Contents -- Abbreviations -- Note on Citation and Bibliographic Form -- 1 The Scope and Significance of Epigraphy in Indological Studies -- 2 Writing and Scripts in India -- 2.1 General Introduction -- 2.1.1 Writing in traditional India -- 2.1.2 The antiquity of writing in India of the historical period -- 2.1.3 Characteristics of Indic writing -- 2.2 The Brāhmī Script and Its Derivatives -- 2.2.1 Geographical and chronological range -- 2.2.2 The name of the script -- 2.2.3 The origin of Brāhmī -- 2.2.4 Characteristics of Brāhmī in the Mauryan period (third century B.C.) -- 2.2.5 The historical development and derivatives of Brāhmī -- 2.3 The Kharosthī Script -- 2.3.1 Geographical range -- 2.3.2 Chronological range -- 2.3.3 Uses of Kharosthī -- 2.3.4 Paleographic features of Kharosthī -- 2.3.5 The name of the script -- 2.3.6 The origin of Kharosthī -- 2.3.7 Connections between Kharosthī and Brāhmī -- 2.3.8 The paleographic development of Kharosthī -- 2.4 Numbers and Numerical Notation -- 2.4.1 Numerical notation in Brāhmī and the derived scripts -- 2.4.2 Numerical notation in Kharosthī -- 2.5 Techniques of Epigraphic Writing -- 2.5.1 General comments -- 2.5.2 The technical execution of inscriptions -- 2.5.3 Calligraphic writing -- 2.5.4 Biscript inscriptions -- 2.6 Undeciphered Scripts -- 3 The Languages of Indic Inscriptions -- 3.1 Middle Indo-Aryan ("Prakrit") -- 3.1.1 General remarks -- 3.1.2 The Prakrits of the Aśokan inscriptions -- 3.1.3 Other inscriptions of the Mauryan era -- 3.1.4 Later inscriptional Prakrits -- 3.1.5 Literary Middle Indo-Aryan in inscriptions -- 3.2 Mixed or "Hybrid" Dialects -- 3.2.1 The character of "Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit" (EHS) -- 3.2.2 Geographical and chronological distribution of EHS -- 3.2.3 The linguistic nature of EHS -- 3.3 Sanskrit -- 3.3.1 The earliest Sanskrit inscriptions.

3.3.2 Early Sanskrit inscriptions from Mathurā -- 3.3.3 Sanskrit inscriptions from western India in the Ksatrapa period -- 3.3.4 Early Sanskrit inscriptions from the Deccan and southern India -- 3.3.5 Early Sanskrit inscriptions from other regions -- 3.3.6 The emergence of Sanskrit in the Gupta period -- 3.3.7 Summary: Historical and cultural factors in the development of Sanskrit as an epigraphic language -- 3.3.8 Linguistic characteristics of inscriptional Sanskrit -- 3.4 The New Indo-Aryan (NIA) Languages -- 3.4.1 Marathi -- 3.4.2 Oriya -- 3.4.3 Gujarati -- 3.4.4 Hindi and related languages and dialects -- 3.4.5 Bengali and other eastern NIA languages -- 3.4.6 Nepali -- 3.4.7 Sinhalese -- 3.5 Other (Non-Indo-Aryan) Languages in Indian Inscriptions -- 3.5.1 Dravidian languages -- 3.5.2 Islamic languages (Arabic, Persian, Urdu) -- 3.5.3 Other non-Indic languages -- 3.6 Bilingual and Multilingual Inscriptions -- 4 Survey of Inscriptions in the Indo-Aryan Languages -- 4.1 Typological Survey -- 4.1.1 Royal donative and panegyric inscriptions (praśasti) -- 4.1.2 Land grant (copper plate) charters -- 4.1.3 Private donations -- 4.1.4 Memorial inscriptions -- 4.1.5 Label inscriptions -- 4.1.6 Pilgrims' and travelers' records -- 4.1.7 Cultic inscriptions -- 4.1.8 Literary inscriptions -- 4.1.9 Seal inscriptions -- 4.1.10 Miscellaneous inscriptions -- 4.2 Survey by Form and Material -- 4.2.1 Stone -- 4.2.2 Metals -- 4.2.3 Earthen materials -- 4.2.4 Wood -- 4.2.5 Miscellaneous materials -- 4.3 General Survey of Inscriptions -- 4.3.1 Inscriptions of the Mauryan period (third century B.C.) -- 4.3.2 Inscriptions of the Śunga period (ca. second to first centuries B.C.) -- 4.3.3 Inscriptions of the Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian era (ca. second century B.C. to third century A.D.) -- 4.3.4 Inscriptions of the Gupta era (fourth to mid-sixth centuries A.D.).

