NEW DELHI: The Epigraphy Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has so far copied and deciphered around 74,000 inscriptions found in different parts of the country. The branch, an important research wing of the agency, was set up in 1886 at Bengaluru.
In the last eight years, it has discovered and copied more than 2,875 epigraphs including Arabic and Persian writings, said a report presented before the Central Advisory Board of Archaeology (CABA). According to the report, a total 816 Arabic and Persian inscriptions have been copied between 2014 and 2022.
“The main focus of this branch is conducting epigraphical survey, copying, deciphering, and publishing of inscriptions. From the inception of this branch, around 74,000 inscriptions have been copied and reported in the Annual Reports on Indian Epigraphy,” reads the report presented in the CABA meeting which was chaired by Union minister G Kishan Reddy. After a systematic survey of epigraphs spread over different parts of the country, their decipherment, and transcription, it publishes annual reports.
Recently examined significant inscriptions by the branch was found at Chennakesava temple in district Chittoor, Shiva temple, Sengalipalayam village in Amaravati, Chola Inscription in Tiruvannamalai and a significant trilingual inscription in Persian, English and Hindi at a tank in Jhajjar district in Haryana.