Maarg Manthan · Topic 1.4

Inscriptions as a Source of Ancient Indian History

Ancient History › Sources, Geography and Historiography · Topic 1.4

Inscriptions, studied in epigraphy, are more important than coins: the earliest deciphered ones in India are Ashoka's Prakrit edicts in Brahmi (and Kharoshthi, Greek and Aramaic in the north-west), deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837. They include royal orders, votive and donative records, royal eulogies like the Allahabad Pillar, and copperplate land grants that show agrarian and administrative change.

5 min read · UPSC Prelims · History · Sources, Geography and Historiography

At a Glance

Study Epigraphy; old writing is palaeography
Earliest in India Ashokan, third century BC
Scripts Brahmi, Kharoshthi, Greek, Aramaic
Deciphered James Prinsep, 1837
Unpublished Over 50,000, mostly south Indian
Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Sources, Geography and Historiography

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fourth topic of the Ancient History subject. The previous topic covered material remains and coins, and this one covers inscriptions. The next topic covers literary sources. Previous topic: Archaeological Sources – Material Remains and Coins.

What Are Inscriptions and Where Were They Written?

In short: inscriptions are records carved on durable material, and they are far more important than coins for dating and understanding events.

The study of inscriptions is epigraphy, and the study of the old writing used in them is palaeography. They were carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copperplates, temple walls, wooden tablets, bricks and images. The earliest were on stone; from the early centuries AD copperplates were used, though stone engraving continued widely in the south, where temple walls carry permanent records. The largest number are in the office of the chief epigraphist at Mysore. Most inscriptions of the Maurya, post-Maurya and Gupta periods are in the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, but few post-Gupta ones are in systematic compilations, and over 50,000, mostly south Indian, await publication.

What Languages and Scripts Do They Use?

Item	Detail
Harappan	Undeciphered pictographic script; some scholars consider the seals symbolic
Earliest deciphered	Iranian cuneiform inscriptions of the sixth to fifth centuries BC in Old Persian and Semitic languages mentioning the conquest of the Hindu or Sindhu area
Earliest in India	Ashokan inscriptions in Prakrit, mainly in Brahmi, of the third century BC
Brahmi	Written left to right; prevailed almost everywhere except the north-west and remained the main script till the end of the Gupta age
Kharoshthi	Written right to left; used for some Ashokan inscriptions in the north-west
Greek and Aramaic	Used for Ashokan inscriptions in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Sanskrit	Adopted for inscriptions in the second century AD and widespread in the fourth and fifth centuries, though Prakrit continued
Regional languages	Appear in inscriptions in the ninth and tenth centuries

An epigraphist who has mastered Brahmi and its variants can read most inscriptions up to about the seventh century; after that strong regional variations appear.

How Were the Ashokan Edicts Deciphered?

In the fourteenth century Firoz Shah Tughlaq found two Ashokan pillars, one at Meerut and one at Topra in Haryana, brought them to Delhi and asked pandits to read them, but they failed. The British faced the same difficulty after discovering Ashokan inscriptions in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. They were first deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, a civil servant of the East India Company in Bengal. The inscriptions throw light on Maurya history and Ashoka’s achievements, as seen in Ashokan Inscriptions.

What Types of Inscriptions Exist?

Type	Examples and use
Royal orders	Convey decisions on social, religious and administrative matters to officials and people, such as the Ashokan edicts
Votive records	Marks of devotion by followers of Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism, on pillars, tablets, temples or images
Eulogies	Praise the attributes and conquests of kings and ignore defeats and weakness, such as the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta
Donative records	Gifts of money, cattle and land, mainly for religious purposes, by kings, artisans and merchants
Land grants	Mostly on copperplates, recording grants of land, revenue and villages to monks, priests, temples, monasteries, vassals and officials, in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu

Land grants are especially important for the land system and administration. They show the rise of new states and changes in social and agrarian structure, particularly in post-Gupta times, and are valued for that more than for royal genealogies. Royal inscriptions contain exaggerations, such as the phrase hundreds of thousands in Ashokan edicts, which raises doubts about numbers killed in the Kalinga war, but inscriptions are certainly more reliable than Puranic traditions: the Puranas push back the origin of the Satavahanas, while the inscriptions place it in the first century BC. As an analytical point, inscriptions give dated, place-fixed evidence, and they should be read alongside coins and excavations, as in Literary Sources of Ancient Indian History.

Why Is This Topic Important?

Core source The most reliable evidence for dates
Scripts Brahmi and Kharoshthi are common questions
Economy Land grants show agrarian change

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the literary sources of ancient Indian history. Next topic: Literary Sources of Ancient Indian History.

Key People and Terms

Epigraphy Study of inscriptions
Palaeography Study of old writing
Brahmi Main ancient script, left to right
Kharoshthi Script written right to left
Prinsep Decipherer of Ashokan inscriptions
Copperplate Material for land-grant records

Exam Corner

Points to Remember

Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in 1837.
Earliest in India: Ashokan, Prakrit in Brahmi.
Sanskrit inscriptions from the second century AD.
Regional languages: ninth to tenth centuries.
Land grants on copperplates.

Do Not Confuse With

Brahmi and Kharoshthi Left to right versus right to left
Epigraphy and palaeography Inscriptions versus the old writing in them
Eulogy and donative record Praise of a king versus a record of gifts

Memory Hook

Stone then copper, Brahmi from left, Kharoshthi from right; Prinsep reads, grants show the land.

Mains Angle

Questions on inscriptions ask about types, value and limits. These points add depth.

Types Orders, eulogies, donations, grants
Value Dated and place-fixed evidence
Limits Exaggeration and unpublished records

A Question You May Face

An original practice question, not a past paper question.

“Discuss the value of inscriptions as a source for ancient Indian history.”

How to Answer

Nature Materials, scripts, languages.
Types Royal, votive, eulogy, grants.
Value Dates, polity, economy.
Limits Exaggeration, gaps.

GS Relevance

Prelims: types and scripts of inscriptions. GS Paper 1: epigraphy as a source of ancient history.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is epigraphy?

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions, which were carved on seals, stone pillars, rocks, copperplates, temple walls, wooden tablets, bricks and images. The study of the old writing used in inscriptions and other old records is called palaeography.

Who deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions?

James Prinsep, a civil servant of the East India Company in Bengal, first deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions in 1837. Earlier attempts, including those of the pandits of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, had failed to read the script.

What scripts were used in Ashokan inscriptions?

Most Ashokan inscriptions were engraved in the Brahmi script, written left to right, but some in the north-west used Kharoshthi, written right to left. Greek and Aramaic scripts were also used for Ashokan inscriptions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Why are copperplate land grants important?

Copperplate land grants record gifts of land, revenue and villages to monks, priests, temples, vassals and officials. They help in studying the land system and administration and the rise of new states, especially in post-Gupta times.

Are inscriptions always reliable?

Royal inscriptions contain exaggerations and eulogies ignore defeats, as the number claims in Ashokan edicts and in Samudragupta's record show. Still, they are more reliable than Puranic traditions because they are dated and fixed in place.

PYQ Practice — Statement Analysis

1 Ashokan inscriptions were first deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837.

True

He worked for the East India Company.

2 Kharoshthi was written from left to right.

False

It was written from right to left.

3 The Allahabad Pillar inscription is a eulogy of Samudragupta.