Inscribing Identities, Proclaiming Piety: Exploring Recording Practices in Early Historic India Focuses on votive Inscriptions from the second century BCE to the Second century CE found in four areas: Bharhut, Sanchi, the Western Ghats and Mathura. In Barhut and Sanchi, votive inscriptions have been found on the architecture of the stupas and in Mathura on statues, while they have been found in caves and tanks along the Western Ghats.