Written in stone and copper

Inscriptions are the firmest dated evidence for Bharat’s past: kings had their grants, victories and gifts cut into rock, pillars and copper plates, and many still stand where they were made. Here every inscription on this site is shown in order of date, with where it was found and where it is kept today.

Written in stone and copper: 51 objects

01Inscription · c. 1380 BCE

Boğazköy treaty naming Mitra, Varuna, Indra and the Nasatyas

A treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I and Shattiwaza, prince of Mitanni in north Syria, sworn before the gods of both kingdoms. Among the Mitanni gods stand four names any Vedic priest would know.

Found: Clay tablets from the Hittite royal archive at Hattusa (Boğazköy, central Turkey), dug up by Hugo Winckler in 1906–07
Kept at: Hittite tablet collections in Turkish museums

02Inscription · c. 520 BCE

Behistun inscription of Darius I

The Persian king Darius I tells, in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian, how he took the throne and which lands obeyed him. Gandhara is on the list.

Found: Cut high on the cliff of Mount Behistun, Kermanshah, western Iran; copied by Henry Rawlinson between 1835 and 1847
Kept at: In place on the cliff, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

03Inscription · c. 258 BCE (ten years after Ashoka’s abhisheka)

Kandahar bilingual edict of Ashoka

Ashoka’s message of dhamma, carved in Greek and Aramaic for the Greek and Persian-speaking subjects at the western edge of his empire.

Found: On a rock at Chehel Zina, Old Kandahar, Afghanistan; found in 1958
Kept at: On the rock at Chehel Zina; its present condition is uncertain after decades of war

04Inscription · c. 268–232 BCE

Edicts of Ashoka

Fourteen major rock edicts, minor rock edicts and seven pillar edicts in which the Maurya emperor speaks in his own voice, as Devanampiya Piyadasi.

Found: Carved on rocks and polished pillars from Kandahar to Karnataka; first read by James Prinsep in 1837
Kept at: Most still stand where they were carved; pillars at Delhi, Prayagraj, Lauriya Nandangarh, Rampurva and elsewhere

05Inscription · c. 3rd century BCE

Kalinga edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada

In conquered Kalinga, Ashoka left out the thirteenth rock edict, which mourns the war, and carved two separate edicts addressed to his officers there instead.

Found: Dhauli hill near Bhubaneswar and Jaugada in Ganjam district, Odisha
Kept at: In place on the rocks, under ASI protection

06Inscription · Maurya period, c. 3rd century BCE

Sohgaura copper plate

A small bronze-copper plate in early Brahmi, issued by the officials of Shravasti, cast with symbols of storehouses above the text.

Found: Sohgaura, Gorakhpur district, Uttar Pradesh; found in 1893
Kept at: Published by the Asiatic Society of Bengal; its present custody is not well recorded

07Inscription · c. 2nd–1st century BCE

Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela

Seventeen lines in Prakrit and Brahmi recording, year by year, the reign of Kharavela, the Jain emperor of Kalinga.

Found: Overhang of the Hathigumpha (elephant cave), Udayagiri hill near Bhubaneswar; first read by James Prinsep in 1837
Kept at: In place, under a protective shelter

08Inscription · c. 113 BCE

Heliodorus pillar, Besnagar

A stone Garuda-dhvaja raised to Vasudeva by Heliodorus, a Greek envoy from Takshashila, at the court of King Bhagabhadra.

Found: Besnagar, outside Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh; noted by Alexander Cunningham in 1877, inscription read in 1909
Kept at: Still standing in place; local people worship it as Khamba Baba

09Inscription · c. 1st century BCE

Ghosundi and Hathibada inscriptions

A Sanskrit record of a stone enclosure built for the worship of Sankarshana and Vasudeva by a king who had performed the Ashvamedha.

Found: Ghosundi village and Nagari (ancient Madhyamika), near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan
Kept at: Fragments in museum collections in Rajasthan; the Hathibada text remains at Nagari

10Inscription · c. 1st century BCE

Naneghat inscription of Queen Naganika

The Satavahana queen Naganika, widow of Satakarni I, records the Vedic sacrifices her husband performed and the fees he gave.

Found: A rock-cut hall at the Naneghat pass on the old trade road from Junnar down to the Konkan, Pune district
Kept at: In place in the cave

11Inscription · c. 1st century BCE

Ayodhya inscription of Dhanadeva

A short Sanskrit record of Dhanadeva, lord of Kosala, who set up a memorial to his father at Ayodhya.

Found: Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh
Kept at: Ayodhya

12Inscription · Early 1st century CE

Mora well inscription

A Sanskrit record in Brahmi of a stone temple set up for the images of the five Vrishni heroes, in the time of the son of the Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula of Mathura.

