Social Conditions Reflected in Sanskrit Inscriptions of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka possesses one of the largest collections of inscription in South Asia, nearly four thousand of them dating from the 3 century BC. Beside inscriptions written m Sinhala language in its various stages of development, a few inscriptions written in Sanskrit and Pali have also been found. Scripts used in these Sanskrit inscriptions are Sinhala, Grantha or Devanagari. Some inscriptions which have been written In another language and consist of Sanskrit verse/ s (éloka/s) or prose portions are remains in the same scripts in which the partlcular inscription IS written. The oldest Inscription in Sanskrit (Kuccaveli rock Inscription-about 7t century AC. (EZ.III.1933, pp. 158-161) hitherto found in Sri Lanka has been written in the Grantha script while the longest inscription in Sanskrit (Abhayagiri slab inscription about 9 century AC. (EZ.I.1912, pp.1-9) has been written in the Devanagari script. An inscription in fragmentary form, belonging to 12 to 1315 century AC., however, provides information of a secular nature. Almost all the other inscriptions written in Sanskrit deal with topics relating to Buddhist Culture.