Book Release: Self-Representation and Presentation of Others in Indic Epigraphical Writing

A little less than two years ago, DHARMA organised a panel called Self-Representation and Presentation of Others at the 34th Deutscher Orientalistentag, investigating the specific forms of “self-representation” of the issuers of inscriptions in a range of epigraphic texts from South Asia, focussing on political ideology as well as on patronage policy. In this connection, “self-representation” is not to be understood as the way in which particular persons (such as kings) represent themselves, but rather as the way in which the socio-political institutions embodied in these persons (such as kingship) articulate their own representation. The contributors paid particular attention to the description of intra-dynastic rivalries and rivalries between dynasties as well as to comparing the self-representation of dynasties and rulers with the depiction of the same kings in the records of their adversaries. They also examined the presentation of religious figures and the relationship between overlords and their subordinates.

The papers delivered at this panel have in the meantime been elaborated into fully-fledged publications, and are now out in print. The book Self-Representation and Presentation of Others in Indic Epigraphical Writing, edited by Dániel Balogh and Annette Schmiedchen, has been published by Harrassowitz Verlag as volume 63 of the Asien- und Afrikastudien der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin series. Hard copies are available from the publisher, while the PDF version is an open-access download.

Although the main focus is on epigraphy, several articles draw upon other textual sources, too. The majority of the papers study regional inscriptional corpora, often mainly consisting of copperplate charters and occasionally including stone epigraphs. The bulk of the records investigated dates from the early medieval period, namely from the sixth to thirteenth centuries, and is written in Sanskrit. Some of the papers explore later inscriptions exclusively engraved on stone and partly composed in other languages. The epigraphic sources originate from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. Most of the articles are philological-historical explorations of inscriptional and literary sources. In addition, some of the contributions also make use of statistical methods and content analysis. Whereas most authors study material from the reigning periods of certain rulers or dynasties, one paper provides a longue-durée perspective. Moreover, while the majority of the contributions investigate the epigraphic records of temporal rulers, two presentations focus on Jaina sources.