Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c11.s3.27

c11.s3.27

The statements regarding the preparation of the copper-plate Sāsanas are less accurate and explicit. Usually, the inscriptions mention only the person who drew up or wrote the document. And they mostly name as such either a high official (*amātya*, *sāṁdhivigrahika*, *rahasika*) or a general (*senāpati*, *balādhikṛta*). Occasionally, they assert that the drafting was done by a stone-mason, a *sūtradhāra*¹ or *tvaṣṭā*,² who, however, in reality merely engraved the grant. According to Kalhaṇa,³ the Kashmirian kings kept a special official for this work; he bore the title *paṭṭopādhyāya*, "the teacher (charged with the preparation) of title-deeds," and belonged to the *akṣapaṭala* office, which STEIN believes to be the Accountant-General's Office, while I take it to be the Record Office or Court of Rolls (Daftar).