Indian Epigraphy c9.t6.3

c9.t6.3

Sometimes epigraphs were incised without making the surface of the stone sufficiently smooth; but often, especially when an inscription of the eulogy (*praśasti*) type was engraved, the stone was carefully dressed and made very smooth by chiselling and sometimes it was even made shiny by rubbing it with smooth pieces of stone. A record was often composed by a poet or learned man or a high royal officer and was written with ink or chalk on the surface of the stone by a calligraphist, sometimes only a few lines at a time, and ultimately the letters were engraved by an artisan with the help of a chisel. To ensure the straightness of the lines, straight lines were sometimes drawn on the stone with the help of a ruler and chalk or a pointed instrument or of a string dipped in ink or dye as even now used by the carpenters for drawing straight lines on wooden blocks for splitting them into planks.