Indian Epigraphy c6.s1.1

c6.s1.1

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions, and ‘inscription’ literally means any writing engraved on some object. In India, rocks as well as lithic, metallic, earthen or wooden pillars, tablets, plates and pots, as also bricks, shells, ivory plaques and other objects were generally used for incising inscriptions. Often writing in relief such as we find in the legends on coins¹ and seals,² which are usually produced out of moulds or dies, and also records painted on cave walls or written in ink on wooden tablets are regarded as inscriptions, although these writings are not actually engraved. As is usually the case with inscriptions in the Perso-Arabic script, the letters of certain late medieval records in the indigenous Indian alphabets are generally not engraved but are formed by scooping out the space around them.