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Sanskrit-Prakrit Inscriptions of Ancient Gujarat :
A Socio-Religious Study
Bharati Shelat
Inscriptions are the most indispensable, authentic and copious source of information for the knowledge of Indian Culture. In India, rocks, stone slabs, stone-pillars as well as lithic, metallic, earthern or wooden pillars, tablets, copper-plates and pots as also bricks, shells, ivory, plaques and other objects were generally used for incising inscriptions. These inscriptions usually record the dedication of the images of deities or commemorate such events as the fall of a hero in battle or such curious social customs as the self-immolation of a widow and the head-offering of a devotee. In some cases, however, an inscription may embody a kavya in many cantos or a drama in several acts; as for example, the Udaipur Rājasamudra inscription called the Rājaprasasti-kavya and the Ajmer Lalitavigraharāja and Harakeli nāțaka inscriptions.
Gujarat is considerably rich in the heritage of historical materialarchaeological, epigraphic and literary. Accounts of the history and culture of the ancient period are primarily based on epigraphic and literary sources. Epigraphic records are more valuable, as sometimes they are only extant contemporary sources. Moreover, they preserve the accounts of the past in the original language and script of the corresponding periods.
The earliest inscriptions from Indian territory are largely engraved in Brāhmi script. A few examples have been found engraved in Kharosthi and Aramaic scripts.
The main contents of most of the ancient inscriptions of Gujarat are of religious character. They throw ample light on the religious ideas and practices, especially regarding the construction or renovation of religious edifices or reservoirs of public utility and the provision for their maintenance as well as grants of land issued to Brāhmanas, temples or other religious institutions or
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