Votive inscriptions
Topic: Studying Indian History: Sources, Dating and Historiography · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"
Meaning
Votive inscriptions are short inscriptions that record gifts made to religious institutions such as Buddhist stupas and monasteries. They appear from about the second century BCE. They name the donor and often the donor's occupation or town. Because of this, they show that ordinary townspeople, and not just kings, paid for religious buildings. Donors included washerfolk, weavers, scribes, carpenters, potters, goldsmiths, merchants, officials, monks, nuns and women.
Example
The stupa at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh has hundreds of short votive inscriptions on its railings and gateways. One records that the ivory workers of nearby Vidisha paid for carvings on a gateway.
Don't confuse with
- Prashasti: a long poem of praise written by a court poet for a king, such as Harishena's praise of Samudragupta. A votive inscription is a short note of a gift, usually by an ordinary person.
Related concepts
- Inscription
- Epigraphy
- Prakrit
- Palaeography
- Aihole inscription
- Copper plate inscriptions
- Asiatic Society of Bengal
- James Prinsep
- Brahmi script
- Brahmi numerals