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Indian Epigraphy c11.t9: 6. Seals

Indian Epigraphy c11.t9

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6. Seals

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We have seen how, in order to assure the authenticity of copper-plate grants issued by kings, royal seals were attached to them. These seals are of various kinds and shapes. They are of small, medium or big size and generally round or elliptical in shape.³ The seals of the early kings of Assam had the peculiar shape of a laddle.⁴ Some of the royal seals are shaped like a lotus.⁵

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³ Cf. ibid., Vol. XXIX, Plate facing p. 37; Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 85.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. XXIX, Plate facing p. 155; Vol. XXX, Plate facing p. 207.

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⁵ Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 257.

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The small seals generally contain only the representation of the emblem that was the crest of the family to which the issuer of the grant belonged. Often, however, the name of the king is found in addition to the emblem. Such emblems were generally associated with the religious persuasion of particular royal families. As Śaivism was the dominant religion in different parts of the country in all the ages of history, the representation of the bull (Śiva's *vāhana* called Nandin) is very often noticed on the seals of royal as well as private personages. The boar (representing an incarnation of Viṣṇu), Garuḍa (Viṣṇu's *vāhana*), Lakṣmī, Śiva, Viṣṇu, Dharma-cakra (the Buddhist wheel of Law), etc., are found on many seals. A number of seals also bear emblems without obvious religious association. Thus animals like the elephant and tiger figure on the seal of certain royal families,¹ while on some seals we have representations like a gate-way, a pair of fish, etc.²

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, Plate facing p. 151; Vol. XXII, Plates facing pp. 213, 277.

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² Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 85; Vol. XXII, Plate facing p. 213.

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In many cases, the royal seals are large in size. The legends on such seals often mention the name of the king and those of his ancestors reigning before him. Of some of the large seals, the upper half is generally covered by the emblem or emblems and the lower half by the legend.

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The emblem on the seal of a family of rulers represented its crest or coat of arms, often called the *lāñchana*. In many cases, the same emblem is also found on the coins of the kings in question, both seals and coins being called the *mudrā*. Often the banner of the rulers of a particular family, generally called the *dhvaja*, bore a different emblem sometimes called *cihna*. Thus the Raṭṭas of Saundatti and Belgaum had the *Suvarṇa-garuḍa-dhvaja* (i. e. the banner of gold-colured Garuḍa) but the *Sindhura-lāñchana* (i.e. the elephant crest) and the Kadambas of Banavasi and Goa the *Śākhācarendra-dhvaja* or *Vānara-mahādhvaja* (i. e. the monkey banner) but the *Siṃha-lāñchana* (i.e. the lion crest).³ The seal of the Pāla kings of Bengal and Bihar bore the representation of the Buddhist wheel of law and was mentioned in the charters of the family as the *Dharmacakra-mudrā*.⁴ But the Nesari plates of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda III suggest that the banner of the Pāla king Dharmapāla bore the figure of the Buddhist goddess Tārā.¹ The Nanda or Nandodbhava kings of Orissa had the bull crest on their seals, but are stated to have had *Sitadhātumaya-godhā-śikhari-kṛta-lohitalocan-āmbara-dhvaja*, probably meaning a piece of cloth having the representation of a white alligator above that of a snake or of two eyes in red.² There were, however, cases where the same emblem was represented on the seal and banner of the kings of a family. The Nesari plates quoted above show that the Pallavas, Gaṅgas, Cālukyas, Coḷas and Pāṇḍyas had respectively the bull, elephant, boar, tiger and fish represented on their banners. But the bull also occurs on the seals of the Pallava kings.³ The elephant adorning the banner of the Western Gaṅgas is also found on their seal.⁴ That the Eastern Cālukyas had the boar on their seal is well known.¹ The Coḷa and Pāṇḍya seals bear the representations of the tiger, double-fish and bow,² although it is difficult to say whether, on their banners, the same group appeared or only one of the three emblems.

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³ *CII*, Vol. III, p. 151, note 4.

