epigraphs of king Bhadravarman of Campā (South Annam)¹ is not a characteristic of Pallava inscriptions but is generally found in the epigraphs of Central India and the Upper Deccan as well as in the Kannaḍa-speaking western regions of South India. Fourthly, the Śaka era introduced in Indochina and Indonesia about the 6th century A.D. was never used in the inscriptions of the Pallavas, the Cālukyas of Bādāmi (from the middle of the 6th to that of the 8th century A.D.) being responsible for the association of the name Śaka with the said era and the popularity of its use especially in the present Kannaḍa and Marāṭhī-speaking areas. Fifthly, a number of South-East Asian inscriptions, particularly those of the early ruling families of Arakan (Burma) and of the Śailendras of Śrīvijaya (Palembang in Sumatra), are written in the Late Brāhmī and Siddhamātṛkā alphabets of Eastern India.² Sixthly, geographical names like Irāvatī (the river Irawady in Burma; cf. the old name of the Rāvi in the Punjab), Ayuthia (city in Siam; cf. the ancient city of Ayodhyā in the Fyzabad District, U.P.), Candrabhāgā and Gomatī (canals or streams mentioned in the Tugu inscription of Pūrṇavarman of Java; cf. the celebrated North Indian rivers of these names), Campā-pura (the old capital of South Annam; cf. the same name of the ancient capital of Aṅga or East Bihar), Kambuja (ancient name of Cambodia; cf. the name of the Kamboja people of North-Western Bhāratavarṣa), etc.,³ appear to associate the people responsible for coining the names with various areas of Northern India even though some of them may be merely Indianised forms of local names. Seventhly, there are some records in these countries which definitely point to a contact especially with East India among territories outside South India.