The Nandinagari script was used in southern India until the 19th century. Some of the earliest writings in Nandinagari are inscriptions in stone found in Mamallapuram, a town in northern Tamil Nadu, dating from the 7th century AD. It was also used in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh and in the official script of the Vijayanagara Kingdom (1336–1646). Nandinagari was mainly used to write Sanskrit and also to write Kannada in Karnataka. Nandinagari was inscribed in stone and on copper plates and written on palm-leaf manuscripts or on paper. There are also coins with Nandinagari on them from the reign of King Rajaraja I (c. 985–1014) of the Chola Dynasty. There are manuscripts of the Rigveda and other Vedas in Nandinagari, as well as other literature.