![]() Burt made an ink impression of the inscription. However, this lithograph did not represent every single word of the inscription correctly. Based on this facsimile, in 1834, James Prinsep published a lithograph in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1831, the East India Company officer William Elliott made a facsimile of the inscription. śattru instead of śatru (enemy): an extra t.kīrtyā instead of kīrttyā: omission of the second t.mūrtyā instead of mūrttyā: omission of the second t.pranśu instead of praṃśu: the use of dental nasal instead of anusvāra.The text has some unusual deviations from the standard Sanskrit spelling, such as: This can be attributed to the fact that the Allahabad inscription was inscribed on softer sandstone, while the Delhi inscription is engraved on the harder material ( iron). While the edges of the characters on the Allahabad inscription are more curved, the ones on the Delhi inscription have more straight edges. However, it had distinctive mātrās ( diacritics), similar to the ones in the Bilsad inscription of Kumaragupta I. The letters vary from 0.3125″ to 0.5″ in size, and resemble closely to the letters on the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta. It is written in the eastern variety of the Gupta script. It contains verses composed in Sanskrit language, in shardulvikridita metre. However, during the engraving process, iron appears to have closed up over some of the strokes, making some of the letters imperfect. The ancient writing is preserved well because of the corrosion-resistant iron on which it is engraved. The inscription covers an area of 2′9.5″ × 10.5″. The oldest inscription on the pillar is that of a king named Chandra ( IAST: Candra), generally identified as the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II. Inscription of King Chandra or Chandragupta II ĭetail showing the inscription of King Chandragupta II The pillar carries a number of inscriptions of different dates, some of which have not been studied systematically despite the pillar's prominent location and easy access. The corrosion resistance results from an even layer of crystalline iron(III) hydrogen phosphate hydrate forming on the high- phosphorus-content iron, which serves to protect it from the effects of the Delhi climate. The pillar has attracted the attention of archaeologists and materials scientists because of its high resistance to corrosion and has been called a "testimony to the high level of skill achieved by the ancient Indian iron smiths in the extraction and processing of iron". It is estimated to weigh more than six tonnes (13,228 lb). Its bell pattern capital is 306 mm (12 in). The height of the pillar, from the top to the bottom of its base, is 7.21 m (23 ft 8 in), 1.12 m (3 ft 8 in) of which is below ground. The iron pillar stands within the courtyard of Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque ![]()
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