Kamarupa inscriptions

The Kamarupa inscriptions are a number of 5th-century to early 13th-century rock, copper plate and clay seal inscriptions associated with the rulers and their subordinates of the Kamarupa region. The common language of these inscriptions is Sanskrit. The earliest of these inscriptions, the Umachal and Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscriptions, belong to the 5th century and written in a script which was nearly identical to the eastern variety of the Gupta script.[2] There is a steady evolution in the script over the centuries, and last of the scripts, for example the Kanai-boroxiboa inscription using a proto-Assamese script.[3] The script in this period is called the Kamarupi script, which continues development as the Medieval Assamese script from the 13th to the 19th century and emerges as the modern Assamese script.

9th-century Nagaon Copper Plate Inscription of Valavarman III. Text: trailokya vijaya tuṅga yenāpahṛtaṃ yaśo mahendrasya Kāmarūpe jitakāmarūpaḥ prāgjyotiṣākhyaṃ puramadhyuvāsa rājāprajāraṇjana labdhavarṇṇo.

Kanai-boroxiboa rock inscription, 1207 CE, shows proto-Assamese script.

The findspots of inscriptions[1] associated with the Kamarupa kingdom give an estimate of its geographical location and extent.

Though the language is Sanskrit, there appear systematic Prakriticisms that indicate an underlying colloquial Indo-Aryan language, called Kamarupi Prakrit.[4]