Dev Kumar Jhanjh
The word epigraphy, for the study of inscriptions, is derived from two Greek words viz., epi meaning ‘on or upon’ and graphie meaning ‘to write’. Inscriptions are of different types, such as royal proclamations, donative records, land grants, prasastis (eulogistic inscriptions…
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Malini Adiga
Memorial inscriptions, engraved on memorials to the dead, are a major category of epigraphs in India. These memorials can be broadly categorised as hero stones, sati stones and memorials to those who died observing a religious vow. Principally in the third category, we have Jain memorials,…
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Sabarni Pramanik Nayak
Indian epigraphy is a very specialised area of study in itself and also a principal medium for understanding India’s past. Once written on rock, metal, earthen materials, wood and more uncommonly on crystal, glass, carnelian, ivory, bone, shell and cloth, epigraphs stay unchanged for ever. On the…
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Sayantani Pal
Introduction
Image inscriptions belong to the category of donative records which in itself forms a class of epigraphs. On the one hand, there are royal donative records which are purely eulogistic in content; they record some donation or serve as a memorial for any occasion. Then there are private…
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Dr Matthew D. Milligan
Central to South Asian donative epigraphy is the concept of dana (‘gift’ or ‘giving’) to individuals and religious groups, possibly in a symbiotic exchange for ritual or poetic services, or simply just for religious/spiritual merit. Dana as a socio-religious concept likely belongs to the earliest—…
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Dev Kumar Jhanjh
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Susmita Basu Majumdar
The huge corpus of epigraphic literature found from different parts of the Indian subcontinent forms a major source for understanding various aspects of early Indian society, religion, economy and culture, besides dynastic and political history. Epigraphic sources have been used extensively for…
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Dev Kumar Jhanjh
Dev Kumar Jhanjh (DKJ): What is the difference between seals and sealings?
K.K. Thaplyal (KKT): A seal is a stamp bearing the device or legend or both pertaining to the ruler. Sealing is an impression of such a stamp. On the seal the device and the legend will be in negative which would come in the…
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Dev Kumar Jhanjh
Dev Kumar Jhanj (DKJ): What is prashasti?
Suchandra Ghosh (SG): Prashasti is a very important genre in the whole gamut of epigraphs that are found; they are directly connected to the achievements of the rulers. But we, as researchers, have to use the prashasti very judiciously. Do not actually…
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Prof. Velcheru Narayan Rao
Transcript
Why do I call these the ecological bases of Indian literature? I find this rather unconventional that Indian history and everything we know about India is dominated by what I call ‘landed’ culture. Today we think it is the only culture of India, because, since colonialism, ‘landed’…
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