Image: 5th or 6th century Gopika cave inscription, Sanskrit, Shaktism, Anantavarman, Gupta script 2

Description: Gopika, Vadathika and Vapiyaka are three caves in Nagarjuni Hill east of the four caves in Barabar Hill. These are dated to the 3rd century BCE. Inscriptions from Mauryan era suggest these were for the Ajivikas tradition. They became extinct and abandoned it. Later Buddhists used it and added inscriptions. In 5th to 6th century Hindus started using it and added their own inscriptions. This inscription above the Gopika cave entrance is in Sanskrit, Gupta script (Devanagiri parent). It is dedicated to Durga of the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. It was brought to the attention of scholars by John Herbert Harington in 1788. The inscription, dated to the 5th or 6th century, is notable for using matras or horizontal bars above each letter. This is a photograph of a personal copy of John Harington's 1788 publication in Asiatic Researches, pages 276-283. It was titled, A Description of a Cave near Gya. The publication date of this hand sketch and eye-copy drawing of the inscription in the 18th-century makes the work qualify for the PD-Art-100-70 guidelines. Any rights I have, I herewith donate to wikimedia under Creative Commons 4.0 license. PS: the document above was actually made by Charles Wilkins, who used a rubbing and interlined it with modern Devanagari, and relates how he deciphered the inscription [1]
Title: 5th or 6th century Gopika cave inscription, Sanskrit, Shaktism, Anantavarman, Gupta script 2
Credit: Own work
Author: Ms Sarah Welch
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes