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Foreword
The Häthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela is one of the few significant sources available for the dark period in the history of India between the fall of the Mauryan dynasty and the rise of the Guptas. Composed as it is in a very obscure Prakrit, and its characters badly weathered by centuries of exposure to the elements and in places quite illegible, this inscription has long been the subject of a great controversy among historians and palaeographers. Many uncertainties and ambiguities still remain. The date of the inscription is as yet not finally settled, and opinions vary over a period of about two hundred years. Certain scholars believe that it is a little later than the inscriptions of Asoka, while others would date it not long before the beginning of the Christian era.
The new edition and translation of this inscription by Dr. Shashi Kant marks a great step in our understanding of this very difficult historical document. In many particulars the fresh interpretation presented here is an obvious improvement over those of previous students of the subject. After reading Dr. Kant's typescript, I find myself in agreement with him in most particulars, though I must record my doubts as to his views on the chronology of the inscription. The style of the script suggests to me a date in the first century BC, and I would prefer to interpret the obscure chronological data in the inscription itself as referring to a period 300 years after the Nanda King, and not 103. But authorities may differ, and in general I would heartily recommend this interpretation to all students of Indian history.
With this is included a further study of one of Asoka's most obscure inscriptions, the Bhabru Edict. This little document is
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