Sanskrit inscriptions
T. SATYAMURTHY
UTTANKITA SANSKRIT VIDYA ARANYA EPIGRAPHS, VOL. IV — Part II: Sanskrit Inscriptions 651 to 700 AD; Part III — Foreign Inscriptions: Uttankita Vidya Aranya Trust, 45, Chamiers Road, R.A.Puram, Chennai-600028. Copies can be had from 13, 4th Cross Street, Purushothama Nagar, Chromepet, Chennai-600044. Rs. 600 (Part II); Rs. 350 (Part III).
This series on inscriptions, of which the two parts under review form a part, is a commendable effort of the publishers to provide authentic lithic and copper plate records for writing the history of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries.
Original source
These inscriptions were largely illegible for Indologists until about two centuries ago, when James Princep, the Assay Master of Calcutta mint, deciphered the Brahmi script. Thus began a great journey. Besides, it propelled scholars to decipher the innumerable epigraphs found all over the subcontinent.
The ancient history of India began to unfold while other sources corroborated the written records. These ancient records, published by the Epigraphy branch of the Archaeological Survey of India and other organisations, remain original source material for researchers and historians to this day.
However, they were scattered and some of the Sanskrit inscriptions were in other scripts like early Kannada, Marathi, early Sidhamatrika, early Nagari, Grantha and Brahmi. Publishing them in modern script for contemporary use was overdue.
This stupendous task undertaken by the editors and the publisher of the volume under review is a significant contribution to both the scholarly world and general readers. About 12,000 Sanskrit inscriptions are now chronologically tabulated. They span the period from third B.C. to 1600 A.D. So far 689 have been published in earlier volumes (Part I, volumes II-IV).
Reader friendly
The volumes under review contain inscriptions of the post-Gupta period (650-700 A.D.) and 109 foreign inscriptions (578 to 878 A.D.) from Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Java and Sri Lanka. The majority of the inscriptions in foreign countries, assignable to this period, belong to Nepal and the full English translation will certainly be helpful to scholars.
Some of these important Sanskrit epigraphs have bearing on the early history of Nepal, besides information on the spread of Hinduism in Afghanistan, wherein the Ganesa image was installed as early as 600 A.D. A pertinent enquiry is the usefulness of such duplication. The answer is simple. The present volumes make a presentation in readable format without interruptions.
The original publications on epigraphy, with accuracy as the prima-facie objective, were very difficult to read and understand with so many conventional symbols inserted into the text of the record, especially for the general reader.
Further, for crosschecking the original records one had to search in many volumes published about a century ago, which may not be available. This publication provides easy access to the original text and translation.
The editors J. Sundaram, S.H. Ritti and K.M. Bhadri are to be complemented for their scholarly touch and footnotes to the text. Sadly, in spite of all these merits the poor quality of the plates is an eyesore and the publishers at least should have gone for new photo prints instead of duplicating them from other sources.
The completion of this work is bound to make a significant contribution to the progress of Indological studies. In fact, these volumes should enthuse Indologists in regional languages to bring out similar edited works in all the Indian languages, particularly in a classical language like Tamil.
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