Inscriptions : As A Source of History

Aamir Khan*
Dr. Usha Vaidya **
History is an attempt made by man through centuries to reconstruct, describe and interpret
his own past while as Historiography is an area of study which emphasizes on the writing of
history. Various sources are available which enable the historian to study and analyze the
contemporary political and socio-economic conditions. Amongst these, inscriptions form an
important component, especially when we study ancient and early medieval period.
Inscriptions are considered most reliable source of ancient history as they are generally
devoid of myths and narrate the facts. Although we have a huge number of literally sources,
they are mostly religious in them a ties and suffer from chronological problem.
Introduction : The study of inscriptions is known as epigraphy and an inscription is anything
written or engraved on something such as stone, wood, metal, ivory plagues, bronze statues,
bricks, clay, shells pottery etc. Epigraphy includes deciphering the text of inscriptions and
analyzing the information they contain. It also includes paleography that is the study of
ancient writing.
The first literary reference to writing and written documents occur in Buddhist Pali
texts, especially the jatakas and Vinayapitaka. The brahmi of Ashokan inscriptions seems a
fairly developed script and must have had a prior history of at least a few centuries. Recently
important direct evidence that Brahmi existed in pre-mauryan times has come from
Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, where excavations unearthed potsherds with short inscriptions
(probably names of people) that can be dated to at least the early 4th century B. C.
The ancient practice of inscribing cave walls or stone monuments to commemorate
conquests, religion ceremonies and other important events existed in many parts of Asia. The
earliest inscription found were written in Prakrit in 3rd century B. C. However the tradition of
writing inscriptions become popular with the coming of Ashoka-The great.
Ashokan inscriptions : Ashokan inscriptions which are 39 in number and are classified into
major,minor and separate rock edicts, major and minor pillar edicts, provide a detailed
information about the Ashokan period. The name of Ashoka occurs only in copies of Minor
rock edict 1st found at 3 places of karnataka and one place at Madhya Pradesh while other
inscriptions mention his tittle ‘DEVANAPIYA PIYADASI’. Devanpiya tittle may have used
by earlier monarchs buy the title of PIYADASI meaning good looking was unique.
Ashokan inscriptions have been found in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan.
Found at 47 different places, their total number of versions is 182 including 2 edicts that are
considered spurious. Composed in Prakrit, they are written in Brahmi script in most parts of
India but in north-western part of Indian subcontinent they appear in Aramaic language and
khroshti script. In Afghanistan they are found at six different places and are written in both
Greek language and Aramaic script.
Ashokan inscriptions throw a light on his career, his external and internal policies as
well as his extent of empire. He used his inscriptions as a medium of communication and used
to deliver a direct message to his people through his inscriptions. The main focus of his
inscriptions was to spread the principles of Dhamma.

* Research Scholar at History Department in Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal-464993

** HoD, Humanities and Languages, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal-464993

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VAICHARIKI ISSN 2249-8907, Vol. 8, Issue III, April 2018 195