Found: On a slab from a well at Mora village, about 11 km west of Mathura; reported in the 19th century
Kept at: Known from the slab and its published readings by Lüders and later scholars

13Inscription · Year 1 of Kanishka, c. 127 CE

Rabatak inscription of Kanishka

A stone in the Bactrian language, written in Greek letters, in which Kanishka lists his ancestors and the gods of his shrine.

Found: Rabatak, Baghlan province, Afghanistan; found in 1993
Kept at: National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul

14Inscription · c. 2nd century CE (19th year of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi)

Nasik prashasti of Gautami Balashri

The queen mother Gautami Balashri dedicates a cave to the Buddhist sangha and praises her son, Gautamiputra Satakarni.

Found: Cave 3 of the Pandavleni (Trirashmi) caves, Nashik, Maharashtra
Kept at: In place on the cave wall

15Inscription · 150 CE (Shaka year 72)

Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman

The first long inscription in classical Sanskrit, recording how the Shaka ruler Rudradaman rebuilt the Sudarshana lake after a storm burst its dam.

Found: The great boulder at the foot of Girnar, Junagadh, Gujarat, which also carries Ashoka’s edicts
Kept at: In place, inside a protective building

16Inscription · c. 2nd–3rd century CE

Võ Cạnh inscription

A Sanskrit stele from the coast of central Vietnam, the oldest Sanskrit inscription found in Southeast Asia.

Found: Võ Cạnh village near Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa province, Vietnam
Kept at: National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi

17Inscription · c. 350–375 CE

Allahabad pillar prashasti of Samudragupta

Harishena, minister and poet of Samudragupta, carved a long Sanskrit eulogy of his king onto a pillar that already bore Ashoka’s edicts.

Found: An Ashokan pillar, probably first raised at Kaushambi, now in the fort at Prayagraj
Kept at: Inside Allahabad Fort, Prayagraj (army area; access limited)

18Inscription · c. 400 CE

Yupa inscriptions of Mulavarman, Kutai

Seven stone yupas, the sacrificial posts of a Vedic yajna, inscribed in Sanskrit for King Mulavarman.

Found: Muara Kaman on the Mahakam river, East Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia
Kept at: National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta

19Inscription · 401 CE (Gupta year 82)

Udayagiri cave inscriptions of Chandragupta II

Two records at Udayagiri tie its shrines, among them the great Varaha panel, to Chandragupta II and the men who served him.

Found: Cut in the rock-cut shrines of Udayagiri hill near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh; edited by J. F. Fleet in 1888
Kept at: In place at the Udayagiri caves (ASI protected site)

20Inscription · c. 450 CE

Halmidi inscription

A short stone of the Kadamba age that is the oldest known inscription in the Kannada language.

Found: Halmidi village, Hassan district, Karnataka; found in 1936
Kept at: Government Museum, Bengaluru; a fibreglass replica stands in the village

21Inscription · c. 5th century CE

Ciaruteun inscription of Purnavarman

A Sanskrit verse beside a pair of carved footprints of Purnavarman, king of Tarumanagara.

Found: A boulder in the Ciaruteun river near Bogor, West Java, Indonesia
Kept at: In place, under a shelter on the river bank

22Inscription · 455–457 CE (Gupta years 136–138)

Junagadh inscription of Skandagupta

Three centuries after Rudradaman, the Sudarshana dam burst again; Skandagupta’s governor rebuilt it and recorded the work on the same rock.

Found: The same Girnar boulder at Junagadh that carries Ashoka’s and Rudradaman’s inscriptions
Kept at: In place, inside the protective building

23Inscription · c. 455–467 CE

Bhitari pillar of Skandagupta

A red sandstone pillar on which Skandagupta records how he saved the Gupta house and fought the Hunas.

Found: Bhitari, Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh
Kept at: Standing in place

24Inscription · c. 455–470 CE

Talagunda pillar inscription

A Sanskrit poem on a stone pillar telling how the Kadamba dynasty began, composed by the poet Kubja in the time of Shantivarman.

Found: Before the ruined Pranaveshvara temple at Talagunda, Shivamogga district, Karnataka
Kept at: In place

25Inscription · 436 and 473 CE (Malava years 493 and 529)

Mandsaur inscription of the silk-weavers’ guild

A poem in stone by Vatsabhatti about a guild of silk-weavers from Lata who settled at Dashapura, built a temple to Surya and repaired it a generation later.

Found: At the Mahadeva ghat near the Pashupatinath temple, Mandsaur, by workmen sent by J. F. Fleet in the 1880s
Kept at: Gujari Mahal Museum, Gwalior

26Inscription · 4th–6th century CE

Eran inscriptions

A small town that kept records of three turning points: Samudragupta’s rule, the Huna Toramana’s arrival, and the earliest dated sati memorial.

