A Hoard of Jaina Bronze Image Inscriptions from Charkhi Dadri, Haryana Vivek Dangi 1 and S. Krishnamurthy 2 1 . Department of History, All India Jat Heroes’ Memorial College, Rohtak, Haryana - 124 001, India (Email: vivek_dangi@yahoo.co.in) 2. Archaeological Survey of India, Mysuru, Karnataka – 570 017, India (Email: skmurthy84@gmail.com) Received: 14 July 2019; Revised: 29 August 2019; Accepted: 03 October 2019 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 7 (2019): 314-323 Abstract: Inscriptions form the most reliable source for the reconstruction of history. In the present paper the authors have discussed nine inscriptions, which were carved on the back side of the bronze images of Jaina Tirthankara. These inscriptions have its own importance because these are the only inscribed bronze images belonging to Jainism so far discovered in the region. Although two of the Hansi hoard images are inscribed with few words only. All these bronzes belong to the Medieval period (12 th - 13 th Century A.D.). During this period massive socio-political change took place in the region and these inscriptions can throw light on the various aspects of history of that time. Keywords: Jaina, Tirthankara, Bronzes, Charkhi Dadri, Naragi, Haryana, Samvat Introduction Jainism is a religion of hoary past and it played an important role in the history of Haryana. The contributors of Jainism are apparent in all aspects of cultural heritage of Haryana which abounds in Jaina antiquities. Even though numerous beautiful sculptures, architectural fragments, bronzes, etc., which tell us about the importance of Jainism in Haryana are found from many places, inscriptions related to Jainism are rare. About 28 sites (Table 1 and Figure 1) have yielded archaeological remains of Jainism in Haryana (Dangi 2017). The earliest archaeological evidence of the Jainism in Haryana comes from Hansi in the form of a hoard of bronze images containing fifty two figures of Jaina Tirthankara. Two among them bear inscriptions (Handa 2002: Pl 19b and Pl. 20b) datable to circa 8 th century A.D. Datable almost to a century later (dated Samvat 918 = 861 A.D.) is the stone image of Jaina Tirthankara from Jind, presently preserved in Sri Krishna Museum, Kurukshetra (ARIEP B 37 of 1980) also bears an five lines inscription (Agrawal 2001. No. 3). Recently one inscription of the period of Mughal emperor Akbar, dated Samvat 1650 (1593 A.D.) was found from Baund Kalan, District Bhiwani (Dangi and Parshad 2014:359-367). The bronze images recovered from Kasan (Dangi 2017:316) are inscribed but unfortunately we were not allowed to document them.