FORVM Eastern India Buddhist Terracotta
Eastern India, Buddhist Terracotta Votive Sealing, c. 8th Century Antiquities authenticated and attributed by Alex G. Malloy. At holy sites and temples Buddhist pilgrims would purchase small votive offerings, to present to the shrine to be interred inside a stupa, or to take home as a memento. Votive offerings varied from place to place and over time. They were often made of terracotta and included small plaques, stupas, and sealings. The various sealings texts include meaningless pseudo-writing, repeated mantras, passages from the Ramayana, the Buddhist creed, prayers, etc. Because few early Buddhist manuscripts have survived in India, the writings found on these humble sealings provide a rare glimpse of the various scripts used in India in ancient and early medieval times. -- http://papyri.tripod.com/buddhist/introsealings.html