With The deciphering process of Ashokan inscriptions beginningin the 19th century,
different sets of Ashokan edicts were discovered which were distinguished from one another.
Each edict was numbered according to the sequence established from the positions that it
occupied in the inscriptions in relation to other edicts and accordingly Ashokan inscriptions
have been divided under following categories :
1) Minor rock edicts: Most of the scholars consider them as the earliest of all known edicts
of Ashoka. Minor Rock edict 1stand 2nd are found inscribed at seven places in Karnataka
and southern Andra Pradesh. Ten Other inscriptions are found in the area extending in the
North to Bahapur (Delhi) and Sasaram ( Bihar) carry copies of only Minor rock edict 1st.
2) Major Rock edicts: They are 14 in number and have their copies on rocks and slabs at
sites spreading from North western frontier to southern Andhra Pradesh. Two of them at
Sahabazgiri and Mansehraare sole inscriptions written in khroshti. The other sites include
Kalsi, GirnarAnd Eragudi. At Sopara and Sannathi only fragments of the set have been
found. In Odissa the Dhauliand jaugada inscriptions contain all Rock edicts except Rock
Edict 11th and 13th. A pair of separate rock edicts was found at Dhauli and jaugada,
following upon the main series of rock edicts.
3) Pillar Edicts: They have been found at six places in Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The
two pillars at Delhi weren’t placed there originally but we’re brought from Topara in
Haryana and other one from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh by Sultan Feroz shah Tuglaq who
ruled from 1351-1388 common era. The Topara-Delhi pillar contains the very important
pillar edict 7th which is not found anywhere else.
Importance of inscriptions : Inscriptions are extremely vital for the reconstruction of the
history as they not only gave us insights into the political happenings of the concerned period
but also about the socio-economic conditions as well as the cultural aspects of the period.
The geographical spread of the inscriptions of a king is often taken as an indicative of
the area of control under that very particular king. Inscriptions also provide information about
the administrative set up of the kings. For Example had there been not the Allahabad pillar
inscription, we would not have able to know the exact extent of Samudragupta’s reign as well
as his political structures. This pillar inscription also sheds light on the nature of relationship
between the kings and their samantas. A unique inscription of parantaka-1stfrom uttaramerur
contains detailed account of the rules and regulations for the election of village assemblies.
Inscriptions also give glimpses of social life of the ages as they shed light on caste
and class structures apart from social customs of the period. For example Brahmadesham
inscription refers to the Sati committed by a Queen of Rajendra child 1 st. Inscriptions
represent the earliest written form of Indian languages. By studying the vocabulary, syntax
and forms of the inscriptions linguists have been able advance their understanding of how
languages developed in the society and when and where they were used. It is noteworthy to
mention here that more than 55 percent of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the
Archaeological survey of India in India are in Tamil language.
Inscriptions give us useful insights about the economic life of their concerned
periods. For example Junagadh inscription Rudraman states that Sudarshan lake was
constructed by Chqndragupta Maurya but was repaired by Rudraman and subsequently by
Chqndragupta Mauyra 2nd. This suggests that kings took different measures for the
development of agriculture. The post Mauryan inscriptions suggest that guilds played an
important role in the economic activities and artisans and merchants belonging to different
occupations had their own guilds. Besides CHIKLAD inscriptions give us information about
the taxation system of the period. Taxes such as Irai, Kadamai, Echchoru, and Vetti were
collected from cultivators by Chola kings.

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196 Aamir Khan & Dr. Usha Vaidya

Inscriptions provide detailed information on the history of religious practices,

institutions and different religiou sects . For example The copper plate inscription of
skandagupta dated 464-465 B. C. refers to Sun worship. It adorned Sun God under the name
of Bhaskara. Inscriptions are replete with references to education and learning. For instance
Trummukkudal inscription of Virarajendrarefers to a verdic college and subjects studied there
besides teachers and their remuneration.
Inscriptions do contain information about the Dance, Music and others arts. The
earliest reference to a Dancer is found from Jogimara cave belonging to 3 rd century B. C. And
kudimmiyanmalai inscription of Tamil Nadu is one of the earliest inscriptions on music.
Besides inscriptions are endowed with high literary value. As early as Ist century of common
era elements of Sanskrit poetry start appearing in the North Indian inscriptions. In Junadgard
inscription we have a clear evidence of the ornate style of Sanskrit prose. Hence inscriptions
can be called a treasure house of information. They give valuable information about every
aspect of the concerned ages.
Classification of inscriptions : Inscriptions can b classified in different types on the basis of
surface they are engraved on, language, Age and geographical region. They can be private or
official depending upon whose behalf they are inscribed. Ashokan edicts are examples of
official inscriptions while as inscriptions recording grants made by private individuals or
guilds to religious institutions are examples of private inscriptions.
Inscriptions are also classified according to their content and purpose into three types
namely Donative, Dedicative and commemorative inscriptions. For example, the Lumbini
pillar inscription of Ashoka-The great is a royal commemorative type, recording a specific
event in which kings visit to Buddha’s birth place is recorded. The dedicative ones are those
which are dedicated to others such as Erection of Memorial in honour of dead ones while as
the Donative ones are those which record the donations such as land grants given to religious
institutions or any individual as gift. The earliest stone inscription recording land grants with
exemptions are Satvana and Kshattarapa epigraphs found at Nasik. Apart from these there are
other miscellaneous types of inscriptions like labels, Graffiti left by pilgrims or travellers,
religious formulae and writing on the seals. Also Footprint inscriptions are found in many
parts of Indian subcontinent carrying a pair of engraved footprints of a holy man, king or
other noteworthy personality.
Dating of inscriptions : Inscriptions are dated in regional years or eras and the dates of eras
are given in the words, numerical or both. The ancient Indian calendar system often had a
combination of lunar and solar units. Inscriptions sometimes specify the month, the lunar
fortnight (paksha), lunar day (Tithi), weekday or may give additional astronomical details.
The specification of the year and day began in the 2nd century B. C. Some later inscriptions
provide the date in the form of chronograms. Instead of numbers, the words standing for these
numbers are used. For example Bhumi meaning earth is used as 1, Kara meaning hand is used
as 2 Etc. If an inscription is not dated, it can be assigned an approximate date on paleographic
grounds.
We have seen that many periods were distinguished in different eras such as Saka era,
vikrama era, kalachuri era, Gupta era etc. All these eras marked important events, usually the
accession of a king and subordinate kings used the era names of their overlord kings while
some eras continued to be used long after the founding dynasty had disappeared. On one hand
the initial year of most ancient and early medieval eras is known, uncertainty still surrounds a
few. For example the suggested dates for the Harsha era include 612 A. D, 619A.D, and 648.
A.D. Similarly the dates for the era of Ganga kings of Odissa range from 4th– 9th century A.D.

