Indian Epigraphy c11.t4.28

c11.t4.28

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.