The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) recently discovered rare 16th-century trilingual inscriptions in Andhra Pradesh's Seshachalam forest. Dating to Vijayanagara Emperor Sadasiva Deva Raya, the records provide exceptional insights into medieval temple administration, tax revenue diversion, and linguistic diversity.
Why In News?
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) unearths rare, 472-year-old trilingual stone inscriptions within the Seshachalam reserve forest in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh.
About Seshachalam Discovery
Location: The ASI team identifies these historical markers at Sadasivakona, a remote religious site situated deep within the Seshachalam forest range.
Chronology: The inscriptions originate from 1554 CE, marking a critical phase of the Vijayanagara Empire’s administrative consolidation.
Linguistic Diversity: Artisans engrave the records in a trilingual format, utilizing Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil scripts to reflect the empire's vast cultural integration.
Preservation: The ASI creates estampages (ink impressions) of the artifacts to facilitate long-term preservation and advanced linguistic research.
About Vijayanagara Empire
Foundation: Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty established the empire in 1336 CE along the Tungabhadra River basin.
Dynastic Rule: The empire operates under four successive dynasties: Sangama, Saluva, Tuluva, and Aravidu. Emperor Sadasiva Deva Raya represents the Tuluva dynasty.
Nayankara System: The state employs a decentralized, militarized framework where local chieftains (Nayakas) manage territories, collect revenue, and maintain armies.
Economic Power: The empire sustains a globally connected economy through agrarian taxation, guild systems, and maritime trade involving Arabian horses and spices.
Social Renaissance: Rulers act as supreme patrons of Shaivism and Vaishnavism, driving a massive temple-building movement across South India.
Significance of Epigraphical Records
Primary Source: Inscriptions provide the most accurate, unadulterated data regarding political boundaries, royal lineages, and chronologies.
Temple Administration: Records document the operational logistics, rituals, and hierarchies of medieval temples, confirming their status as socio-economic centers.
Revenue Mapping: Epigraphs provide undeniable data on taxation policies, detailing how the state redistributed agricultural and commercial taxes to sustain infrastructure.
Cultural Integration: The presence of three languages on a single surface proves the seamless linguistic unity existing under the Vijayanagara political umbrella.
Durability: Unlike manuscripts, stone inscriptions resist environmental decay, offering permanent, verifiable evidence of medieval civic life.
What Do the New Inscriptions Reveal?
Royal Grants: The text explicitly records the mechanisms of land and resource grants issued under the authority of Emperor Sadasiva Deva Raya.
Religious Patronage: The inscriptions confirm that the Emperor visited the Sadasivakona region for a holy bath and subsequently commissioned a new Siva temple.
Resource Management: The state redirects tax revenues from the Parasuramesvara Temple in Gudimallam to sustain the religious activities of the new Siva temple.
Administrative Logistics: The empire demonstrates an advanced capacity to balance regional administrative needs with the promotion of religious activities in remote forest belts.
Source: THEHINDU
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PRACTICE QUESTION Q. In the context of medieval Indian history, what does the term 'estampage', recently utilized by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), refer to? (a) A specialized land grant given to temple priests. (b) A medieval taxation system on forest produce. (c) A technique of creating an exact physical copy of an inscription. (d) A gold coin issued by the Tuluva dynasty. Answer: Explanation: In the context of Indian history and epigraphy, an estampage is a traditional technique used by the Archaeological Survey of India to create an exact physical replica of an inscription. It involves placing specialized, pre-soaked maplitho paper onto a cleaned inscribed stone and lightly tapping it so the paper sinks into the engravings. Once the paper is dry, ink is applied to the surface, resulting in an exact raised impression of the script that can be transported and studied safely. |
Inscriptions are vitally important because they provide contemporaneous, unalterable, and permanently carved physical evidence of ancient royal edicts, land grants, administrative laws, and economic transactions that help historians precisely reconstruct past timelines without relying solely on biased literary accounts.
The extensive epigraphic records of the empire reveal a highly sophisticated system of local governance, elaborate land revenue models, and dynamic water conservation networks centered around massive state-funded temple infrastructure projects.
The empire possessed a highly vibrant, monetised economic structure built upon intensive agricultural production supported by the tank-irrigation system, a well-regulated domestic transit tax network, and thriving maritime international trade in luxury goods like horses, textiles, and spices.
The social fabric was a highly stratified, complex hierarchy dominated by the influential priestly Brahmin class and powerful Nayaka military commanders, while simultaneously featuring a prominent, wealthy merchant class and unique socio-religious spaces that allowed women to work as wrestlers, astrologers, and accountants.
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