Indian Epigraphy c8.s1: Section I. Prakrit and Sanskrit

Indian Epigraphy c8.s1

Language: English

Section I. Prakrit and Sanskrit

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The earliest epigraphic records of the indigenous rulers of India are written in the Prakrit language. Originally the epigraphic language of the whole of India was mainly Prakrit and Sanskrit is first noticed in the inscriptions of North India from about the second half of the 1st century B.C. Sanskrit gradually ousted Prakrit from the field of Indian epigraphy in all parts of the country. In North India, the establishment of Sanskrit in the place of Prakrit in inscriptions was nearly complete by the end of the 3rd century A. D. But the suppression of Prakrit in the epigraphs of South India took place as late as the second half of the 4th century.¹

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¹ Cf. *Suc. Sāt.*, p. 87, note 3; pp. 166 and 168; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX, pp. 170-171.

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The pillar edicts of Aśoka and the same king's rock edicts at Dhauli, Jaugada and Erragudi are written in the so-called Magadha dialect, some of its main characteristics being the representation of *ra* by *la*, of all the three sibilants by *sa* and of reduplicated consonants by single letters as well as the avoidance of conjuncts to a considerable extent. But the language of Aśoka's inscriptions in the western half of Northern India, viz. at Girnar, Sopara, Shahbazgadhi and Mansehra, is characterised by the retention of *ra* and the occasional change of *la* to *ra*. The Shahbazgadhi and Mansehra edicts often exhibit especially the tendency of using conjuncts as in Sanskrit. The minor rock edicts of Aśoka discovered in South India and the rock edicts at Kalsi exhibit the influence of both of the dialects in a more or less conspicuous degree. The language of Aśoka's rock edicts found in North-Western Bhāratavarṣa is closer to Sanskrit in comparison with that of his other records.²

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² See *IHQ.* Vol. XV, p. 40; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol XXXII, pp. 4-5, 29-30. The Sopara fragment of Rock Edict IX exhibits the change of Sanskrit *la* to *ra* in Prakrit in all cases.

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The inscriptions of North-Western Bhāratavarṣa, belonging to the age of the Indo-Greeks, exhibit linguistic peculiarities similar to those of the Shahbazgadhi and Mansehra inscriptions of Aśoka.³ It is interesting to note in this connection that the Besnagar (Bhilsa or Vidisa District, Madhya Pradesh) inscription of Heliodorus, who hailed from Taxila in the Rawalpindi District of West Pakistan and was an envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas (last quarter of the 2nd century B. C.) at the court of king Bhāgabhadra of Vidiśā, exhibit some influence of Sanskrit and literary Prakrit.⁴

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³ See the Bajaur casket inscriptions (*Select Inscriptions*, pp. 102 ff.).

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⁴ See *ibid.*, pp. 90-91 (cf. the words *putreṇa* and *Takhhasilākena* for *putena* and *Takhasilākena* expected in early inscriptional Prakrit).

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Some of the inscriptions of the Scytho-Parthian and Kuṣāṇa rulers of North-Western Bhāratavarṣa are written in a mixture of Prakrit and Sanskrit and some of the earliest epigraphs in Sanskrit are also noticed amongst the records of the foreign rulers of Śaka nationality. Thus a few Mathura inscriptions¹ of the time of Śaka Soḍāsa (first quarter of the 1st century A.D.) contain stanzas in Classical Sanskrit and in ornate metres like *Śārdūlavikrīḍita* and *Bhujangavijṛmbhita*, while the Junagadh inscription² (150 A.D.) of Śaka Rudradāman is a good composition in Sanskrit prose in the Classical *kāvya* style. It appears that Sanskrit was patronised at the courts of the foreign rulers of North-Western Bhāratavarṣa whence its popularity spread gradually over other parts of the country. One of the earliest authors of works in Classical Sanskrit was Aśvaghoṣa who, according to tradition, lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. first at Pāṭaliputra in Bihar and later at the court of the Kuṣāṇa king Kaniṣka at Puruṣapura (Peshawar). It has, however, to be noted that, in spite of the occasional use of Sanskrit noticed in the inscriptions of the time of the Śaka rulers belonging to the 1st and 2nd centuries A. D., some of their West Indian epigraphic and numismatic records of the following two centuries exhibit the use of Sanskrit with an admixture of Prakrit.³

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, p. 200, No. 7; Vol. XXIV, pp. 194 ff.

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² *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 169 ff.

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³ Ibid., pp. 175 ff. As in palaeography, so in epigraphy, West India was thus allied to South India at least partially.

