Which of the following inscriptions of Rudradaman happened to be the first royal inscription of early India composed in chaste Sanskrit?

Correct — D. The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman I, cut on a boulder at the foot of Girnar hill in Gujarat, dates from about the middle of the second century CE.

It is the first long royal inscription composed in polished classical Sanskrit rather than Prakrit.

It records the repair of the embankment of the Sudarshana lake after a storm breached it, and praises Rudradaman in ornate prose.

Its significance is linguistic: after it, Sanskrit steadily displaced Prakrit as the language of royal record.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Mehrauli — Mehrauli: the Delhi iron pillar inscription is in Sanskrit, but it belongs to a king named Chandra, usually placed in the Gupta period — centuries after Rudradaman.
• (b)
  Prayag — Prayag: the Allahabad pillar prashasti is Samudragupta's, composed by Harishena in the fourth century CE. Sanskrit, but much later, and not Rudradaman's.
• (c)
  Chirand — Chirand in Bihar is an archaeological settlement site known for its Neolithic and Chalcolithic layers. It carries no inscription of Rudradaman.

Ashoka's edicts and most early Indian records were issued in Prakrit, written in the Brahmi script.

Rudradaman I, a Shaka ruler of the Western Kshatrapa line based in western India, broke that convention with the Junagadh inscription, composed in elaborate Sanskrit prose.

The same Girnar boulder also carries Ashoka's major rock edicts and a later inscription of the Gupta king Skandagupta.

One rock documents three dynasties and the shifting language of power across four centuries.

Key facts

• The Junagadh or Girnar rock inscription of Rudradaman I, of about the mid-second century CE, is the first long royal inscription in chaste Sanskrit.
• It records the repair of the Sudarshana lake dam, originally built in Chandragupta Maurya's reign and improved under Ashoka.
• Rudradaman I was a Shaka ruler of the Western Kshatrapa dynasty in western India.
• The same Girnar rock carries Ashoka's major rock edicts and a later inscription of Skandagupta.

Common traps

• Choosing Prayag because it is the famous Sanskrit prashasti — it is Gupta, roughly two centuries after Girnar.
• Reading Chirand as an inscription site when it is a Neolithic settlement.

No directly related past PYQ was found.