A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c6.31

c6.31

Almost every inscription on stone or copper, unless it is the very brief record of a mere name or small gift, is seen to follow a definite order. The opening is generally an invocation, either a brief formula in prose, a verse or sometimes a number of verses invoking either one deity or several deities one after another. Then follows a preamble, the *prasasti*, in which the names and achievements of the ruler and his ancestors are narrated, sometimes in a set form which is common to several records of the reign; it is this part which is generally most valuable to the student of political history. After this comes a description of the actual donor, if he happens to be other than the king, together with details of his achievements and those of his ancestors, with a similar but generally briefer description of the donee and his ancestry where he is an individual. If the gift is made to a group or an institution, that is described in some detail. Next there is a description of the object given—money, cattle, taxes, and so on; often it is land, and then the boundaries of the land are carefully specified. Then comes the formula of gift which usually says that it is given with water poured out from the hand of the donor into that of the donee for his perpetual and undisturbed enjoyment. The record concludes with an imprecation on anyone who may terminate the charity or otherwise disturb it, and praise of those who will maintain and protect it in the future. This analysis of the different parts of a typical inscription indicates roughly their relative value to the historian.