Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t6: 2. Hindī and its Dialects and Allied Languages
Indian Epigraphy c8.s2.t6
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2. Hindī and its Dialects and Allied Languages
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A number of Hindī inscriptions, mostly on images and hero or satī stones, were discovered in the former Gwalior State now merged in Madhya Pradesh.² The earliest of these records is on a Jain image from the Shyopur region and the date in it has been tentatively read as V. S. 1078 (1022 A.D.).³ The Bhonrasa (old Gwalior State) inscription of 1483 A. D. referring to Sulṭān Ghiyāṣuddīn of Malwa is written in Persian and Hindī.⁴ Among Hindī records of the time of the Gond rulers of Madhya Pradesh, reference may be made to a grant (1550 A.D.) of Dalpat Shāh, son of Saṃgrām Shāh⁵. The Damoh inscription⁶ of the time of Muḥammad Shāh II of Malwa is dated in 1512 A.D.
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² H. N. Dvivedi, Gvāliyar Rājyake Abhilekh, Nos. 36, 44, 50, 52, 62, etc.
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³ See also An. Rep. Arch. Dept., Gwalior State, V. S. 1992, No. 39.
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⁴ Ep. Indo-Mosl., 1937-1938, p. 25.
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⁵ Journ. Bhār. Iti. Saṃs. Maṇḍ., Vol. XXVI, pp. 51 ff. See also the Dantewara (old Bastar State) inscription of 1702 A.D. in Ep. Ind., Vol. XII, pp. 245 ff.
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⁶ Ep. Ind., Vol. XV, pp. 291 ff.
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There are many official and private records of the late medieval period, which are written in Hindī or one of its dialects.⁷ Among the dialects of Hindī, some late medieval copper-plate grants issued by the Hindu rulers of the Kumaun-Garhwal region in the Himalayas are written in the local dialect.⁸
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⁷ Cf. ibid., Vol. IX, p. 166; IHQ, Vol. VII, pp. 410 ff.; etc. See also A. R. Ep., 1952-53, No. A 30.
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⁸ A. R. Ep., 1948-49, Nos. A 7-10. Muslim writers ascribe a poem in Hindī to Candella Vidyādhara (first quarter of the 11th century). See Ray, DHNI, Vol. II, p. 692.
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Rājasthānī was used by the rulers of the various states in Rajasthan in writing their official charters.¹ An early charter in this dialect is the copper-plate grant of Guhila Mokalasimha of Mewar, which is dated in V. S. 1431 (1375 A.D.).² Numerous private records in Rājasthānī belonging to the late medieval period are found in different parts of Rajasthan.³
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¹ A. R. Ep., 1954-55, No. A 71; 1957-58 Nos. A 40-52.
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² See ibid., 1957-58, No. A 51.
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³ Ibid., 1952-53, Nos. B 157, 296-405; 1954-55, Nos. B 450-51, 473-75, 477-81, 484, etc. See also Ep. Ind., Vol. XXX, pp. 191 ff.; etc.
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There are a few copper-plate grants⁴ of the rulers of Sambalpur, which are written in a dialect of Hindī. Late medieval private records in the various dialects of this language have been discovered in large numbers.⁵
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⁴ A. R. Ep., 1953-54, Nos. A 15-16 (dated V. S. 1747 and 1838).
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⁵ Ibid., 1952-53, Nos. B 157, etc.; 1953-54, Nos. B 105, 108, 132-36, etc.; 1954-55, Nos. B 185, 187, 191-92, 195, 202, 228-39, 241-42, 244-48, etc.
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Very few inscriptions in the Nepālī language have so far been published. A few short Punjabī and Hindī epigraphs were found near Baku, U. S. S. R.