Found: Eran (ancient Airikina) on the Bina river, Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh
Kept at: The Varaha and the Garuda pillar stand in place; Samudragupta’s fragment is in the Indian Museum, Kolkata

27Inscription · c. 532 CE

Mandasor victory pillars of Yashodharman

Twin monolithic pillars of the Aulikara king Yashodharman, who broke the Huna king Mihirakula.

Found: Sondani, near Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh
Kept at: The pillars lie at Sondani; one stands re-erected

28Inscription · 628 CE (Harsha year 22)

Banskhera copper plate of Harsha

A land grant to two Brahmanas that carries the signature of Emperor Harsha himself.

Found: Banskhera, Shahjahanpur district, Uttar Pradesh; found in 1894
Kept at: State Museum, Lucknow

29Inscription · c. 7th century CE

Kudumiyanmalai music inscription

A large rock inscription in Grantha script that sets down musical exercises in svara notation, arranged under seven ragas.

Found: Rock face beside the Shikhanathaswami temple, Kudumiyanmalai, Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu
Kept at: In place

30Inscription · 634–635 CE (Shaka 556; Kali 3735)

Aihole inscription of Ravikirti

A Sanskrit prashasti of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II by the Jain poet Ravikirti, who built the temple.

Found: Wall of the Meguti Jain temple on the hill at Aihole, Bagalkot district, Karnataka
Kept at: In place

31Inscription · 7th century CE

Nidhanpur copper plates of Bhaskaravarman

Copper plates of Kumara Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa, Harsha’s ally, renewing a land grant whose original plates had been burnt.

Found: Nidhanpur, Sylhet region (now in Bangladesh); found in 1912
Kept at: Published in Epigraphia Indica Vol. XII; present custody not confirmed here

32Inscription · 683 CE (Shaka 605)

Kedukan Bukit inscription

A small stone in Old Malay, written in a Pallava-derived script, that is the earliest record of the Srivijaya kingdom.

Found: Kedukan Bukit, on the Tatang river at Palembang, South Sumatra; found in 1920
Kept at: National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta

33Inscription · 732 CE (Shaka 654)

Canggal inscription of Sanjaya

A Sanskrit inscription recording that King Sanjaya of Mataram set up a Shiva linga on a hill in Java.

Found: Gunung Wukir temple, Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia
Kept at: National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta

34Inscription · 739 CE (Kalachuri year 490)

Navsari plates of Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin

A land grant of the Chalukya prince of Lata that records how he threw back an Arab army trying to break into the Deccan.

Found: At Navsari, south Gujarat, in the 19th century
Kept at: Text edited in V. V. Mirashi’s corpus of Kalachuri-Chedi era inscriptions (1955)

35Inscription · 9th century CE, reign of Devapala

Nalanda copper plate of Devapala

The Pala king Devapala grants five villages to a monastery at Nalanda built by Balaputradeva, the Shailendra king of Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra).

Found: In the excavation of Monastery 1 at Nalanda, 1921
Kept at: Archaeological Survey of India; text edited by Hirananda Sastri in Epigraphia Indica XVII

36Inscription · 9th century CE, reign of Mihira Bhoja (c. 836–885)

Gwalior prashasti of Mihira Bhoja

The Gurjara-Pratihara king Mihira Bhoja’s family history in Sanskrit verse, from the founder who stopped the Arabs to Bhoja himself.

Found: At the Sagar Tal, Gwalior; edited by R. C. Majumdar in 1925
Kept at: Text in Epigraphia Indica XVIII

37Inscription · 876 CE (Vikrama Samvat 933)

Zero at the Chaturbhuj temple, Gwalior

A temple endowment record in which the numeral zero is written as a small circle, the oldest such zero in stone whose date is certain.

Found: Inside the small rock-cut Chaturbhuj temple of Vishnu on the east face of Gwalior fort
Kept at: In place

38Inscription · 919 and 921 CE (Parantaka I, years 12 and 14)

Uttaramerur inscriptions on village elections

The sabha of a Brahmana village wrote its own constitution on the temple wall: who may stand for its committees, how they are chosen, and who is barred.

Found: Walls of the Vaikuntha Perumal temple, Uttaramerur, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu
Kept at: In place

39Inscription · c. 1006 CE (21st year of Rajaraja I), issued under Rajendra I

Larger Leiden copper plates

A set of copper plates strung on a ring sealed with the Chola tiger, in Sanskrit and Tamil.

Found: Nagapattinam region, Tamil Nadu; taken to the Netherlands in the 18th century
Kept at: Leiden University Library, the Netherlands (Or. 1687)

40Inscription · c. 1010–1014 CE (Rajaraja I)

Inscriptions of the Brihadeeswara temple, Thanjavur

The kalvettu (stone records) of Thanjavur, in Tamil, form the temple’s own ledger, ordered by Rajaraja himself.