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⁴ Other Buddhist rulers of Bengal, e. g., the Candras, had the same seal. The Sena seal bearing the figure of the god Sadāśiva was called the *Sadāśiva-mudrā* in the Sena epigraphs. See N. G. Majumdar, *Inscriptions of Bengal*, Vol. III, p. 5 and Plate facing p. 12; p. 125 and Plate facing p. 116.

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¹ See *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXIV, p. 137; also G. H. Khare, *Sources of the Medieval History of the Dekkan*, Vol. I, p. 21 (cf. pp. 82-84) and Plate; cf. *JAS*, Vol. XXII, p. 133. The stanzas read as follows after correction of scribal errors: *Pāṇḍyadeś-ādhipān=matsyaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ Pallav-eśvarāt | Colād=vyāghraṁ gajaṁ Gaṅgāc=cāpa-yaṣṭiṁ ca Keralāt || Andhra-Cālukya-Mauryebhyo varāhaṁ Gurjar-eśvarāt | phalakaṁ pratipad-dhāryaṁ vṛṣabhaṁ Pallav-eśvarāt || Kosal-Āvanti-nāthābhyāṁ Siṁhalād=api nāmakam | Tārāṁ bhagavatīṁ khyātāṁ Dharmād=Vaṅgāla-bhūmipāt ||* The passage *vṛṣabhaṁ Pallav-eśvarāt* seems to have been repeated unnecessarily, although it may be that two different victories or the defeat of two Pallava kings are referred to. It is stated that Govinda III snatched away the *cihnas* (*cihnāni* occuring in the verse following the above and apparently meaning the emblems on the banners) of his ememies whom he had defeated: the fish from the Pāṇḍya king; the bull from the Pallava king; the tiger from the Coḷa king; the elephant from the [Western] Gaṅga king; the bow from the Kerala king; the boar from the Andhra (Eastern Cālukya), Cālukya and Maurya and the *phalaka* bearing *pratipad* and *hārya* from the Gūrjara king; the bull from the Pallava king; the *nāmaka* from the Kosala, Avanti, and Siṁhala kings; the goddess Tārā from Dharma, king of Vaṅgāla. The word *phalaka* means a board, *pratipad* a kettle-drum, *hārya* a serpent, and *nāmaka* the name of the kings in question. The Nalas had a peculiar banner called Tripatākā-dhvaja, the word *tripatākā* being explained as 'the hand with three fingers stretched out' or 'three pennons' (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, p. 13).

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² *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, p. 327.

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³ See, e.g., *SII*, Vol. II, p. 342, 362. The bull-banner of the Pallavas is referred to in Tamil literature, although in their inscriptions the Pallavas are stated to have had the banner having the emblem of the Khaṭvāṅga (a club with a skull fixed on top). See Mahalingam, *South Indian Polity*, pp. 85-86. According to one of the Vaikuṇṭha Perumāl temple inscriptions, the marks of Pallava sovereignty were the *Videlvidugu*, *Samudra-ghoṣa*, *Khaṭvāṅga-dhvaja* and *vṛṣabha-lāñchana*. See *JAS, Letters*, Vol. XIII, p. 77.

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, Plate facing p. 151.

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¹ Cf. CII, Vol. III, p. 151, note 4.

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² See Ep. Ind., Vol. XXII, Plate facing p. 213; Vol. XXVII, Plate facing p. 125.

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It appears that, in some cases, the emblem was an image fixed at the top of the banner-pole; but sometimes it may have been painted on the flag-cloth. That the dhvaja was often an image on a pole is suggested by the statement of Curtius that an image of Heracles (i.e. Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa) was being carried in front of the army of Porus (i.e. the Paurava king) as it advanced against the Greeks led by Alexander the Great.³ In this connection, it is interesting to note that some coins of the Imperial Guptas, who had the Garuḍa emblem on their dhvaja and seal, bear the representation of a standard surmounted by the figure of Garuḍa.⁴ The epic and Puranic literature suggests that the image of the individual emblems of particular archers were fixed at the top of their chariots. In an excellent survey of this evidence, Hopkins has shown that dhvaja is sometimes used as a synonym of ketu, but that sometimes the former means the whole arrangement including the staff and image or banner, while the latter means only the symbol or banner. Ketu is sometimes also synonymous with patākā or flag, while dhvaja is the metalic top-piece of the staff or that together with the staff. It has also been shown that the staff bore flags beneath the emblem.⁵

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³ Mc'Crindle, *Invasion of India by Alexander the Great*, p. 208.

