Start with evidence, not an answer
Treat a scan as a proposed reading, not a certified translation. Keep three separate notes: what is visible, what the tool suggests, and what a published source confirms. A confident sentence from a model is not a measured probability of correctness. Aitihasik should be used as research assistance, not as epigraphic authority.
Make a record someone else can check
Save a site overview, the complete inscribed surface and overlapping line details. Record the site name, wall or pillar position, date of capture and any museum accession or monument number. Keep the untouched original alongside crops. An isolated crop may conceal a broken edge, reused block or adjacent text that changes the reading.
Separate script, language and date
A script is a writing system; a language is what is written. Neither a modern state boundary nor the appearance of one letter establishes the language or dynasty. Ask which visible letters support the proposed script, which words support the language, and which evidence supports a date. Allow “unresolved” as an outcome.
Verify with an edition
ASI lists inscription publications such as South Indian Inscriptions. Find the actual record, not just a similar-looking image. Match location and record number, then compare the edited text, translation and editorial notes. A site description can confirm context but cannot validate a damaged personal name.
Source: ASI Bharat SHRI: About Epigraphy
Field exercise: a damaged donor line
Suppose a scan supplies a donor name where two letters are missing. Transcribe only the visible letters, mark the gap as [illegible], and store the proposed name separately. Take another permitted photograph under different natural light. If no matching edition or specialist reading resolves it, publish the uncertainty rather than completing the name from expectation.
Common Mistakes
- Copying a fluent translation without preserving the photograph.
- Treating repeated AI answers as independent corroboration.
- Dating a stone solely from the modern temple around it.
Glossary
- Epigraphy
- Study of inscriptions, their writing, content and context.
- Transcription
- A record of the text as read; distinct from its translation.
- Provenance
- Documented origin and history of an object or record.
Next Steps
- Create an evidence sheet with image filenames and unresolved characters.
- Locate a matching ASI record or ask an epigraphist before citing a reading.
Primary References
- ASI Bharat SHRI: About Epigraphy
Institutional introduction to scripts, languages, preservation and inscription publications; not an edition of your stone.
- ASI Bharat SHRI: inscription gallery
Compare individual records and their publication references, including the Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman.