The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.s1.12

v1.c15.s1.12

The remaining source of historical information—the inscribed monuments and coins—is the most productive of all. The inscriptions are public or private records engraved in most cases on stone or on copper plates; and they are found in great numbers throughout the sub-continent and in Ceylon. The earliest are the edicts of Açoka incised on rocks or pillars situated on the frontiers and at important centres of the Maurya empire when at the height of its power in the middle of the third century b.c. Others commemorate the deposit of Buddhist relics. Others celebrate the victories of princes, the extent of their conquests, the glories of the founder of the dynasty and of his successors on the throne. Others again place on record the endowments of temples or grants of land. In short, there is scarcely any conceivable topic of public or private interest which is not represented. The inscriptions supply most valuable evidence as to the political, social, and economic conditions of the period and the country to which they belong. They testify on the one hand to the restless activity of a military caste, and on the other to the stability of institutions, which were, as a rule, unaffected by military conquest. One conqueror follows another, but the administration of each individual state remains unchanged either under the same prince or under some other member of his family, and the charters of monasteries are renewed as a matter of course by each new overlord.