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⁴ See Allan, *Catalogue (Gupta)*, pp. 1ff., Plate I, Nos. 1ff.; CII, Vol. III, p. 255. For the Gupta seal called Garutmad-aṅka, see Allan, op. cit., p. xxv.

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⁵ *Journ. Am. Or. Soc.* Vol. XIII, pp. 243 ff.

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Sometimes a dynasty had its dhvaja and ketu clearly distinguished or had more than one emblem for the dhvaja. We have already referred to the bull and Khaṭvāṅga dhvajas of the Pallavas. The Imperial Rāṣṭrakūṭas claimed to have the *Pāli-dhvaja*,¹ the *Oka-ketu* and the *Garuḍa-lāñchana*. It may be that originally they had the *Garuḍa* emblem on their seal and the *Oka* or bird on their banner, while the *Pāli-dhvaja*² was acquired by them at a later date after defeating their enemies. This is suggested by the fact that, though the Cālukya kings of Badami had the figure of the boar on their seal, and also on their banner according to the Nesari plates, Vinayāditya claimed to have acquired the *Pāli-dhvaja* after defeating some northern enemies.³ Hopkins has shown that a charioteer had at times at least two ensigns. One of the two may have been depicted on the flag. Bhīṣma had the *Tāla-dhvaja* (banner of the palmyra tree) and the ensign of five yellow stars and a blue silk flag. Similarly, Droṇa had a *kamaṇḍalu* (pot) and also a *vedi* of gold as his emblems.⁴

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¹ *Bomb. Gaz.*, Vol. I, Part ii, pp. 387, 402.

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² The expression *Pāli-dhvaja* is said to have denoted an arrangement of flags in the following kinds of rows: garland, cloth, peacock, lotus, goose, eagle, lion, bull, elephant and wheel. See *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XIV, pp. 104-05.

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³ *Bomb. Gaz.*, op. cit., p. 368.

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⁴ Hopkins, op. cit., p. 245. The Guttas of Guttal had both the *Vaṭa-vṛkṣa-dhvaja* and the *Garuḍa-dhvaja* (*Bomb. Gaz.*, op. cit., p. 578).

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Some royal families preferred the engraving of their charters on single plates of copper, while others incised their records on a number of plates.⁵ In the former case, the seal was soldered to the top or left margin of the plate. But, when a grant was engraved on several plates, they were strung together on a ring which passed through a hole in the left or top margin of each plate, and the seal was affixed to the ring. The seal, usually moulded in bronze, was placed on the joint of the copper ring, and its inner part was fixed with the ring with the help of a lump of molten metal completely covering that particular part of the ring. The rings were generally round in shape. But copper-plate grants of some kings of Kathiawar and Assam exhibit longish rings, the side of one end of which touches the side of the other end and not the face of one end the face of the other end as is usually the case.⁶

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⁵ See above, pp. 75, 121.

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⁶ Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 304; P. N. Bhattacharya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvali*, Plate facing p. 56 (reprinted from *JASB*, 1840).

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As to single plates, the seals were so made as to have one knob or a few of them on their back side. The plates had a projection with one or more holes, and the knob or knobs on the back of the seals had to pass through them. The back of the seals was then affixed to the projected part of the plates with a lump of molten metal which totally covered the projection. In some cases, such single plates had no projection and the holes, meant for the knobs on the back of the seal to pass through, were made on the border of the plate itself. In some multi-plate charters (e. g. the records of the Maitrakas of Valabhī),¹ the plates were strung on two rings, but the seal was soldered to only one of them.

