Indian Epigraphy c9.t6.12

c9.t6.12

Inscribed and uninscribed pillars of stone, found in different parts of India, are innumerable. They were raised for various purposes in all the ages of Indian history. Amongst the inscribed pillars, the earliest belong to the days of the Maurya emperor Aśoka (c. 272-232 B.C.).⁷ These are called stambha or śilā-stambha (i.e. stone pillar) in the epigraphs they bear. There are some pillars which may be classified as dhvaja-stambha⁸ or flag-staff (often standing before a temple and bearing inscriptions in some cases), jaya-stambha or victory-pillar¹ (often bearing the eulogy of a conqueror) and kīrti-stambha or fame-pillar² (often bearing the eulogy of a person who performed a pious deed calculated to render him famous). Certain memorial pillars known as hero-stones³ (often with inscriptions recording the death of warriors while fighting against enemies) and satī-stones⁴ (often bearing epigraphs recording the death of widows burning themselves in fire) are found in large numbers in the southern and western regions of India, though they are also known from other parts of the country. Besides these, we have also other kinds of inscribed pillars bearing small inscriptions. Some of these are votive pillars set up in religious establishments by pious men, especially pilgrims, for acquiring religious merit. They are also generally called stambha in the records incised on them. Instances of such votive pillars are numerous in the inscriptions discovered in the ruins of old Buddhist stūpas like those at Barhut, Sanchi and Nagarjunikonda.⁵ There is yet another class of memorial pillars similar to the hero- and satī-stones. The erection of such pillars in honour of one's dead relatives is referred to in several records of the early centuries of the Christian era,⁶ which mention the object on which they are engraved as yaṣṭi. Sometimes the memorial pillar bore the representation of the person in whose memory it was raised. Such a pillar was called chāyā-stambha (imagepillar).¹ Sacrificial pillars were called yūpa. We have a number of inscribed yūpas of the early period.²