The limitations are:
(i) Sometimes the words engraved are very faint hence it is very hard to decipher them.
(ii) Sometimes the inscriptions are damaged. Many words are lost due to their damaged hence we are not able to get the proper meaning.
(iii) It is not easy to find out the real meaning of the inscription. Sometimes the things stated are in relevance to a particular situation or time.

(iv) Thousands of inscriptions have been found. But not all of them can be translated or can be understood.

(v) There might have been many more inscriptions that were damaged or that needs to be discovered.

(vi) There is another basic problem. What is important today both politically and economically may not have been mentioned in the inscriptions. For example, the inscriptions do not refer to agriculture and the joys or sorrows of daily life. They describe only special and grand occasions.

(vii) The inscriptions reflect the views of those who commissioned them. So we must critically analyse all the inscriptions to find out the ultimate truth.