Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3: C. Grants and Public Documents
Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3
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Contents
- c8.s3.t1 2. Metal Plates — 18 parts
C. Grants and Public Documents
c8.s3.1
*1. Stone.* This substance (though not referred to by the law-books) is the one on which not only the earliest proclamations existing in India were written, but which has been generally used down to the present time.
c8.s3.2
For this purpose the naturally smooth surface of a rock or a boulder[^1), such as are found all over India, was used[^2), or a slab (much like an old-fashioned English tombstone) was prepared for the purpose. In earlier times, stone pillars were also used for engraving proclamations[^3). In S. India, the walls of temples, the pavement, and the pillars of the colonnades were chiefly used for recording grants. In Java slabs were in use much the same as in India[^4).
c8.s3.3
In all instances known, the letters are incised, and, in some cases, appear to have been drilled. The stone used in S. India and Java is easily fractured and, being of coarse and unequal grain, soon perishes if exposed to the weather; thus the older inscriptions in both countries have suffered much, and are often legible with difficulty.
2. Metal Plates
c8.s3.t1.1
*a. Plates of copper* were early in use for recording grants etc. The law-books mention this material (‘tāmrapaṭa’) and the vast majority of S. Indian inscriptions are written on such plates. Fa-hian (about 400 A. D.) says: “From the time of Buddha’s Nirvāṇa, the kings and nobles of all those countries began to erect vihāras for the priesthood and to endow them with lands, gardens, houses, and also men and oxen to cultivate them. The records of these endowments, being engraved on sheets of copper, have been handed down from one king to another, so that no one has dared to deprive them of possession, and they continue to this day to enjoy their proper revenues[^5).” The early European travellers also noticed this usage[^6).
c8.s3.t1.2
There is a remarkable difference in the form of the plates used in N. and in S. India. In the North they are generally very nearly square and are much like the shape of a page of a modern book. The earlier S. Indian inscriptions are written on long strips, and the lines of writing are lengthwise. It is obvious that this difference in shape is to be attributed to the fact that the plates were fashioned like the leaves of books used in those respective countries. In the North the bhūrja was cut nearly square; in the S. the palm-leaves afforded strips only. But in the course of time the form of the plates
c8.s3.t1.3
[^1): These boulders are produced, geologists say, by exfoliation, and are not true *erratic* boulders. [^2): It is hardly necessary to mention the chief Açoka edicts which are of this kind. See also “Pèlerins Bouddhistes”, iii., 38 etc. [^3): Beal’s “Buddhist Pilgrims”, pp. 95, 108 and 109 (about 400 A. D.). Remarkable instances are still existing, (*e. g.* at Allahabad) on which are edicts of Açoka. For an engraving of the one at Allahabad see Prinsep’s “Essays” (by Thomas) i., p. 232 and also Fergusson’s “History of Indian and Eastern Architecture”, pp. 52 ffg. [^4): See *e. g.* the plate in vol. x. (129) of the Batavia “Verhandelingen” and the plates in Friederich’s “Over Inscriptiën van Java en Sumatra”. (Batavia, 1857.) [^5): Beal’s “Buddhist Pilgrims”, p. 55. [^6): Barros (in 1552) says: “As escripturas que elles querem que dure pera muitos seculos .... como letreiros de templos, doações de juro, que dão os Reys, estas são abertos em pedra ou cobre.” (Decada, i., liv, ix.; c. 3. fol. 180 *b.* of 2nd ed.)
c8.s3.t1.4
used in S. India was modified considerably. From the 6th to the 14th century the most usual shape is a rectangle, about twice as long as it is broad, and the plates, if more than one, are secured by a ring passed through a circular hole at the right side¹.
c8.s3.t1.5
¹ See plates xxiv. etc.
c8.s3.t1.6
The Vijayanagara dynasty introduced the N. Indian fashion, and this continued the custom with their successors. The plates are here written across the narrower part of the plate, and the tops are rounded and often ornamented².
