Indian Epigraphy c14.s3.1

c14.s3.1

Among the early inscriptions of Burma, there are epigraphs in Sanskrit and in Pali, records in the latter being mostly Buddhist tracts. The simple Sanskrit inscriptions in verse, belonging to the Candras of Arakan and assignable to the 6th century A.D., resemble in style the records of king Mūlavarman of Borneo. It is interesting to note that, unlike Mūlavarman’s inscriptions, the alphabet of these records is the Late Brāhmī of Eastern India, while the said style seems to have been borrowed from South Indian epigraphs like those of the Early Kadambas of Banavāsi in the Kannaḍa-speaking region. Ānandacandra’s inscription (8th century A. D.) from the same region of Burma is a rare instance of a Sanskrit epigraph of the praśasti type found in that country, elaborate eulogies in Sanskrit verse written in ornate kāvya style being common in the other lands of Indochina and Indonesia. The inscription of Ānandacandra is written in the Siddhamātṛkā alphabet of Eastern India.⁴