Indian Epigraphy

This book provides a general survey of all the inscriptional material in the Sanskrit, Prakrit, and modern Indo-Aryan languages, including donative, dedicatory, panegyric, ritual, and literary texts carved on stone, metal, and other materials. This material comprises many thousands of documents dating from a range of more than two millennia, found in India and the neighboring nations of South Asia, as well as in many parts of Southeast, central, and East Asia. Theinscriptions are written, for the most part, in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts and their many varieties and derivatives. Inscriptional materials are of particular importance forthe study of the Indian world, constituting the most detailed and accurate historical and chronological data for nearly all aspects of traditional Indian culture in ancient and medieval times. Richard Salomon surveys the entire corpus of Indo-Aryan inscriptions in terms of their contents, languages, scripts, and historical and cultural significance. He presents this material in such a way as to make it useful not only to Indologists but also non-specialists, including persons working in otheraspects of Indian or South Asian studies, as well as scholars of epigraphy and ancient history and culture in other regions of the world.

“"The scope of this survey is certainly impressive....any student of Indianhistory, religion, art, language, or literature who makes use of inscriptions inany way will find a great deal of useful original, and often fascinatingmaterial here....a broad and ambitious overview....As a guide and referencesource summarizing what has been done so far in the field of Indian epigraphy,this is a most valuable work."--The Journal of Asian Studies”

"The scope of this survey is certainly impressive....any student of Indian history, religion, art, language, or literature who makes use of inscriptions in any way will find a great deal of useful original, and often fascinating material here....a broad and ambitious overview....As a guide and reference source summarizing what has been done so far in the field of Indian epigraphy, this is a most valuable work."--The Journal of Asian Studies"Salomon's book represents an enormous amount of carefully assembled information combined with sound and cautious judgment in controversial cases, of which there are quite a few....a welcome tool for further research."--Indo-European Studies Bulletin"Salomon's book provides new arguments for several ongoing discussions among specialists; but above all, it is an indispensable handbook which gives answers and help to everyone who wants to evaluate or edit an epigraphical text. Indian epigraphy is now presented as a fascinating science; or alternatively, an important science has received its adequate introduction." --Harry Falk, Written Language & Literacy

Richard Salomon is at University of Washington.

This book provides a general survey of all the inscriptional material in the Sanskrit, Prakrit, and modern Indo-Aryan languages, including donative, dedicatory, panegyric, ritual, and literary texts carved on stone, metal, and other materials. This material comprises many thousands of documents dating from a range of more than two millennia, found in India and the neighboring nations of South Asia, as well as in many parts of Southeast, central, and East Asia. The inscriptions are written, for the most part, in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts and their many varieties and derivatives. Inscriptional materials are of particular importance for the study of the Indian world, constituting the most detailed and accurate historical and chronological data for nearly all aspects of traditional Indian culture in ancient and medieval times. Richard Salomon surveys the entire corpus of Indo-Aryan inscriptions in terms of their contents, languages, scripts, and historical and cultural significance. He presents this material in such a way as to make it useful not only to Indologists but also non-specialists, including persons working in other aspects of Indian or South Asian studies, as well as scholars of epigraphy and ancient history and culture in other regions of the world.

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