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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
No. 2.-SRAVANA-BELGOLA EPITAPH OF PRABHACHANDRA.
BY. J. F. FLEET, I.C.S., PH.D., C.I.E.
This inscription was first brought to notice in 1874, by the text and translation published
by Mr. Rice in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. III. p. 153. The translation has also been given by
him in his Mysore Inscription, p. 302, published in 1879. And the text and translation have
finally been revised and reproduced by him, with lithographs, as No. 1 in his Inscriptions at
Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, published in 1889.[6] From ink-impressions received from Dr. Hultzsch
in 1892, I published some remarks on Mr. Rice’s treatment of the record, and on its real
meaning, in a paper entitled “ Bhadrabâhu, Chandragupta, and Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa,” in the Indian
Antiquary, Vol. XXI. p. 156 ff. And I now edit it in full, with a lithograph, from some
better ink-impressions more recently sent by him.[7]
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[6] The lithograph attached to the text in Roman characters, is not a purely mechanical one ; and it does not
represent the original with fidelity, though it suffices to give a general idea of the palӕographic standard of it.
To the text in Kanarese characters, there is attached a mechanically produced lithograph ; but it is very
indistinct, and is in fact practically useless.
[7] There are many aksharas, legible enough in the ink-impressions, which are hardly discernible, if at all, in
the lithograph. And this interesting record doubtless deserves a better reproduction than that now offered. But
the best that could be done with the ink-impression, without any tampering with them, has been done. And it
is questionable whether any better materials, foe purely mechanical reproduction, can be obtained.
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