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¹ CII, Vol. III, p. 164, etc.

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We may describe here a few of the royal seals affixed to the copper-plate grants by way of illustration. Thus the seal of the Sasanakota plates shows only the figure of an elephant, standing, facing the proper left, and there is no legend.² As it is a multi-plate record, the seal is affixed to the ring holding the plates together. The seal of the rulers of some families, on the other hand, bears a legend without any emblem. Thus seals affixed to the charters of Vākāṭaka Pravarasena II has for its legend the following stanza in Anuṣṭubh:

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² Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIV, p. 134-35, Plate facing p. 239.

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Vākāṭaka-lalāmasya krama-prāpta-nṛpa-śriyaḥ |
rājñaḥ Pravarasenasya śāsanaṃ ripu-śāsanam ||

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arranged in four lines.³ The seal of Kāntideva’s charter is more elaborate in design. It is soldered to the top of the plate above the writing and has a raised rim with pointed end. “It is divided into two panels. The upper one bears in relief the figure of a seated lion inside a temple. The temple is indicated, as in many sculptures in Bengal, by a trefoil arch with flagstaffs on both sides. The seated lion is represented with mouth open and all the four paws in front. Across the lower panel of the seal is the legend *śrī-Kāntidevaḥ*. The letters are engraved in bold relief on a raised space. The seal is supported, at its lower end, by two figures of serpents, with raised hoods, whose interlaced tails and parts of the bodies are soldered both to the raised rim of the seal and the plate.”¹ The circular seal of the Ipur plates has been described in the following words: “It is divided by a cross-line into two sections. The lower section bears, in relief, the legend *śrī-Mādhavavarmā* in two lines. Above the line seems to be a figure of Lakṣmī or a *svastika* on a pedestal, flanked by two lamp-stands and surmounted by the sun and the crescent of the moon.”² The seal of the kings of Śarabhapura has a double-line demarcation in the middle of the surface, the upper field being occupied by the representation of Gaja-Lakṣmī and the lower by a legend in a stanza in the *Anuṣṭubh* metre arranged in two lines.³

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXII, Plate facing p. 173. The legend means : “[This is] the order (or, charter) of king Pravarasena, the ornament of the Vākāṭakas (i.e. of the Vākāṭaka family), who has attained royal dignity by inheritance—an order (or, a charter) for the observance [even] of his enemies.”

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVI, pp. 313-14, Plate facing p. 317. The lion is the symbolical representation of the Buddha, ‘the lion of the Śākyas’.

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² Ibid., Vol. XVII, p. 334, Plate facing p. 335. The sun and the moon indicated the permanency of the rule of the family to which the king belonged or to that of the grant made under the seal.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXII, Plate facing p. 23.

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The seal of some royal families like the Imperial Gaṅgas of Orissa bear no legend but a large number of emblems. Thus the seal attached to the Nagari plates⁴ of Anaṅgabhīma III (c. 1211-39 A. D.), which is 3½ inches in diameter, has the form of an expanded lotus, the centre of which is occupied by an embossed figure of a seated bull, caparisoned and bedecked with ornaments, facing the front and having raised neck and head. To the proper left of the bull, there are the representations of a conch, the crescent moon, a dagger pointed downwards, and a *ḍamaru*. To the right of the bull, are similarly found a trident and a goad or flywhisk. In the front of the bull, there is an emblem representing the solar orb. In some cases, the royal emblem is separately made and later attached to the seal. This is the case with the figure of Garuḍa on the seal of the Banda plates⁵ of Paracakraśalya.

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⁴ Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 236, Plate facing p. 257.

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⁵ Ibid., Vol. XXX, Plate facing p. 139.

