INSERT Through Pro*C in UTF 8 DB

Hi,

   I have a table that contains a huge number of fields, out of which 3 are VARCHAR2(2000). I am using a Orcale 9i with UTF8 char set. The data I am trying to insert is ASCII (English). When I try using a Pro*C program to insert the data, it fails, giving the error ORA-01461.
My data is not longer than 2000 char. It neither contains any multibyte character. Why does this happen?

If I try to insert one of the 3 VARCHAR2 columns only, it works fine.

If I use the same Pro*C program to insert the same data into the same table in non-UTF8 database, it inserts perfectly.

Incidently, I tried changing the columns from VARCHAR2(2000) to CLOB. Then the program works fine.

Do I need to use CLOB? As long as my data contains single byte characters, why should I increase my column length?

Thanks in advance.

• Anoop