4.3.5 Inscriptions of the post-Gupta or "Medieval" era (mid-seventh to tenth centuries A.D.) -- 4.3.6 Inscriptions of the "Islamic period" (eleventh to eighteenth centuries A.D.) -- 4.3.7 Extra-Indian inscriptions -- 5 Methods of Epigraphic Study -- 5.1 The Presentation of Inscriptional Texts -- 5.1.1 Reproduction of the original inscription -- 5.1.2 Presentation of the edited text -- 5.2 Translation and Interpretation of Inscriptions -- 5.3 Authentication of Inscriptions -- 5.4 Dating of Inscriptions -- 5.4.1 Undated or inadequately dated inscriptions -- paleographic dating and problems thereof -- 5.4.2 Dated inscriptions -- 5.4.3 Conversion and verification of inscriptional dates -- 5.5 Appendix: Eras Used in Indo-Aryan Inscriptions -- 5.5.1 Continuous (historical or pseudohistorical) eras -- 5.5.2 Cyclical (astronomical) eras -- 6 The History of Indian Epigraphic Studies -- 6.1 The Pioneering Era: Early Readings of Indian Inscriptions (1781-1834) -- 6.2 The Era of Decipherment (1835-1860) -- 6.2.1 Decipherment of the early Brāhmī script -- 6.2.2 Decipherment of the Kharosthī script -- 6.2.3 Other developments during the era of decipherment -- 6.3 The Period of Maturity (1861-1900) -- 6.4 The Modern Period (1901-1947) -- 6.5 Indian Epigraphy Since Independence (1947 to the present) -- 6.6 Future Prospects and Desiderata -- 7 Epigraphy as a Source for the Study of Indian Culture -- 7.1 Epigraphy and History -- 7.1.1 Political and dynastic history -- 7.1.2 Administrative, economic, and social history -- 7.2 Epigraphy and the Study of Indian Literature -- 7.2.1 Inscriptions as a source for the history of Indian literature -- 7.2.2 Inscriptional texts as literature -- 7.3 Epigraphy and the Study of Religion -- 7.3.1 The Brahmanical/Hindu tradition -- 7.3.2 Buddhism -- 7.3.3 Jainism and other sects -- 7.4 Epigraphy and the Study of the Arts.

7.4.1 The visual arts -- 7.4.2 The performing arts -- 7.5 Epigraphy and Linguistics -- 7.6 Epigraphy and Geography -- 7.7 Other Fields -- 8 Bibliographic Survey -- 8.1 Primary Sources: Notices and Editions of Inscriptions -- 8.1.1 Periodicals -- 8.1.2 Epigraphic serial publications -- 8.1.3 Anthologies of inscriptions -- 8.1.4 Separate monographs -- 8.2 Secondary Sources: Handbooks and Reference Works -- 8.2.1 Handbooks of epigraphy and paleography -- 8.2.2 Reference works, bibliographies, and lists -- 8.2.3 Miscellaneous studies and collections -- Appendix: Selection of Typical Inscriptions -- 1. Rummindeī minor pillar edict of Aśoka -- 2. Besnagar pillar inscription of Heliodoros -- 3. Bhārhut label inscriptions -- 4. Kalawān copper plate inscription -- 5. Sārnāth umbrella shaft inscription of the time of Kaniska -- 6. Niya (central Asian) Kharosthī document -- 7. Kahāum pillar inscription of the time of Skandagupta -- 8. Lakkhā Mandal praśasti -- 9. Vãt Ph'u stone inscription of Jayavarman [I] -- 10. Baroda copper plate inscription of Rāstrakuta Karkkarāja [II] -- 11. Tiruvenkādu temple inscription -- 12. Nālandā inscription of Vipulaśrīmitra -- 13. Pilgrim inscription on the Kosam pillar -- 14. Burhānpur inscription of Edala-Śāha (Ādil Shāh) -- 15. Pabhosā Jaina inscription -- Bibliography -- Index of Inscriptions Cited -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.