Indian Epigraphy c9.t10: 5. Gold and Silver

Indian Epigraphy c9.t10

Language: English

5. Gold and Silver

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There are references in Buddhist literature to family records of rich merchants, royal orders and religious regulations being engraved on golden plates¹ while Burnell refers to the practice of engraving royal letters and land grants on such plates.² We have some gold records including a plate bearing a votive inscription in Kharoṣṭhī discovered in the ruins of Taxila.³ But gold is too precious a metal to be generally used for such purposes.

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¹ See Bühler, op. cit., p. 95; Ojha, op. cit., p. 5, notes 6-8. Gold plates with Buddhist Dhāraṇīs inscribed on them have been discovered outside India (cf. Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of the Republic of Indonesia, No. 4, 1958, p. 3).

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² Elements of South Indian Palaeography, pp. 90, 93.

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³ Cf. Cunningham, ASR, Vol. II, pp. 129-30, Plate LIX; CII, Vol. II, Part i, pp. 83 ff. A few Buddhist records engraved on gold plates have been discovered in India and Burma. See Select Inscriptions, pp. 462 ff. The British Museum is stated to possess some manuscripts on gold-plated palmyra leaves (Bühler, op. cit., p. 95). A book of 24 thick golden leaves bound together by a copper wire was found from the Dhāmdaha tank (Dacca District, East Bengal) and was melted down (Bhattasali, Icon. Bud. Brahm. Sculp Dac. Mus., p. x). For the gold jars, bowl, pendant and palanquin of a deity with inscriptions, see A. R. Ep., 1952-53, Nos. B 345-48.

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Among the few inscriptions on silver plates,⁴ mention may be made of the Bhattiprolu⁵ and Taxila⁶ inscriptions. The Jains sometimes write certain yantras on plates of silver, which are found in some Jain temples.⁷ But, being a precious metal, silver was rarely used for such purposes.

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⁴ See Burnell, Elements of South Indian Palaeography, p. 87; Rea, Mem. Arch. Surv. Ind., No. 15, p. 13, Plate XXII; Journ. Pali T. Soc., 1883, pp. 134 ff. In the British Museum, there are manuscripts on silver-plated palmyra leaves (Bühler, Indian Palaeography, p. 95).

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⁵ Bühler, op. cit., p. 95.

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⁶ Ep. Ind., Vol. XIV, p. 295; CII, Vol. II, Part i, pp. 70 ff.; Select Inscriptions, pp. 129-30. This is the Taxila silver scroll inscription of 79 A.D., which is very thin and measures only 6½ inches by 1⅞ inches. Silver inscriptions from Taxila include cups, plate with three legs, a circular plate, a silver sieve, a disc, etc. See CII, Vol. II, Part i, pp. 97 ff., p. 151.