Indian Epigraphy c6.s1.19

c6.s1.19

By far the most important are, however, the records incised by or on behalf of the ruling authority. These inscriptions may be classified under such heads as: (1) royal edicts (e. g. the rock and pillar edicts⁴ of the Maurya emperor Aśoka), (2) epigraphs commemorating particular achievements of a king in a eulogistic *kāvya* or *praśasti*,⁵ (3) grants in favour of learned Brāhmaṇas, religious institutions or deserving individuals and officials, and (4) miscellaneous.