Introduction

The most important thing for a nation's sense of self-identity is the true and legitimate perception of the past. This perception is important for knowing the past and essential for finding the right path to the future. Usually the ethnic characteristics and diversity of a nation are largely determined by its past. Eminent historians and prominent experts, have made significant attempts for understanding India's past through various sources and of them the epigraphic records are considered the most important. They serve as original sources of history which are very difficult to tamper and which truly speak of the time they belong to. The term ‘epigraphy’ which is a synonym of ‘inscription’ (any writing on a hard surface) also stands for a descriptive and analytical study of inscriptions. According to derivation both mean writing on some hard object, which may be created by engraving or any other method.^[1] Epigraphy is an essential source for reconstructing the social, religious, political, economic and cultural history of India during early, early medieval and medieval periods. No wonder any historical information is acknowledged as dependable when it is substantiated by an inscriptional record.

History says, in the later vedic period people gradually turned more interested in simple forms of scriptural interpretations, and this paved the way to Brahmanism in India. The purāṇic texts were composed with a purpose to transmit the same vedic knowledge to the common people in a simple and lucid way. Thus, the purāṇic gods like Śiva, Viṣṇu, and others gained popularity among the common people in early and early medieval period in northern India. Due to such diversity in beliefs and practices, Brahmanism has a distinctive place in the history of India. Gradually, Buddhism, Jainism, along with Brahmanism emerged as strong, reliable, significant and major religions in India. There are many instances where the great kings like Harṣavardhana changed their religious beliefs to embrace Buddhism. At the same time, many villages were gifted to the brāhmaṇas to perform vedic rituals and other religious and educational activities. A considerable number of instances may be cited where purāṇic and vedic cultures coexist comfortably. Our present survey is based on the Sanskrit inscriptions found in northern India that carry valuable information about the vedic culture during the period under study. It testifies to the vedic tradition and culture taking a back seat for a certain span of time but never being wiped out notwithstanding the patronization of provinces by rulers of other cults or faiths.

Inscriptions, which may be dated or undated, were issued to record a specific event or to state a definite purpose at a particular point of time by individual people or group and are, therefore, like some pieces of a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be put in the proper place. They need to be corroborated by other sources and evidences to get the real picture. For this purpose researchers have to consult several types of literary and other archaeological evidences like excavated artefacts, monuments, coins, seals and sealings. Without these collating materials they are not complete as faithful witnesses of the past. Inscriptions as bearers of historical, religious, social, or other information regarding ancient India have to be interpreted with reference to the period they belong to and this is possible only through a comparative study. On the other hand, inscriptions are inevitable sources for corroborating and verifying the information collected from literary and other sources. Issued by the sovereign or local rulers as well as by institutions, guilds, or even private individuals, epigraphs serve as the test stone for historical writings and researches. Their uniqueness lies in the fact, as already pointed out, that they are rarely disturbed by textual corruption and tampering.

In most cases, authors have described contemporary or recent events in living memory or on the basis of reliable evidence available to them. An interesting example of this type of records is the Talagunda inscription of the Kadamba dynasty (5th century CE). This charter describes a boy named Mayuraśarman who went to Kāñcī (one of the celebrated centers of learning in India) from a place near Vanavāsī to study the vedic scriptures. He is said to have rebelled against the Pallava authority, subdued several warriors and established the Kadamba dynasty in the Vanavāsī region of Karnataka in South India.

It is an established fact that epigraphy serves as the most valuable evidence for evaluating historical accounts based on traditions. And that is why inscriptional evidence has been adopted here as the main support of this topic which confirms the vedic influence in society in various parts of northern India in the early and medieval times.

Although inscriptions were found in different languages at that time, in the present study we have considered the evidences found only in the Sanskrit inscriptions in northern India. It was during the reign of the early Gupta emperors in the fourth century CE that Sanskrit was established as the epigraphic language par excellence in northern India. The turning point appears in the inscriptions of Samudragupta (middle to late fourth century CE), especially the Allahabad pillar inscription, which, despite a few trivial orthographic irregularities, is often held up as a model of high classical literary style of the mixed prose and verse (Campū) class. From this point on, all the inscriptions of the Guptas and their neighbours and feudatories in northern India were written in correct classical Sanskrit; similar developments followed soon after in southern India and elsewhere. Prakrit, from this time onward, virtually fell out of epigraphic use, with occasional exceptions for literary effect or sectarian considerations. Sanskrit continued to enjoy its privileged position in the north for many centuries, until regional NIA and Islamic languages began to appear in inscriptions of the medieval period; even then Sanskrit was never completely supplanted, and has continued to be used sporadically up to modern times. In the south, the regional (i.e., Dravidian) languages made their appearance earlier and more prominently, but there too not entirely at the cost of Sanskrit, which continued to be used as an alternative to or in bilingual combination with the Dravidian languages throughout the ancient and medieval periods. Thus by about the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth centuries CE, Sanskrit had established itself as virtually the sole language for epigraphic use throughout India.^[2]

The Sanskrit inscriptions issued during the early and early medieval period in Āryāvarta (northern India) provide enough information relating to the social, religious, political, economic conditions and among others in the contemporary society. During these eight centuries, empires, religion, commerce, science, technology, literature and art flourished in India. If we go through the history of Sanskrit literature, we are unable to find any prominent classical Sanskrit literary text composed during the interim period between Kalidāsa and Bhāravi or Bhababhūti. In this case, Sanskrit inscriptions are one of the most reliable living sources to reconstruct the history of literary trend of this time. Inscriptions are of great value as they constitute the sources for an accurate understanding of such cultural factors working in society. The present work aims at studying select Sanskrit Inscriptions of ‘Āryāvarta’ and its neighborhood which give vital information about the revival of vedic culture in Āryāvarta.

In Sanskrit and related Indian languages, ārya means “one who does noble deeds,” “a noble one.” In Indian cultural geography Āryāvarta (literally “abode of āryas”) stands for the whole of North India, the tract between the Himālayas and the Vindhyas and the eastern and western oceans.^[3] In this context, the question of “Aryan Invasion” in India demands attention.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The word epigraphy is derived from two Greek words viz., ‘epi’ which means ‘on or upon’ and ‘graphie’ meaning ‘to write’. The word Inscription’ has been derived from a Latin word Inscribere which also gives the meaning ‘to write upon.

[2]:

Richard Salomon, Indian Epigraphy, p. 88.

[3]:

Manusmṛti, 2.22.