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Indian Epigraphy c11.t4: 1. Form

Indian Epigraphy c11.t4

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English

1. Form

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There are various kinds of copper-plate records. Sometimes they contain official orders or the record of the construction of a monastery, etc. The *yantras* of the Jains and the Brāhmaṇas are also engraved on copper plates of various sizes—big, small or medium, and triangular, rectangular or round.¹ But the most important among copper-plate records are those issued by kings in respect of the grants they made for the purpose of attaining religious merit. These also greatly vary in size and shape. As regards shape, the plates were usually rectangular though some of them resemble squarish blocks of stone, or stone stelae.² Among rectangular plates, there are some which are somewhat longer or broader in the middle than at the ends or at the ends than in the middle.³ They have either rounded or angular corners. In rare cases, royal charters were written on peculiarly shaped lumps of copper such as an axe-head, as we have seen above.

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¹ Ojha, *Bhāratīya Prācīn Lipimālā*, p. 153 and note 9. See above, pp. 74ff.

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² Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, Plates between pp. 310 and 311. See ibid., Vol. XIV, Plates between pp. 348 and 349.

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³ Cf. ibid., Vol. XXIX, Plate facing p. 168 and Plates between pp. 40 and 41; Vol. XXXI, Plates between pp. 306 and 307.

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Copper plates of small size resembling palmyra leaves or bark sheets were originally employed in writing royal documents recording grants of land. Thus the Kanas plate⁴ of Lokavigraha measures 4 17/20" in length and 2 1/2" in height while the Kesaribeda plates⁵ of Arthapati are each 7 2/3" long and 1 1/2" high. These resemble sheets cut out of palmyra leaves. As regards copper-plate records resembling bark sheets, reference may be made to the charter¹ of Viṣṇuṣeṇa, which is engraved on plates measuring 17.² inches by 7.³ inches.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 329.

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⁵ Ibid., p. 12. The smallest plate in the Rajputana Museum, Ajmer, is 4 1/2 inches by 3 inches and weighs twelve *tolās* (Ojha, op. cit., p. 153, note 6). Cf. above, pp. 75-76.

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXX, pp. 163 ff. and Plates.

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The shape of the plates is generally oblong or rectangular and the corners are usually rounded off. The earlier records, especially those written on more than one plate, have thin sheets. But the bigger plates of later days were often thick and the borders of the inscribed faces of the sheets in multi-plate documents were in many cases slightly raised in order to avoid friction so that the writing might not be rubbed out. For the protection of the writing, the charters of the Candella kings, when written on more plates than one, generally had narrow copper bands fixed with copper rivets on the margins of the inscribed sides of the plates.²

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² *Cf. ibid.*, Vol. XXXII, p. 119.

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Single plates had the royal seal affixed to the left or top margin while, in the case of records engraved on more sheets than one, the plates were strung on copper ring and the seal was soldered on its joints.³ The ring passed through holes made in the plates in the left or the top margin. The seal was usually of bronze, but occasionally of copper, and it was cast from a mould. The royal emblem or the legend or both are noticed in relief on the counter-sunk surface of the seal. The seals were affixed to the single plates by means of knobs passing through holes made in the plate.

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³ *Cf. above*, p. 75.

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Sometimes the plates of the early rulers were slightly bigger in size when only one was used in writing a charter than when several of them were employed. Small records often mentioned the donor alone as in the records of Lokavigraha and Arthapati referred to above; but, in some cases, the name of his father was added.⁴ In many cases, however, the donor is found to be introduced as the son and grandson or the son, grandson and great-grandson of particular rulers⁵ and is also often mentioned along with a large number of his ancestors.¹ But such details are not generally found in single-plate records of smaller size. An elaborate description of the achievements of the donor and his ancestors does not usually find place in the earliest copper-plate inscriptions.

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⁴ See, e. g., *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIII, p. 251, text lines 9 ff.

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⁵ See, e. g., *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 445 f. and pp. 456 f. for four generations and pp. 378 and 407 for three generations.

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¹ See ibid., pp. 371, 375, 419-20, etc.