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Essentially, the popularity of Sanskrit at the courts of the rulers either of foreign or indigenous extraction was due to the influence of grammarians. Classical Sanskrit was codified as a result of the efforts of a number of early grammarians, the most outstanding amongst them being Pāṇini (5th century B.C.) who was an inhabitant of Śālātūra in Gandhāra (i.e. the Rawalpindi-Peshawar region) in North-Western Bhāratavarṣa. Gradually Pāṇini's *Aṣṭādhyāyī* eclipsed all the other works of earlier authors. The well-known story⁴ of the association of the grammarian Śarvavarman, author of the *Kātantra* (*Kaumāra* or *Kālāpa*), with the court of king Śātavāhana (probably Simuka Śātavāhana who flourished in the second half of the 1st century B.C.) shows that indigenous Indian kings patronised Sanskrit grammarians. But the fact that the records of the kings of the Śātavāhana family are all in Prakrit indicates that the influence of the grammarians at the Indian courts was acting rather slowly. We have, however, some inscriptions in Sanskrit (slightly influenced by Prakrit) belonging to Indian rulers who flourished about the second half of the 1st century B.C., that is to say, some time before Śaka Soḍāsa, the Sanskrit records of whose age have been referred to above. One of the earliest such inscriptions from Western India is the Ghosundi-Hathibada (Chitorgadh District, Rajasthan) epigraph¹ (in duplicate) of king Gājāyana Sarvatāta while the earliest such record in East India is the Ayodhya (Fyzabad District, U. P.) inscription² of Dhanadeva, both of whom flourished in the said age. It is interesting to note that, whereas the grammarian Patañjali, author of the Mahābhāṣya on Pāṇini's grammar, is known to have taken part in one of the two Aśvamedhas celebrated by Puṣyamitra Śuṅga,³ the sixth ancestor of Dhanadeva, Sarvatāta was also the performer of an Aśvamedha sacrifice.

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⁴ Cf. Keith, *A History of Sanskrit Literature*, p. 431.

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¹ Select Inscriptions, pp. 91-92.

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² Ibid., p.

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³ Cf. Raychaudhuri, Pol. Hist. Anc Ind., 1938, pp. 315-16.

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The Sanskrit language as used in the early inscriptions shows that the influence of the grammar of Pāṇini was not fully established even in the central part of India, which was the home of its great commentator, Patañjali (2nd century B.C.) of Gonarda (between Ujjayinī and Vidiśā),⁴ as late as the 3rd century A.D. This is indicated by Prakritic forms occurring in Sanskrit epigraphs, e.g. khānāpita (for khānita preferred by the Paninean school) noticed in a Śārdūlavikrīḍita stanza in the Kanakhera (near Sanchi) inscription⁵ (3rd century A.D.) of Śaka Śrīdharavarman.

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⁹⁶ The Pabhosa cave inscriptions (ibid., pp. 97-98) of about the end of the 1st century B.C. are written in an admixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit.

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⁴ JAHRS, Vol. IX, Part 3, pp. 1 ff.; my Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, pp. 206ff.

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⁵ Select Inscriptions, pp. 180-81. Cf. bandhāpita and a few other cases of Prakritism in a Sanskrit inscription dated 181 A.D. belonging to the Śakas of Western India (ibid., p. 176).

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Of the 2nd century epigraphs of Eastern India, the Kailvan (Patna District, Bihar) inscription¹ (186 A.D.) of Ārya-Viśākhamitra is written in a mixture of Prakrit and Sanskrit, while the language of the epigraphs² of the kings of Kauśāmbī flourishing in the second and third centuries A.D. are written in Sanskrit slightly influenced by Prakrit. But the Jagatpur (Dehradun District, U.P.) brick inscriptions³ of Śīlavarman, who seems to have flourished about the end of the 3rd century A.D., are written in Sanskrit verse. By the time of the rise of the Guptas of Pāṭaliputra (near Patna in Bihar) in the 4th century A.D., Sanskrit is found to be holding the field of North Indian (excluding West Indian) epigraphy. The Guptas were great patrons of Sanskrit literature. The celebrated dramatists Bhāsa and Kālidāsa flourished in their age and the great epics and some sections of the Purāṇas appear to have reached their final form in the first half of the 4th century.

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, pp. 229 ff.

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² See ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 159-60; Vol. XXIII, pp. 248-49; Vol. XXIV, pp. 147-48; *Ind. Cult.*, Vol., III, pp. 177 ff.; etc. Some of their inscriptions exhibit greater influence of Prakrit (cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIV, pp. 253 ff.). But the Prakrit inscriptions at Bandhogadh exhibit little Sanskrit influence, though the later records there are in Sanskrit (ibid., Vol. XXXI, pp. 167 ff.).

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³ *Indian Archaeology*, 1953-54, ed. A. Ghosh, p. 11.

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The earliest Sanskrit inscriptions in South India are a few records of the time of the Ikṣvāku king Ehuvula Śāntamūla (close of the 3rd and first half of the 4th century A.D.), which have been discovered at Nagarjunikonda.⁴ But that Prakrit continued to enjoy popularity at the courts of South Indian kings till the latter half of the 4th century A.D. is clearly indicated by numerous inscriptions. As we have seen above, the earliest form of inscriptional Prakrit indicated reduplicated consonants by single letters. This characteristic is noticed in the Śātavāhana inscriptions⁵ of the 2nd century A.D. and in the records⁶ of the time of the Ikṣvāku king Vīrapuruṣadatta who flourished about the third quarter of the 3rd century A.D. But many of the records⁷ of the age of Vīrapuruṣadatta's son Ehuvula Śāntamūla, which may be assigned to the close of the 3rd century and the first half of the 4th, are written either in the old inscriptional Prakrit or in a language which may be regarded as literary Prakrit in so far as they use reduplicated consonants. The language of the latter group of records is nearer Sanskrit than that of the former group. The Basim plates¹ of Vākāṭaka Vindhyaśakti II (middle of the 4th century A.D.) are written partially in this language, a portion of the record being couched in Sanskrit.

