Inscriptions Of Ancient India

 

Inscriptions are writings on stone, metal, or some materials as an important historical source.

 

Now let us discuss inscriptions of ancient India. So what are inscriptions? Inscriptions are writings on stone, metal, or some materials as an important historical source. These are valuable historical evidence of the existence and activities of early kings and empires.

 

South India, a land flooded with temple towns, mysterious, myth, and the beauty is called the land of inscriptions.

 

The majority of the epigraphs found in India are situated in the southern states, with Tamil Nadu having the maximum number of inscriptions. The Halmidi inscriptions are one of the oldest inscriptions in the Kannada language consisting of sixteen lines carved on a sandstone pillar dating to 450 CE.

 

The top of the inscription is carved and designed in the form of a wheel. This is the Sudarshana chakra in the hands of Vishnu, to whom a reference is made in the record.

 

These inscriptions of ancient India are of two types:

1. The lithic inscriptions: These are found carved on temple walls and stones.
2. Copper plates: These are found inscribed on sheets of copper plates.

 

Lithic Inscriptions at the Thanjavur Temple

 

The Thanjavur temple was built by Raja Raja Chola, this big temple is not only a magnificent edifice with its majestic vimana, sculptures, architecture, and frescoes, but also has a wealth and richness of Tamil inscriptions engraved on stone in superb calligraphy.

 

The inscriptions provide a list of 66 beautiful bronze idols Raja Raja Chola, Kundavai, his queens, and others gifted to the temple. The inscriptions elaborate on the enormous gold jewelry, inlaid with precious stones such as diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, corals, pearls, for decorating each of these bronzes.

 

The builder himself has left behind a very large number of inscriptions on the temples� construction, its various parts, and the daily rituals to be performed for the Linga, the details of the offerings such as jewelry, flowers, and textiles, the special worship to be performed, the monthly and annual festivals and so on.

 

Copper Plate Inscriptions

 

Tamil copper-plate inscriptions are copper-plate records of grants of villages, plots of cultivable lands, or other privileges to private individuals or public institutions by the members of the various South Indian royal dynasties.

The grants range in date from 10th century C.E. to the mid 19th century C.E. a large number of them belongs to the Chalukyas, the Cholas, and the Vijaynagar kings.

 

Unlike the neighboring states where early inscriptions were written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, the early inscriptions in Tamil Nadu were used Tamilalong with some Prakrit. Tamil has the extant literature amongst the Dravidian languages, but dating the language and the literature precisely is difficult. Literary works in India were preserved either in palm leaf manuscripts or through oral transmission, making direct dating impossible.

 

These plates are valuable epigraphically as they give us an insight into the social conditions of medieval South India and help fill chronological gaps to connect the history of the ruling dynasties.

 

Now let us discuss how these inscriptions serve as a source of history. Compared with the manuscripts with text, inscriptions shave the advantage of durability. Their information cannot be connected to a time or place.

 

The inscriptions of the medieval period have been used as a major source of information on political structures and administrative and revenue systems. They also provide information on the history of settlement patterns, agrarian relations, forms of labor, and class and caste structures.

 

They also reflect the history of languages and literature and a few references to the performing arts. For instance, the 7th-century Kudumiyamalai inscription gives the musical notes used in the seven classical ragas. Inscriptions from Tamil Nadu refer to the performance of various kinds of dances.

 

These inscriptions also record other matters such as the government order to the locality, decisions made by local assemblies.

 

Read More: Sangam Period: Archaeological Sources: Herostones - Artifacts - Class 9