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Abhilekha – Inscription Related To Hindu Religion

Words inscribed on any object are termed abhilekha in Hindu religion. The constitute an indispensable source of information about our past, especially the ancient period. Inscriptions in ancient India related to Hinduism were mode on stone pillars, rocks, seals, bricks, coins, temple-walls, statues, copper plates, ivory, etc. and they shed much light on the social and economic conditions of a particular period. The language and style of the inscriptions have been of immense value to the linguistic and literary history of Hinduism. The study of inscriptions is called epigraphy and the study of the old writing used in these inscriptions is called paleography.

The earliest inscriptions of India are the Harappan inscriptions which still await final decipherment. These are mainly found on seals and some seem to have been written in pictographic script. There are nearly 4,000 specimens of Harappan writing, which contain about 250 to 400 pictographs, each standing for some sound, idea or object. The oldest inscriptions of the 3rd century BCE, which are in the nature of royal proclamations on dharma. They are mostly engraved in the Brahmi script and in the Prakrita language. But, some of the inscriptions of Ashoka Maurya in the north-western part of India were also in Kharosthi, Greek and Aramaic scripts.

Brahmi continued to be the main script prevalent in the whole country till the end of the 7th century CE. More than 95 percent of the inscriptions prior to the Gupta age were written in Prakrita language and concerned all religious sects – Brahmin, Sramana and Ajivikas. The first long inscription in Sanskrit is the Girnar inscription of Rudradaman I (130-150 CE), the most famous Saka ruler in India, which celebrates the undertaking of the repair of the Sudarshana Lake of the Kathiawar region by the ruler. In the country as a whole, the earliest inscriptions were recorded on stone. But in the early centuries (CE) the practice of copper plate inscriptions had begun. In South India, a large number of inscriptions were also recorded on walls of temples.

The large mass of inscriptions in India can be classed as official and private. Of the official records, some are royal orders conveying decisions regarding social, religious and administrative matters to officials and people in general. The Ashokan inscriptions belong to this category. Some others are prashasti (eulogies) of kings written by their court poets and provide an account of the achievements of the kings, enumerating their virtues and victories. The most famous example is furnished by the Allahabad prashasti of Samudragupta, which has preserved from oblivion the name and the fame of this great hero. Allahaad prashasti, along with a number of other inscriptions, forms the main basis of our knowledge of the Gupta period. Similarly, the Gwalior prashasti of Bhoja and Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II, the Chalukya king, has thrown a flood of light on the imperial Pratiharas and the Chalukya dynasty, respectively. Such inscriptions are important sources for the reconstruction of genealogies and political history.

By far the largest number of official documents found is of charters conveying the sale or gift of land, chiefly by princes and chiefs. These are mostly engraved on copper plates and record the grants of lands, revenues and villages made to monks, priests, temples, monasteries, officials etc. These land grant inscriptions are very important for the study of the land system and administration in ancient India as they often enumerate details such as tiles and names of the officials, their duties, territorial units, taxes, the price of land, the mode of its measurement, etc.

The introductory portions in the land grants often provide an account of the donor’s family for several generations and describe the life and achievements of the ruling king in a stereotyped manner. Such land grant inscriptions are prolific for the early centuries (CE) and were written in languages such as Prakrita, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, etc. The majority of inscriptions are private records covering a wide range, from a short inscription of two or three words to pompous poetical compositions glorifying an individual or family. Many of these are engraved on religious buildings, sculptures, tanks, etc., recording pious donations. They are of great help in tracing the evolution of art and religion in ancient India and in fixing the dates of these images and buildings. They throw light on various aspects of society and the general conditions in any specified period. Some of them even supply dates, either in regal years or in a specified or unspecified era, thus adding to our historical knowledge.

Inscriptions also provide corroborative evidence of the antiquity of some of the towns and routes and indicate the territorial jurisdiction of the king. Sanskrit and Prakrita writings constitute an important branch of Hindu literature. In inscriptional records, references are quite abundant to various aspects of Hindu life and thought. Their study, therefore, is indispensable to students of history as also to all interested in India’s contribution to world civilization.