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 147 ff.; Vol. XXXV, pp. 11 ff.

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⁵ See Select Inscriptions, pp. 191 ff.

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⁶ Cf. ibid., pp. 219 ff. Some of their silver coins have legend in a Dravidian variety of Prakrit. See Rapson's Catalogue, pp. xc-xci.

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⁷ See, e.g., ibid., pp. 229 and 230-31.

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¹ Cf. Select Inscriptions, pp. 406 ff.

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The same story is told by other records of the Deccan such as those of the Śālaṅkāyanas of Veṅgī in the Telugu-speaking area. The earliest inscriptions of the Śālaṅkāyana dynasty are in Prakrit of the literary type.² They may be assigned to the 4th century. The 5th century records of the family are, however, written in Sanskrit.³ It is also interesting to note that the Mattepad plates⁴ of Dāmodaravarman, who probably ruled over the Guntur region about the close of the 4th century A.D., are written partly in Sanskrit. The latest inscription written in literary Prakrit and discovered in the Kannaḍa-speaking region is the Chandravalli epigraph⁵ of the Kadamba king Mayūraśarman who flourished about the middle of the 4th century A.D. But the Halsi plates⁶ of his great-grandson Kākusthavarman, who flourished in the first half of the 5th century, are written in Sanskrit. Thus the suppression of Prakrit by Sanskrit in South Indian epigraphy may be assigned to the second half of the 4th century A.D.

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² See, e.g., Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXI, pp. 1 ff.

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³ Cf., e.g., ibid., pp. 7 ff.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. XVII, pp. 327 ff.

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⁵ Select Inscriptions, p. 449. The Malavalli charter, probably issued by the same Kadamba king, is written in literary Prakrit, but contains a maṅgala passage in Sanskrit. See Ep. Carn., Vol. VII, Sikarpur 264; The Successors of the Sātavāhanas, pp. 248 ff.

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⁶ Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 23. The Talagunda pillar inscription describing a pious deed of the same king is really a kāvya in Classical Sanskrit, composed by a poet named Kubja. See Select Inscriptions, pp. 450 ff.

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The language of the Prakrit charters of the Pallavas of Kāñcī belonging to the 4th century A. D. tells us the story of the supercession of Prakrit by Sanskrit in the southernmost areas of the country, the tale being similar to that of the progress of Sanskrit in the epigraphy of the Telugu and Kanaḍa-speaking areas. Thus the Mayidavolu and Hirahadagalli plates¹ of Śivaskandavarman (middle of the 4th century) are written in literary Prakrit; but the legend on the seals affixed to them is in Sanskrit. A *maṅgala* passage at the end of the Hirahadagalli plates is also written in the Sanskrit language. The Gunapadeya plates² of the time of Skandavarman, who flourished about the last quarter of the fourth century, are likewise written in literary Prakrit, but have two of the imprecatory and benedictory stanzas in Sanskrit at the end of the document. The later grants³ of the Pallava kings who flourished in the 5th and 6th centuries are written in Sanskrit.

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¹ *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 433 ff.

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² Ibid., pp 43 ff.

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³ See, e.g., ibid., pp. 445 ff.

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Some of the early Prakrit inscriptions such as the Hathigumpha inscription⁴ of Khāravela (close of the 1st century B.C.) and the Nasik cave inscription⁵ of the 19th regnal year of Puḷumāvi (middle of the 2nd century A.D.) are written in the *kāvya* style. The Piprawa vase inscription⁶ of the 3rd century B.C. appears to contain a Prakrit stanza.

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⁴ Ibid., pp. 206 ff.

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⁵ Ibid., pp. 196 ff.

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⁶ Ibid., p. 84.

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There are some medieval Jain inscriptions in Prakrit; e.g. the Ghatiyala inscription⁷ of Pratihāra Kakkuka, dated 862 A.D. Specimens of Prakrit are also found in a few medieval records⁸ in Sanskrit. An inscription⁹ in characters closely resembling those of the Dhar inscriptions of the time of Paramāra Bhoja (c. 1000-55 A.D.) contains specimens of various kinds of Prakrit speech. The Dhar inscriptions¹⁰ referred to above contain the text of the Prakrit poem entitled *Kūrmaśataka* ascribed to Bhoja.

Linked texts (4)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
Kātantra — Śarvavarman, Sanskrit
Nagarjunikonda
Nasik cave inscription (No. 16, N. 5) (ed. Hultzsch 1906) — Prakrit