Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c9.s1.t2.2

c9.s1.t2.2

Inscriptions on copper plates recording land grants⁴ are exceedingly common almost everywhere in India,⁵ numbering well into the thousands, and their study is an important subfield within Indian epigraphy. Such inscriptions are engraved on one or more plates of copper which vary widely in size but generally reproduce the shape of traditional nonepigraphic writing materials such as palm leaves and bark strips, or sometimes stone stelae. Smaller examples, usual in the earlier centuries, are typically about two to three inches high and five to six inches long; later specimens are often large, in the range of fifteen to twenty inches. The plates are usually prepared with some care in order to protect the writing from damage and wear; often the edges are raised to prevent the plates from rubbing together, and sometimes the outer plates or faces are left blank. The writing usually goes along the longer direction of the plates, though inscriptions written across the shorter dimension are not uncommon, especially in eastern India and in the plates of the Vijayanagara kings in southern India. Charters on multiple plates are joined together with a ring (occasionally two rings, one at each end) of copper or bronze which is inserted through holes in the plates. The ends of the ring are soldered together onto a seal, usually of bronze, which is intended to certify the authenticity of the document and to prevent tampering by the addition or removal of plates. The number of plates varies widely; in general, later specimens are larger and longer, and examples with several dozen plates and weighing as much as two hundred pounds total are known (Chhabra 4; SIE 124).