Indian Epigraphy c11.t4.22

c11.t4.22

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.