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We have some good specimens of the royal seal of the Coḷa kings of South India. Thus the seal of a copper-plate grant¹ of king Rājendra-coḷa is about 4½" in diameter and has 16 projections around the margin at about equal intervals, the whole of it apparently designed to give the appearance of an expanded lotus. The central area of the seal, which is flattened, is marked off by a circular line and exhibits the emblems, constituting the Coḷa coat of arms. The most conspicuous among these are a pair of fish with the scales, fins, gills, eyes and snouts clearly delineated and a tiger, seated like a dog, with its tail brought forward between the legs and touching one of the two fish which it faces. Above the figure of the tiger is a parasol which is flanked by two flywhisks. A miniature representation of the sun occupies the space between the parasol and the left flywhisk, while the crescent is seen to the left of this flywhisk. Two lamp-stands are also found among the emblems, one to the left of the fish and the other to the right of the tiger, in a straight row with them. Each of the stands has a piece of cloth tied round the middle of it, while a wick-lamp is shown burning on each. Below this row of emblems appears a strung bow, with its string forming the pedestal for the emblems. Around the circle which encloses all these symbols, is engraved the following metrical legend in Choḷa-Grantha characters :

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¹ See ibid., Vol. XXII, p. 213. Cf. the seals illustrated in Plates facing pp. 213 and 277.

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Etad=Rājendra-coḷasya Parakesarivarmaṇaḥ |
rājad=rājanya-mukuṭa-śreṇi-ratneṣu śāsanam ||²

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² The legend means : "This is an order (or, a charter) of Rājendra-coḷa alias Parakesarivarman, which [rests] on the crest-jewels of [all] the reigning kings."

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But the legend on the seals of some of the North Indian royal families was much bigger. Thus the seals of the Imperial Guptas exhibit the figure of Garuḍa, the emblem of the family, in the upper part and sometimes as many as eight lines of writing below the emblem.³ The seal of king Harṣavardhana, measuring about 5⅞" by 6⅞" has the bull emblem in the upper part and a legend containing no less than 13 lines of writing.¹ Similarly, the seals of the early kings of Assam exhibit the elephant emblem occupying the upper part of the surface, the legend in the lower part being big in some cases but smaller in others.² The legend was fairly big in the cases where the king, to whom the seal belonged, was described along with all his ancestors beginning with the founder of his house. Thus the legend on the oval seal (3 2/3" long and 3 1/10" broad) of king Bhāskaravarman of Assam containing 11 lines of writing mentions no less than 14 of his ancestors together with the queens of 9 of them. The regal title *Mahārājādhirāja* is applied to 4 of the rulers while one of them is called ‘the lord of Prāgjyotiṣa’ and two ‘the performer of two horse-sacrifices.’³

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³ Cf. J.ASB, Vol. LVIII, Part i, p. 89 and Plate.

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¹ *CII*, Vol. III, pp. 231-32, Plate XXXII B. According to Bāṇa’s *Harṣacarita* (Nirnayasagara Press ed., p. 227), the state seal of king Harṣavardhana was made of gold. That was probably smaller in size.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX, p. 146 and Plate facing p. 155; Vol. XXX, p. 288 and Plate facing p. 305.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXX, p. 288.

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The legend on the seals of some royal families does not bear the name of the king who issued the charter bearing the seal. Thus the seals of the Maitraka kings of Valabhī in Kathiawad has the legend *śrī-Bhaṭakkaḥ* (*śrī-Bhaṭārkaḥ*), Bhaṭārka being the name of the progenitor of the royal family in question.⁴ Similarly, the seals of some Eastern Cālukya kings attached to their copper-plate grants bear the legend *śrī-Tribhuvanāṅkuśa* which seems to have been a *viruda* of one of the earlier rulers of the dynasty.⁵ It is difficult to say whether the Maitraka and Eastern Cālukya kings enjoyed the general name Bhaṭārka and Tribhuvanāṅkuśa respectively, since there is no such indication in the epigraphic records of the two families.

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⁴ See ibid., Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 304.

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⁵ *SII*, Vol. I, pp. 31, 37; etc.

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Some kings preferred to engrave the royal emblem on the copper plate (or on the first or last of the plates when the grant was written on several plates) instead of affixing the seal on the plate or on the ring holding several plates together.

