No. 1. A Brahmi inscription from Belvadigi.
| K. V. Ramesh, EI. XXXVII. No. 22. |
| It was in November 1959, while conducting the epigraphical survey of
Chitapur Taluk in Gulbarga District, Mysore State, that I copied the inscription at
Beëvàäigi(This is AR. E. Ep., 1959-60, No. B 427). It is edited here with the kind
permission of the Govemment Epigraphist for India. The inscribed slab was found set up
against the back wall of the building housing the officer in charge of the quarrying
operations at a site about two miles away from the village. This is a single line inscription which must have originally contained 9 letters out of which the last two were found broken away and lost at the time of copying. The characters are Brahmè of the 3rd century A. D. and are comparable with those of the Nàgàrjunikoíäa inscriptions of the said period though the letters in the inscription under study do not display ornamental flourishes as those of the latter inscriptions. The language of the inscription is Prakrit. This is the earliest and only Bràhmè inscription so far discovered in the Gulbarga District. |
TEXT
Kalakasa chhaya pa[òimà]
(Sanskrit: Kalakasya chhàyà-pratimà)
_____________________
From inked impressions.
There is a mark below the right end of the letter chha; the last two letters òi and mà
are broken away and lost. (KR)