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1
The Inscription
Introductory
THE Hathigumpha Inscription of Mahämeghavahana Khāravela has had a fascinating course since its discovery in AD 1825. It is not a royal panegyric merely; it is an epitome of history. Such chronological narration of events in a matter-of-fact manner is yet to be found on rock, pillar or stone of an ancient date. It has an order and a sequence not met so far in any other inscription of comparable date and that makes it much more valuable as a historical document. Moreover, it forms the only source of information about its author and subject.
The inscriptions of Devanāmpriya Priyadarsi Aśoka, definitely earlier than this epigraph of Kharavela, give very little information of political nature and read more like sermons incised on stone. More or less contemporary Nanaghat Inscription and the later Nasik Cave Inscriptions of the Sātavāhanas, as also the Girnar Inscription of Rudradaman, present little as a chronological record. They, as well as the later prasastis, or eulogistic inscriptions, as they are so aptly called, generally seem to make vague claims and assertions for their royal authors or patrons through praiseful epithets.
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In fact, such a historically potent epigraph is yet to be discovered elsewhere in the contemporary world. In India, the place which is assigned to Kalhaṇa's Rajatarangiņi among ancient historical writings, is well deserved by this inscription in the realm of epigraphy and it betrays well-informed historical
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