【新唐人】CHAN: Inscriptions on temple walls are helping academics to reconstruct the history of ancient India. It is estimated that more than 100,000 inscriptions are available, of which only twenty thousand inscriptions have been published by the Archaeological Survey of India.
STORY:
The inscriptions reveal that the temples used to be the hub of all social activities sometimes acting as banks and theatres.
Dr Ganeshan, a professor in Bharathiyar University explained how, “people gathered in the temple, and at the same time organized religious ceremonies aided by the inscriptions."
Most of the inscriptions found in south India, particularly in Tamil Nadu were found engraved on the stone beds in caves.
These inscriptions are in Brahmi script with some additional signs orresponding to certain sounds, which are peculiar to the Tamil language. This script is popularly known as Tamil Brahmi.
A number of inscriptions belonging to the Pallavas, Cholas, and the
Pandyas from the 7th century AD onwards have also been found in south India, written in three different scripts called the Tamil Brahmi, Vatteluttu and Drantha scripts.
The Uthamallingeswarar temple has a number of inscriptions engraved in the temple complex, providing an insight into the agricultural practices of the rulers in those days.
Said Subramanian, a devotee, “From this Uthamallingeswarar temple I found inscriptions which give some details about the agricultural administrations of the kings’ rule in those days."
India is rich in epigraphical wealth, which forms one of the very important sources for understanding the history and culture of the Indian people from the time of the Mauryan emperor Asoka, during the 3rd century B.C. to the more recent late medieval period.