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In order to convert a date into B.C. Or A.D. a simple arithmetics has to b done. For a
date in an era that began in B.C. year, substract the initial B. C. year of that era from it. For
example year 179 of vikrama era (that began in 58 B.C.) is equal to 121 B.C. (179-58).
Similarly if a year began in C. E. add the initial common era date. For example 179 of Shaka
era (that began in 78 A. D.) is equal to 257 A.D. (179+78).
Shortcomings of Inscriptions : Although inscriptions are very valuable source to reconstruct
history but they also have their own shortcomings which have to kept in mind while
interpreting them.
 While interpreting an inscription the interpreter must know the date at which the
particular inscription was wrote. There is a possibility that the inscription may have been
wrote after the concerned period
 The purpose of the inscription must be known to the reader. Who has written the
inscription and about what is very vital before interpreting any inscription. For example
the purpose of Ashokan inscriptions was to promote and propagate the principles of
Dhamma while Samudragupta’s Allahabad pillar inscription was written with different
purpose.
 Information provided by inscriptions may not be always 100 percent accurate, so there is
a need to crosscheck these inscriptions with other sources.
 Inscriptions are not free from exxagerationsand bias especially in case of prihastisfor
example Allahabad pillar prihasti of samudragupta.
Conclusion : The importance of inscriptions for the study of pre-colonial south Asian theory
is well established, with an estimated ninety thousand plus inscriptions being recovered to
date in India alone. Inscriptions compared to manuscript of texts, have advantage of durability
and as such inscriptions form an important source of Indian history especially of ancient
times. They throw a sudden light and provide magnificent information about the time, place,
and situation connected with the source for the knowledge of political as well as socio-
economic history of the period.
A skillful and meticulous analysis of the sources is the foundation of history.
Interpretation is integral to analysing the evidence from ancient texts, Archaeological sites,
coins as well as inscriptions. Wherever several sources are available, their evidence has to be
correlated. Therefore in order to know the authenticity of any source and the information that
they provide about any particular period they must be crosschecked and inscriptions are
extremely vital in this respect because of their correct chronology.
References
 Richard Solomon : Indian epigraphy
 A. L. Basham : A Cultural History of India
 RomilaThapar : Interpretations of Ancient Indian history
 Upinder Singh : A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India
 R. S. Sharma : India’s Ancient Past, Rethinking India’s Past
 John Key : A History of India, New York : Grove press, 2000
 L. P. Sharma : History of Ancient India
 Robert Linssen, Living Zen. New York : Grove Press, 1960
 Oxford, Clarendon press, 1975
 A. C. Chakrabarti : The Bhagvad Gita and Ashokan Inscriptions
 Francis Robinson : The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bhutan and the Maldives, Cambridge England, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
***

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