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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
and Bellary. These inscriptions belong to the group of Minor Rock Edicts of Asoka. It is interesting to note that out of 17 such edicts so far found in different parts of India, 8 are located in Karnataka alone, indicationg thereby that in those days (C.300 B.C.) Karnataka was a notable part of the Mauryan Empire, with Prakrit as its official language and with Isila as the Seat of Government of the Karnataka territories unter it. Curiously enough, for about 300 years i.e., after Asoka and up to the 1st Century A.D., we have not been able to discover so far any Prakrit inscription though there could have been some. But then we do have several Prakrit inscriptions in the Brahmi script (with southern peculiarities), belonging to the period between the 1st Century A.D. and 4th Century A.D. and found in different parts of Karnataka that formed the settlements of the Satavahanas, the Cutus, the Pallavas and also a part of the Kadamba kingdom. The latest Prakrit inscription so far sound in Karnataka is thc Candravalli record (C.350 A.D.) of the Kadamba Mayūravarman. All these factores indicate that Prakrit was the official language under each of these dynastics during this period. Thus the period between 300 B.C., the days of Asoka, and C.450 A.D., the date of the Halmidi inscription, can be called the Prakrit Period of Karnataka Inscriptions. Moreover, these inscriptions form an important source of political, religious and social history of Karnataka. These have also served as models for the newly emerging Kannada script and inscription:
When Prakrit had the status of official language under some dynastics ruling over some parts of Karnataka during the early centuries of the Christian era, it also happened to be a medium of literary compositions at the hands of a few eminent authors. Of the basic sutras, in Prakrit, of the Satkhandagama, 177 on Satparūvanā are said to have been composed at Banavasi by Puspadanta (C.100 A.D.) of whose domicile we have no clear idea. Then the great. Kundakunda (C.100-200 A.D.), now well proved to have belonged to Karnataka, composed several texts in
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