Indian Epigraphy c6.s1.22

c6.s1.22

Some of the epigraphic records, especially those of the eulogy type, were composed by poets of great ability and their compositions are of a high order. Mention may be made in this connection of Hariṣeṇa of the Allahabad pillar inscription (c. 360 A.D.)¹ of Samudragupta, Kubja of the Talagunda inscription (c. 460 A. D.)² of Śāntivarman, Vatsabhaṭṭi of the Mandasor inscription of 473 A.D.,³ Vāsula of the Mandasor inscription (c. 532 A.D.)⁴ of Yaśodharman, Ravikīrti of the Aihole inscription (634 A. D.)⁵ of Pulakeśin II, Chittapa of the Bhilsa inscription (c. 1050 A. D.),⁶ Vācaspati of the Bhubaneswar inscription (c. 1100 A. D.)⁷ of Bhavadeva-bhaṭṭa, and Umāpatidhara of the Deopada inscription (c. 1130 A. D.)⁸ of Vijayasena. Some of the authors of the epigraphic kāvyas are known only from the inscriptions, their other works being lost. It should be pointed out in this connection that private records were often composed by people of indifferent education and generally contain numerous errors of orthography and language. But epigraphs like the Chhoti Sadri inscription⁹ of Gauri and the Vasantgadh inscription¹⁰ of Pūrṇapāla show that sometimes even the Pandits at the kings' courts possessed very poor knowledge of the Sanskrit language.