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Some kings of the Kathiawar region issued charters incised on the inner sides of two plates, their outer sides being kept blank.² The majority of the multi-plate documents of the early period were, however, written on three plates. The records of the Somavaṁśī kings of Orissa speak of such charters as *triphalī-tāmraśāsana*,³ i.e. a deed written on three plates or tablets of copper. The outer sides of the first and third plates of these records are usually uninscribed. This practice was no doubt meant for the preservation of the writing. We have stated above how, for the same purpose, the borders of the inscribed sides of the plates were sometimes slightly raised.

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² See, e. g., the Maitraka charters in *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, pp. 299 ff.; cf. above, p. 75.

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³ Cf. ibid., Vol. III, pp. 346 ff.

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One of the biggest of the three-plate records is the Paithan epigraph⁴ (1272 A.D.) of the Yādava king Rāmacandra. The plates are each 20½ inches by 15 inches and together weigh 2,300 *tolās*. They are strung on two rings weighing 457 *tolās*, one of which bears the royal seal with the emblem of Garuḍa. The total weight of the charter is thus 2,757 *tolās* (about 70 lbs.). There are altogether one hundred and eighteen lines of writing on the plates.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XIV, pp. 314 ff.

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A tendency to introduce an elaborate eulogy of the donor and his ancestors in the copper-plate grants gradually developed. This is specially noticed in the charters issued by imperial rulers. As a result of this, even those dynasties which engraved their charters on single plates (e. g. the Pālas and Senas of Eastern India) had to use plates of a bigger size. Thus, the Monghyr plate⁵ of Devapāla measures 18¾ inches by 13⅜ inches and the Naihati plate⁶ of Ballālasena 15 inches by 13⅝ inches. Such epigraphs often contain about seventy lines of writing. The weight of a single plate (19 inches by 13 inches), without any seal, bearing an inscription (in twentyfour lines of writing) of the Gāhaḍavāla king Govindacandra (c. 1114-55 A. D.) on only one of its faces, is 372½ *tolās*.¹ The Daulatpura plate² of Pratīhāra Bhoja I (c. 836-85 A. D.), together with the seal affixed to it, measures 29½ inches by 16⅓ inches and weighs 1580 *tolās*. A single-plate charter³ issued by the Ahom king Gaurīnāthasiṃha of Assam in 1792 A. D. measures 24 inches in length and 17⅝ inches in breadth.

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⁵ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVIII, pp. 304 ff.

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⁶ Ibid., Vol. XIV, pp. 159 ff.

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXV, p. 207.

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² *Cf.* Ojha, loc. cit.

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³ *A. R. Ep*, 1957-58, No. A 3.

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Among the early dynasties that used more than one copper plate for their documents, we may mention the Pallavas of South India, the Vākāṭakas of Berar, the Maitrakas of Valabhī and the Bhaumas of Prāgjyotiṣa. The Nidhanpur inscription⁴ of the Bhauma king Bhāskaravarman (first half of the 7th century) was originally written at least in about one hundred and seventy lines on as many as six or seven plates. The records of the Eastern Gaṅga emperors of medieval Orissa were usually incised on six or seven plates which, together with the seal-ring, generally weigh more than one thousand *tolās*. One of the Puri copper-plate inscriptions⁵ of Gaṅga Narasimha IV, who ascended the throne about 1378 A. D., contains no less than two hundred and seventy-eight lines of writing. But the biggest copper-plate inscriptions so far discovered belong to the Coḷa dynasty of the Tanjore-Tiruchirapalli area of South India. The Leiden inscription⁶ of Rājarāja I (985-1016 A.D.) has four hundred and forty-three lines of writing engraved on twentyone plates. The Tiruvalangadu inscription,⁷ dated in the sixth regnal year of Rājarāja’s son Rājendra I (1016-43 A. D.), is written on thirtyone plates which, together with the massive seal-ring, weigh 7,980 *tolās* (about 200 ll.s.) and bear eight hundred and sixteen lines of writing. But the biggest copper-plate charter so far discovered is the Karandai inscription of the eighth regnal year of the same Coḷa monarch.¹ It is engraved on no less than fifty-five plates which measure 16½ inches by 9½ inches each and together weigh, even without seal-ring, 8645 *tolās* (about 216 lbs.). The weight of one of the two seal-rings found with the plates is 753 *tolās*. The inscription contains upwards of two thousand and five hundred lines of writing. The first three plates, containing one hundred and thirtyone lines, give the genealogy of the Coḷas up to Rājendra I and record the gift of a village in favour of certain Brāhmaṇas. The next twentytwo plates contain a eulogy (in one thousand and fortyone lines) of the king as well as a description of the boundaries of the gift village and the names of the officials and other persons associated with the grant. The last thirty plates quote (in one thousand three hundred and sixtyseven lines) the names of the donees together with those of their *gotras*, places of residence, etc. The number of donees thus enumerated is no less than one thousand and seventythree.

