Inscriptions and Coastal Life

This chapter explores the possibility of reconstructing the coastal life based on epigraphic sources found from the study area. Apart from the Pala and Sena inscriptions, the area under consideration yielded a significant number of epigraphic records issued by several regional lineages from the post-Gupta period onwards. The evidence found from them highlight different aspects such as coastal ecology, riverine traffic, navy, the coastal way of life, polity and, of course, the socio-cultural parameters that were equally witnessed both in the hinterland and the coastal regions. The portrayal of the epigraphic sources clearly shows that their contents supplement the archaeological sources in various ways.