Inscriptions as non-literary sources of the past— (i) Inscriptions are permanent writings engraved on hard surfaces such as stone, metal or terracotta. The earliest inscriptions were written on stone. They usually record the achievements, activities and ideas of those who got them inscribed.

(ii) Those inscriptions which are composed by poets in praise of kings and patrons are known as prashastis.

(iii) Some instructions carry dates. Others are dated on the basis of palaeography or style of writing, with a fair amount of precision.

(iv) The earliest inscriptions were in Prakrit which was a language of ordinary people. In later times, Tamil and Sanskrit were also used to write inscriptions.

(v) Ashoka, a Mauryan king, was the first person to issue inscriptions. Most of his inscriptions are in Prakrit language written in Brahmi script though, some in the northwest, were written in Kharosthi.

(vi) The Aramaic and Greek scripts were used for inscriptions in Afghanistan so that the local people could understand their subject matter. Brahmi was written from left to right like Hindi while Kharosthi from right to left.

(vii) Ashokan inscriptions help us greatly in understanding his religious and administrative policies.

(viii) From the first century B.C. the kings started granting land to religious people. The Satavahanas kings of the Deccan were the first ones to do so. These inscriptions record the concessions granted to the donee (the receiver of grant). Such inscriptions help us in finding out the religious and economic activities of the period. Some of these inscriptions are written on stones but most on copper plates.