The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s6.8

v1.c19.s6.8

As time passed, the word *kulyavāpa* fell out of use, and other technical terms of land-measure gradually came into vogue. Of these the one denoting the largest unit of measure was the term pāṭaka or bhū-pāṭaka, which is frequently mentioned in the inscriptions of the Khaḍga, Chandra, Varman and Sena kings. Its earliest mention, however, occurs in the Gunaighar Grant of Vainyagupta (dated 507 A.D.). The same plate also contains conclusive evidence to prove that a pāṭaka was equivalent to forty droṇas or droṇavāpas in area. Assuming that a droṇa of the early sixth century (Gunaighar Plate) was the same as the droṇa of the fifth (Baigrām and Pāhārpur Plates), one must conclude that the pāṭaka was five times as big as the kulyavāpa. Besides pāṭaka and droṇa, other terms used in post-Gupta records to indicate measurement of land, are āḍhaka or āḍhavāpa, unmāna or udāna, kāka or kākinika, all these being inter-linked by an unknown equation.¹