File:5th or 6th century Vadathika Cave Inscription, Sanskrit, Shaivism, Anantavarman, Gupta script, Ancient Om symbol.jpg

English: This is a Sanskrit inscription in Gupta script (parent of Devanagari) attributed to king Anantavarman. It was first published by Wilkins in 1790, eye-copied by Kittoe (above copy), transliterated by Rajendralal Mitra, translated with interpolations and interpretations by Fleet, restudied by Kielhorn in 1891.

This is a Shaivism inscription based on the content (see Fleet, 1888), and variously dated between 450 CE to late 6th-century. The caves themselves are dated to 3rd-century BCE, first used by the Ajivikas tradition monks, later by the Buddhist monks, and thereafter the Hindu monks.

This is a photograph of sketches and inscriptions from a personal copy of an article published in 1847 by Markham Kittoe about the Barabar Caves in Bihar in the The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. This is found along with Kittoe's interpretation and explanation in Volume 16, pages 401-412 (note: Capt. Kittoe spelt it Burabur cave in Bahar). The original qualifies under wikimedia's PD-Art-100-70 guidelines. Any rights I have, I herewith donate to wikimedia with Creation Commons 4.0.