The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s4.13

v1.c19.s4.13

Inscriptions ranging from the eighth to the twelfth century, and belonging to Pāla, Sena, and other contemporary dynasties, introduce us to pious endowments of a somewhat different character. These were, with rare exceptions, made by kings in favour of temples and religious foundations, of individuals like priests and learned Brāhmaṇas, and sometimes of institutions and persons combined. The conditions and immunities attaching to these grants are found enumerated in the copper-plate charters which registered them. For instance, the Khālimpur Plate of Dharmapāla, the earliest of these charters, records the grant of four villages ‘with the (immunity from) penalties for the ten offences’ (*sa-daśāpachārāḥ*), ‘with the immunity from all burdens’ (*parihṛita-sarva-pīḍāḥ*)¹, ‘with the immunity from all taxes’ (*akiñchit-pragrāhyāḥ*), ‘according to the maxim of the uncultivable land’ (*bhūmi-chchhidra-nyāyena*), and ‘to last as long as the sun, moon and earth shall endure’ (*ā-chandr-ārka-kṣiti-sama-kālam*). In addition, the donee was to receive all those taxes in kind and in cash which the cultivators in the alienated villages had hitherto paid to the sovereign.² In some of the subsequent grants this list of immunities and privileges is further supplemented by the addition of other concessions such as ‘the rent of temporary tenants’ (*? s-oparikaraḥ*) and ‘the prohibition of entrance by regular and irregular troops’ (*a-chāṭa-bhaṭa-praveśaḥ*; infra p. 648).