Junagadh (Girnar) Inscription of Rudradaman

Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman / Image Credit

The Junagadh rock inscription of the Saka ruler Rudradaman is a eulogy inscribed on a rock located near Girnar hill near Junagadh in Gujarat. Composed in about 150 AD, the inscription, which is the earliest inscription written in Sanskrit prose, refers to his reconstruction of a great dam or Sudarshan reservoir for irrigation which was excavated by Pushyagupta, the provincial governor (rashtriya) of Chandragupta Maurya in the provinces of Anarta and Saurashtra (Gujarat).

Written in the Brahmi script , this inscription is engraved on a rock which contains one of the fourteen Asokan Major Rock edicts and another inscription of the Gupta ruler Skandagupta. The inscription was first translated in 1837 by scholar and Orientalist James Prinsep, an official of the Calcutta Mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

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