History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.85

v3.c43.85

The thousands of copper-plate grants and inscriptions on stone published so far show that these directions contained in Yāj., Bṛ. and Vyāsa have been followed to the letter from at least the 5th century onwards. In the earliest inscriptions verses about the merit of gifts and the sin of resumption do not occur. For example, in Gupta Inscription No. 8 (pp. 36 ff) dated 88 of the Gupta Era (i. e. 407–8 A. D.) of Chandragupta II the only words (in prose) are 'whoever would cut off this charitable gift would be guilty of the five great sins'; similarly in the Gupta Inscription No. 5 (p. 32) dated Gupta era 93 the words are 'whoever would destroy this charity now set on foot would be guilty of the murder of brāhmaṇas and cows and of the five sins that bring immediate punishment'. In the Inscriptions of the early Pallava king Śivaskandavarman also (E. I. vol. I p. 7) such verses are not found. In the copper-plate grant of Skanda-gupta (dated 146 Gupta year i. e. 465-66 A. D., Gupta Inscriptions²⁰²⁴ No. 16, p. 68) there is a verse on the point, but it is not one of those that are found in most inscriptions.