Found: Carved round the base and walls of the Rajarajeshvaram (Brihadeeswara) temple, Thanjavur
Kept at: In place; the temple is a living temple and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

41Inscription · c. 1018 CE (6th year of Rajendra I)

Tiruvalangadu copper plates of Rajendra Chola

The largest Chola copper-plate charter: a Sanskrit genealogy and a Tamil grant to the Shiva temple at Tiruvalangadu.

Found: Tiruvalangadu, Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu; found in the early 20th century
Kept at: Government Museum, Chennai

42Inscription · 1052 CE (Shaka 974)

Sdok Kak Thom inscription

A long Sanskrit and Khmer stele recording 250 years of a priestly family that served the Devaraja of the Khmer kings.

Found: Prasat Sdok Kak Thom temple, Sa Kaeo province, Thailand
Kept at: Bangkok National Museum

43Inscription · 1088 CE (Shaka 1010)

Lobu Tua Tamil inscription, Barus

A Tamil stone record of the great merchant guild ‘the Five Hundred of the Thousand Directions’ at the camphor port of Barus.

Found: At Lobu Tua near Barus, on the west coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia; found in 1873
Kept at: National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta

44Inscription · 1153 CE (Vikrama Samvat 1210)

Harakeli Nataka slabs, Ajmer

Black stone slabs carrying a Sanskrit play written by the Chahamana king Vigraharaja IV himself, with a second play written in his honour.

Found: In the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra, Ajmer, built on the site of Vigraharaja IV’s college; recovered in the 19th century
Kept at: Government Museum, Ajmer

45Inscription · 1169 CE (Valabhi Samvat 850)

Prabhas Patan inscription of Bhava Brihaspati

A Sanskrit record of the Pashupata acharya Bhava Brihaspati, who persuaded the Chaulukya king Kumarapala to rebuild the Somnath temple.

Found: Bhadrakali temple, Prabhas Patan (Somnath), Gujarat
Kept at: Prabhas Patan

46Inscription · AH 587 (1191–92 CE)

The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque inscription

The Persian foundation inscription of Delhi’s first mosque, which itself states that it was built from the materials of twenty-seven temples.

Found: Over the eastern gate of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in the Qutb complex, Mehrauli, Delhi, on the site of Qila Rai Pithora
Kept at: In place (ASI, Qutb Minar complex)

47Inscription · Shaka 1127 (1205/06 CE)

Kanai Barasi rock inscription

A one-verse Sanskrit record cut into the rock to say that the Turks who came into Kamarupa were destroyed.

Found: On a rock at Kanai Barasi Bowa, North Guwahati, on the north bank of the Brahmaputra
Kept at: In place, North Guwahati, Assam

48Inscription · c. 1330 CE

Vilasa grant of Prolaya Nayaka

Copper plates of Prolaya Nayaka of the Musunuri family, who led the Andhra nayakas to throw off Tughluq rule after the fall of Warangal in 1323.

Found: At Vilasa village, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh
Kept at: Known from its published text

49Inscription · c. 1460 CE

Kirti-stambha prashasti of the Vijay Stambh, Chittor

The Sanskrit prashasti of Rana Kumbha’s nine-storey tower of victory, giving the line of the Mewar kings and their deeds.

Found: On slabs in the top storey of the Vijay Stambh, Chittorgarh fort
Kept at: In place, Chittorgarh fort (ASI); parts of the text survive

50Inscription · 1513 CE

Krishnadevaraya’s inscription at the Krishna temple, Hampi

A Kannada and Sanskrit record of the temple Krishnadevaraya built to house the image of Balakrishna he brought home from Udayagiri.

Found: Walls of the Balakrishna temple, Hampi, Vijayanagara district, Karnataka
Kept at: In place; the Balakrishna image is in the Government Museum, Chennai

51Inscription · AH 935 (1528–29 CE)

Persian inscriptions of the Babri mosque

Two Persian verse inscriptions that named Babur as the one who ordered the mosque and Mir Baqi as its builder, in AH 935.

Found: On the mosque at the Ram Janmabhoomi site, Ayodhya; recorded by A. Führer (1889) and translated by Annette Beveridge (1922)
Kept at: The slabs are not known to have survived the demolition of 6 December 1992; their texts survive in the published readings

Itihas History: eras, kings, people, battles

Dharma Sacred heritage: temples, texts, bhajans

Darshan Museum: galleries and exhibitions

Shiksha Learn: short paths in order

Pramana Proof: evidence, myths, method

Written in stone and copper: 51 objects