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Deccan College, Post Graduate and Research Institute

Indian Epigraphy

Assignment 1
Political History of India

Submitted By

MA 511 Pihu Patidar

Under the Guidance Of

Dr. Shrikant Ganvir
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Critically Examine the role of archaeological sources with special references to

inscriptions, and cite suitable examples.

Archaeology is a discourse which has advanced a lot in the past century. The very aim
of an archaeologist is to unravel mysteries and find answers which can change the way we
think. It impacts a major part of our lives. Archaeologists in all countries depend on sources,
inscriptions are one of the most important sources to derive answers from the historical
timeline. These sources build the ancient societies and we get to know about their culture and
find out more details about the events that took place. Inscriptions can be of many kinds and
we can deduce a lot of information from them.

When the process of decipherment starts, we are looking for the empty pieces in
history or we try to assess the already existing information. Inscriptions help an archaeologist
to debunk many theories about the chronology of societies or dynasties and also about the
existence of certain important people like the kings. Not only this, the inscriptions can also be
like mirrors of the societies of the past. Archaeologists can decipher the political, cultural,
social and economic practices prevalent in the society. This can be seen in inscriptions
decoded to document land grants, taxation, trade, social hierarchies, many occupations of the
people, the relationship between rulers and religious institutions and temple construction.
Inscriptions have also proved to be helpful in the decipherment of scripts such as Bramhi and
Prakrit.

When it comes to inscriptions, we can see how some dynasties are so dependent on
them. We can take the example of the Bhārhut pillar inscription where on the gateway
(torana) the following inscription is written “suganam raje” which means “during the reign of
the Śuńgas”. This is the only epigraphic record that the dynasty that ruled in that period was
called the Śuńga. The same site has yielded 225 inscriptions and 141 out of them have a
donative nature and the rest are labels to the structures carved. The political history of the
Śuńgas under King Khāravela is released from the Hāthīgumphā inscription, which talks
about the Jain monks and their dedication towards the residential caves to protect the people
from the rainy weather and the way Khāravela exploited the kingdom. These exploital
records give yearly details. (Salomon, 2001)
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The Gupta Age brought with it many more inscriptions. The culture that was started
by the Mauryas continued in the Gupta period too. They made inscriptions on stones but also
metals and clay seals. The inscriptions on the stones and the pillars come mostly from the
praśasti class and are dedicated; they talk about the Brahminical, Buddhist and Jain donations
while talking about which ruler ruled during that time, to fit the period. These inscriptions
can give details about the genealogy within the dynasty and reconstruct history. The
Allahabad pillar inscription of King Samudragupta recorded the King’s exploits, along with
talking about his conquests, with elaborate writing. King Skandagupta has also been
mentioned in a praśasti type of inscription from Junagarh, which talks about how he got Lake
Sudarśana reconstructed. (Salomon, 2001)

The Vākātakas of the Vidarbha region came after the Gupta period started declining.
They also followed the trend to make inscriptions of different rocks. Their exact date couldn't
be counted earlier, because they were not mentioned a lot in the written sources, but once
their inscriptions were deciphered their chronology also became very clear. The Hisse-Borālā
inscription from Devasena gives one of the major parts of the chronology of the early
Vākātaka kingdom. Along with the Vākātakas, the Hūna kings have also been mentioned in
the inscriptions, there were two found very recently, the Sanjeli copper plates, which showed
that they ruled in the very south of Gujrat and the Rīsthal stone inscription gave information
about another king of Aulikara, whose ruler was Prakāśadharman. His name had not been
deciphered for many years and he remained unnamed, but after the discovery of this stone,
the name became clear along with his triumphs over Toramāna. (Salomon, 2001)

With the advantage of deciphering inscriptions, we get to know more about certain
rulers, their reigns, and the society around them but sometimes they can also be shown to be
extremely exaggerated. Especially when it came to the inscriptions, in the later phases
towards the beginning of the mediaeval phase they became very common and poets would
enhance their writing and talk about the King in an embellished format, whose plausibility
could be questioned. In an inscription from Khajurāho, there is an inscription about a
Candella king called Yaśovarman who was described as “kośalah kośalānām
naśyatkaśmīravīrah śithilitamithilah kālavan mālavānām” which literally translated means
“who seized the treasuries of Kośala, who destroyed the heroes of Kashmir, who weakened
Mithila and was like Death to Malwa.” (Salomon, 2001)
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When it comes to the southern part of the country we can see some very beautifully
described inscriptions. Like when we look at the Pallava Dynasty’s capital city Kanchipuram,
has inscriptions that were engraved during the reign of Narasimhavarman I (630-668 CE),
and he had a pursuit towards artistic and architectural excellence, which could be called
revolutionary. These inscriptions talk about the importance of architecture because they show
how vibrant their culture was. (Ramaswami, 1989) Similarly, there are some inscriptions that
talk about the Renaissance that came with the Chola Dynasty’s rule, especially under Rajaraja
Chola I (985-1014 CE). In the same city, there are inscriptions from Rajaraja Chola I, that are
a testament to this intellectual revival and how he built many educational institutions within
temple premises, which fostered the development of a robust knowledge ecosystem. These
inscriptions also emphasise how important knowledge and learning is. (Subrahmanian, 1999)

Next, we can see how the Chola dynasty under Rajendra Chola I reached the highest
level for its naval prowess. The Velukkudi inscriptions from the 11th century talk about the
naval campaigns across China and Southeast Asia. These inscriptions give a brilliant insight
into their trade relations, maritime journey and diplomacy. (Subrahmanian, 1999) Lastly,
when we look at the Vijayanagara Empire’s inscriptions from Hampi, we can see how they
looked at the governance of their city, their urban planning and their cultural patronage. They
were a pluralistic society and it can be seen through their inscriptions. These inscriptions also
show their behaviour of promoting art, culture and religion which resulted in a harmonious
society. (Sewell, 1994)

Any archaeological source can prove a lot of things and build or destroy the past
everyone believes in. Inscriptions are especially valuable when it comes to India because the
kings from the historical past, and more particularly from the Mauryan Dynasty, gave major
details about their kingdoms through these inscriptions. They have helped us decipher many
ancient texts too. They have also helped us understand many societies and their culture and
life. They have also given more clarity on the events that took place and given us names of
many kings which we never knew about. They have also talked about dynasties and the kings
that were a part of them. All the examples above have been helpful from an archaeological
perspective. We can see how the inscriptions are important because they tell the reality too
sometimes when they talk about their kings and sometimes they are exaggerated. They also
show the legacy and heroism of a dynasty along with their activities and daily life.
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References

Salomon, R. (2001). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit,

Prakrit, and Other Indo-Aryan Languages. Journal of the American Oriental Society,

121(3), 517. https://doi.org/10.2307/606699

Ramaswami, N. S. (1989). 2000 years of Mamallapuram: text.

Subrahmanian, N. (1999). Education in Tamilnad: From Prehistoric Times to the Present. The

Macmillan Company of India Limited.

King, J. (1901). A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar). A Contribution to the History of India.

By Robert Sewell, Madras Civil Service (retired), M.R.A.S., F.R.G.S. (London: Swan

Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1900.). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great

Britain & Ireland, 33(1), 180–185. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00147124