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⁴ P. N. Bhattacharya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvali*, pp. 1 ff.

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⁵ *JASB*, Vol. LXIV, Part I, pp. 136 ff.

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⁶ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXII, pp. 213 ff.

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⁷ *SII*, Vol. III, pp. 383 ff.

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¹ *Jour. Or. Res.*, Vol. XIX, p. 148.

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We know that, while describing the boundless liberality of a king, a poet sometimes speaks of the dearth of copper that resulted from the issue of innumerable copper-plate grants by the former.² Considering the great bulk of the copper charters of the Coḷa monarchs, we have to admit that the statement, hyperbolic though it is, may not, at least in some cases, be entirely without foundation.

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² Ballāla’s *Bhojaprabandha* (Nirnayasagara Press, 1932), p.34, verse 162 : *Asya śrī-Bhojarāja-ya d-ayam=eva sudurlabham | śatrūṇām śṛṅkhalair= loham i-tinram śāsana-patrakaiḥ ||*

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In this connection, it has also to be noticed that sometimes old or rejected copper plates were utilised for the preparation of fresh charters. Often they were melted to make a sheet of copper and smaller sheets were cut out of it for particular charters. In such cases, the old writing is completely lost even though sometimes traces of hammering are noticeable on the plates. But, in some cases, the old writing was merely beaten in by hammering and the text of the new document was written on the erasure. In such records, traces of the old writing are often visible under the later writing. We have a number of palimpsests of this kind.¹ In certain cases, only a part of the old writing is beaten in by hammering or erased by chiselling.²

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¹ Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, pp. 202 ff. and Plates; above p. 76.

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² Ibid., Plates IVa and IVb facing pp. 307 and 308.

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Late copper-plate grants like those of the Ahom kings of Assam and the rulers of Chamba are generally written on one side of a single plate, though the size of the plate varies according to the requirement in individual cases. The donor's seal is usually engraved on such plates. The copper-plate grant of the Chamba rulers is provided with a handle to its proper right and the plate thus puts on the appearance of a *takhtī* or wooden board used formerly by school children. A hole is sometimes noticed in the centre of this handle probably for hanging it on to a peg with a string. The predilection for engraving only on one side of the plate is much in evidence in certain cases where the writing runs on into all the margins not excluding the handle, and the size of the letters in the concluding part of a record gradually diminishes.³

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³ B. Ch. Chhabra, *Antiquities of Chamba State*, II, pp. 1-2.

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The seal engraved on these charters has the shape of a rosette or some other ornamental design, the space in the centre being occupied by a legend containing the name of the donor. Sometimes the seal is replaced by the word *sahī* which has been compared to the word *dṛṣṭa* found in early charters and taken to mean 'correct'.⁴ The word, however, also means 'a signature'⁵ and may really stand for the donor's signature on the original document. In certain late medieval copper plates of the Orissa region, the word śrī is found to stand for the donor's signature.¹

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⁴ Ibid., p. 75. In East Indian charters of the early medieval period, we have often the contraction *ni* which is generally taken to indicate *nibaddha* (i.e. registered), but may also stand for *nirīkṣita* meaning 'seen' (i.e. approved), the same as *dṛṣṭa*. See below, p. 127 and note 2, pp. 149-50.

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⁵ See Wilson's *Glossary*, s. v.

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¹ In the charters of the Senas of Bengal, we have the contractions śrī-ni probably standing for śrī-nirīkṣita (i.e. seen or approved by the illustrious [king]). In Orissan charters, sometimes the king is mentioned as śrī-hasta or śrī-caraṇa (cf. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVIII, p. 304; Vol. XXXIII, p. 292, text lines 181, 183; below, p. 150).

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Late Orissan charters are also generally written on both sides of a single plate. But a peculiarity is that the first few lines mentioning the donor's name are engraved on the obverse, then the writing of the major part of the document is continued on the reverse and finally the closing lines are engraved on the lower part of the obverse, to be read now from the opposite side.

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