Indian Epigraphy c11.t1.37

c11.t1.37

But some of the West Indian cave inscriptions belonging to the Kṣaharāta and Śātavāhana rulers of the 2nd century A.D. were undoubtedly copied on the cave walls from original *rāja-śāsanas* on cloth or copper plate.¹ Thus the Nasik cave inscriptions² of Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi (c. 106-30 A.D.), dated in his regnal years 18 and 24, another epigraph³ at the same place belonging to the reign of Nahapāna and dated in 120 A.D. and several others of the same type engraved on the walls of the excavated caves in Western India are copies of original *rāja-śāsanas*. These records resemble the known specimens of early copper-plate grants and generally agree with the specifications of the ancient legal writers discussed above.⁴ The records of Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi actually refer to themselves respectively as a *paṭikā* (regarded as standing for Sanskrit *paṭṭikā* meaning a copper-plate grant)⁵ and a *lekhya* (document) while the epigraph of Nahapāna’s reign refers either to the engraving of the document on *phalakas* (plates or tablets [of copper]) or to the preservation of such documents in the store-house of *phalakas*.