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Thus the Mandhata plates (1274 A.D.) of Paramāra Jaya-simha-Jayavarman has the representation of Garuḍa on the reverse of the fourth plate at the end of the document,¹ while the two rings holding the four plates together do not bear any seal. Similarly, the charters of the Candella kings have the figure of Lakṣmī or Gaja-Lakṣmī engraved about the middle of the first few lines of the inscription on a single plate or on the first plate where there are more plates than one.²

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXII, Plate facing p. 156.

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² Ibid., Plates facing pp. 122, 126, 127.

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In records like the Sobharampur plate³ of Dāmodara-deva, the emblems are engraved on a projection at the top of the plate. But there is no legend. In late medieval documents like the copper-plate grants of the rulers of Chamba, the seal was engraved by the side of the writing in the shape of a rosette or some such ornamental design, the space in the centre being occupied by the legend containing the king's name.⁴

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³ Ibid., Vol. XXX, Plates between pp. 186 and 187.

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⁴ Chhabra, *Antiquities of Chamba State*, II, p. 2; above, p. 125.

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Large numbers of seals (of clay and other materials) of kings, royal officials and private individuals as well as administrative, mercantile and religious organizations have been discovered in different parts of North India.⁵ Hundreds of seals and sealings have been found at places like Basarh,⁶ Kasia,⁷ Sahet-Mahet,⁸ Bhita,⁹ Nalanda,¹⁰ Rajghat¹¹ and Kausambi,¹² not to mention innumerable minor hoards. Some of these belonged to rulers, royal officials, members of the royal household and other dignitaries. But a large number of them contain the names of private persons, deities, temples, monasteries, guilds, etc. They throw welcome light on many topics. Indeed, the most important epigraphical discovery of the present century in India is that of the prehistoric seals at Harappa, Mohenjodaro, etc., which have pushed back the history of Indian civilization to the 3rd millennium B. C.¹ The writing on the seals is usually positive, although we have many sealings with legends in negative writing as well, the latter being apparently used for sealing documents or for the preparation of seals.²

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⁵ It is interesting to note that such seals have not been discovered in large numbers in South India where the practice of using seals does not appear to have been popular.

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⁶ ARASI, 1903-04, pp. 101 ff.; 1913-14, pp. 110 ff.

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⁷ Ibid., 1905-06, p. 83; 1906-07, pp. 63 ff.

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⁸ Ibid., 1910-11, pp. 19 ff.

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⁹ Ibid., 1911-12, pp. 44 ff.

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¹⁰ Mem. ASI, No. 66.

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¹¹ JNSI, Vol. III, pp. 73 ff.; Vol. XIX, pp. 168 ff.; Vol XX, 195 ff.

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¹² Cf. *Indian Archaeology — A Review*, 1954-55, p. 18.

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¹ J. Marshal, *Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization*; *Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India*, 1923-24 to 1929-30; M. S. Vats, *Excavations at Harappa*; etc. For similar seals from Lothal (Ahmedabad District, Gujarat) and Kalibangan (Ganganagar District, Rajasthan), see *Indian Archaeology*, 1958-59, Plate XVIII; 1960-61, Plate XLVIII.

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² Cf. the Rohtasgarh seal matrix of Śaśāṅka believed to have been used for casting metal seals in relief to be fixed to copper-plate grants (*CII*, Vol. III, p. 283).

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As indicated above, some of these seals served the purpose of letters of introduction. They were what was called abhijñāna. The carriers of letters from a king often carried a royal seal to be delivered to the addressee in order to prove his bona fides and the genuineness of the letter he carried. The bigger and heavier seals discovered in the ruins of Buddhist religious establishments as those of Nalanda appear to be of this kind. Some of the smaller seals discovered at such places may have been tied to the letters to be delivered to the head of the religious institutions.

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The legends on the seals are generally in the sixth case-ending, but rarely in the first case-ending or without any case-ending. The same is the case with coin legends.

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