c8.s3.t1.7
² See plate xxx.
c8.s3.t1.8
Documents of this kind are usually on three or more plates, the outer sides of the first and last being left blank; the object of this practice is evidently to preserve the writing from injury. The later grants are generally on a larger number of plates than the earlier, and of much heavier substance, owing (it seems) to the practice of cutting the letters much deeper than was done in earlier times. The earliest documents, being simple in style, could be written on three or four small plates with ease; by the 11th century, the forms had become so prolix that eight or nine large plates were necessary. By the end of the 17th century the forms used are much shorter, but the plates used are generally heavy and thick, and in shape like those used by the Vijayanagara dynasty. Some grants of the 17th century are on heavy plates of copper about a quarter of an inch thick, and evidently intended to represent stelæ³. Private documents of the 16th and 17th centuries are on plates much less carefully fashioned, and generally consist of a single square leaf, with a sort of handle on the left side.
c8.s3.t1.9
³ Three such are in the Dharmapura Maṭha.
c8.s3.t1.10
To assist in preserving the parts covered with writing, a practice of raising margins round the plates by beating up and then flattening the edges, was soon introduced. The earliest instances belong to the 9th or 10th century; in the 11th century this was always done, and the practice continued to the 17th century when the preparation of documents was generally rude and careless.
c8.s3.t1.11
The writing on metal plates is always incised in later times; most usually it is done with a kind of chisel, for the ‘graver’ seems unknown in India. On very thin plates it is scratched with a style. The earliest documents of this kind that have been discovered, viz., those found in the Buddhist topes, have the writing scratched on the plates or formed by a series of punctures⁴.
c8.s3.t1.12
⁴ Prinsep's "Essays" by Thomas, i. p. 163 *note.* pl. vi.
c8.s3.t1.13
There is a remarkable iron pillar at Delhi with an inscription on it⁵.
c8.s3.t1.14
⁵ See the picture on p. 507 of Fergusson's "History of Indian and Eastern Architecture" (1876).
c8.s3.t1.15
*b.* Plates of *gold*¹ and *silver* are mentioned as being used for writing grants etc. and specimens of the *last*, at all events, are in existence still[^2).
c8.s3.t1.16
¹ A treaty between the king of Ava and the Portuguese was written on a leaf or plate of gold enclosed in an ivory box. [^2): 2) *a.* A recent grant on a plate of silver which was executed at Cochin. I saw it some years ago in the office of the Collector of Malabar. *b.* A grant on a single plate of silver and written in Telugu, by which the last Nāyak of Tanjore (Vijayarāghava) conveyed Negapatam to the Dutch. *c.* A similar grant (in Tamiḷ) by which the Mahrāṭha prince Ekoji confirmed the last in 1676. Both these are in the Museum at Batavia. [^3): 3) See below, ch. vi. [^4): 4) This is improved on the Bṛihatkathā which has: “Çrutvā guṇāḍhyakathitaṃ kāṇabhūtir uvāca tam | çoṇitena likha xipram saptānām cakravartinām || kathām vidyādharendrāṇām kathayāmi sthiro bhava! || [^5): 5) Dr. Hincks pointed out that one Sanskrit word for ink ‘melā’ is the Greek μέλας ‘kalama’=pen is calamus. “The words for ink and pen have all a modern appearance.” Max Müller, “Anc. Sans. Literature”, (2nd. ed.) p. 514.
c8.s3.t1.17
*c. Cotton cloth.* This is mentioned in the law-books[^3), but I do not know of any specimen.
c8.s3.t1.18
*d. Palm-leaves,* or *olais* were also used for this purpose. Some of the Tamiḷ grants of the 11th century state that they are according to ōlai grants by the king. I have not met with any examples of public documents of this kind. Private sale-deeds written on ōlais are common enough, but, naturally, they are always of recent date.