A newly discovered Copperplate from Tippera

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A newly discovered Copperplate from Tippera [The Gunaighar Grant of Vainyagupta:

The Year 188 Current (Gupta Era)]

By Dinesh Chandra Bhattacharyya

The Indian Historical Quarterly

Vol 6:1, 1930.03 pp. 45-60

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p. 45

This new copperplate was found about five years

ago while taking out mud from a tank by a villager at

Gunaighar, a village about 18 miles to the N.W. of

the town of Comilla, a mile and a half to the S. W.

of P.S. Debidvar in the district of Tippera. In

April, 1928, Mr. Baikunthanath Dutt, the famous

antiquarian fo Trippera, coming to know of the

discovery, personally went there and after some

trouble took a loan of the plate for decipherment. He

kindly made over the plate to me.

This is a single plate, of good oopper, oblong

in shape, measuring 10 inches long and 6 1/4 to 6 1/2

inches broad without a rim and is fairly thick.

Including the seal it weighs below 2 seers (about 146

tolas). It is written lengthwise on both sides, but

not fully on the second side. There are 23 lines on

the obverse and only 8 lines on the reverse, all of

about the same length (9 1/2). The plate bears in

several places marks of hitting with some hard

instrument, a few

p. 46

letters being cub off in consequence and a number of

letters almost obliterated in the middle of the last

five lines on the obverse, while a few others are

effaced by corrosion. Owing to these defects the

inscription is difficult to be reproduced by good

estampage or photograph. It is otherwise in a fairly

good condition. The Royal Seal is soldered on to the

plate on the left aide and is, as usual, of much

lighter- coloured copper than the plate itself. It is

roughly oval in shape, being 4" by 5" in diameter and

has a rim all around about 3/4" broad. It is

separated by two horizontal lines in the middle. The

emblem occupying the top-half is the figure in relief

on a slightly counter-sunk surface of a bull

recumbent to tile proper right. The legend which is

very much corroded rends: - Maharaja Sri

Vai(nyaguptah).

The date of the record is expressed in numerical

symbols in the last line as '' Sam 100 80 8 possyadi

20 4 ". It can be easily referred to the Gupta Era,

for the letters as well as the symbols mostly agree

with those of the Gupta period. The figures for 8 and

4 are, however, unique and do not conform to any of

their known forms. 8 looks like the decimal figure 9

[Buhler's Chart: Table IX (Decimal): Traverse VI] and

4 is an upright stroke with a horizontal bar

projecting from the top, much like the decimal figure

8 (Ibid., Traverse V OF IX).(1) They cannot, however,

be mistaken as the date is already given in clear

words in lines 14-15; varttamanastasityuttara-

sata-samvatsare pausa-masasya catu. rvvimsatitama-

divase" i.e., on the 24th day of the month of of

Pausa in the current year one hundred and

eighty-eight. This use of the important word

Varttamana (current) used the plate with an

early Gupts Era is probably the earliest instance on

record. According to Fleet (Gupta Inscriptions:

Introd., p. 13O) we must interpret the years in

Gupta-Valabhi

----------------------

1 On the strength of this we would propose to

correct the date of the 3rd Faridpur plate of

Gopachandra to be 14 instead of 19 (Ind. Ant., 1910,

p, 203).

p. 47

dates as current years. This opinion has been

controverted by Mr. K. B. Pathak (Ind. Ant., 1917,

pp. 287ff.) who maintains with good reasons that the

Gupta Era like other Indian Eras was used to denote

both expired and current years. The present plate

seems to lend support to the views of Mr. Pathak by

providing an early use of the current year along with

the instances of expired years cited in his paper.

The English equivalent of the date according to the

modified views of Mr. Pathak would be December 13,

506 A.D. The plate is thus the earliest record found

in East Bengal-- earlier than the four Faridpur

plates, with which it bears fruitful comparison,

being slightly removed in place and time from them.

Palaeography

The letters are of the Eastern variety of the

Northern Gupta script, nearly 3/16" in size,

well-shaped and erect, though nob always deep-cut,

and are more symmetrical than those in the Faridpur

plates. The top strokes are almost wedge-shaped. The

test letters h, s and I appear regularly in the

Eastern variety in all the places where they occur.

The letters s and s are, unlike the Faridpur plates,

more clearly distinguished, tile round-shaped loop on

the left side in the cerebral sibilant hanging down

immediately from the top line. The loop at the side

of the dental sibilant is not, however,

well-developed, creating confusion on the one hand

with the letter m and on the other with the letter p.

In a few places the base line in both the letters m

and s is found to be joined to the top line of the

loft limb (e.g., asrama in 1. 4 and sima in 1. 23).

The plate exhibits a rich variety int the vowel

marks. The sign for a, for instance, has all the four

forms found in the Bower Mss.: the superior mark

occurs regularly in jna, ja and jya (l. 6) besides

being used in the words dhupadi (1.6) and dharmma

(1.10) and the archaic form of a curve below the

right limb of the cerebral nasal occurs in ll. 7 &

20. The mark For I; is peculiar--

p. 48

an upright with a dot to the left just above the top

line. Initial u and a occur several times; a and e

only once each (ll. 12 and 29). Final m and final t

occur only once each: the final t (line 13) is

curiously formed by two top lines one above the

other; while the final m (line 25) which is faint has

very much the same form as in the Bower Mss. part IV

(vide Introd., Table II, Traverse 26). The virama

occurs only once in the last line; it is practically

identical with a form of the comma as in Part VII of

the Bower Mss. (Ib., Table V,Traverse 3). The plate

remark- ably confirms the age of the Faridpur plates

as determined by the late Mr. Pargiter from an

examination of the various forms of the test letter y

(Ind. Ant., 1910). For, in the present plate the

earliest of the three forms of the letter--the

three-pronged form with the sinistrorse curl,

"preferred in Mss.'' according to Dr. Hoernle (Ib.,

Introd., pp. XLVIII-XLIX)--has 'been used in all the

31 places where the letter occurs uncompounded as

well as in the compound ryya occurring 6 times. With

the Ghugrahati (Kotwalipad) plate which must be

regarded as genuine and which exhibits only the

latest form of the letter wherever it occurs

uncompounded, the present plate completes the series,

so to speak, of East Bengal records exhibiting the

different stages in the form of the letter y in

course of a century (circa 500-600 A.D.).

Language

The LANGUAGE of the plate is Sanskrit and

excepting the three usual imprecatory verses in lines

12-14, the entire record is generally in correct

prose. The word ksetra is once apparently by mistake

used in the masculine (line 19). The dual number in

the word srutismrti (line 8) is construed with a

singular participle. The word triskalam (line 5) is

fully reminiscent of Buddhist usage (cf. Siksasamuc-

caya, Bendall, p. 218). As regards ORTHOGRAPHYY the

notable points are the doubling of consonants alter a

superscript r, specially in the words caturvvimsati

(line 15), svargge (line

p. 49

12) and -purnne (line 19); the doubling of consonants

before a subscript r as in manibhadra (line 26) and

regularly in the word ksettra (except once in line

29); and the doubling of dh before y as in anuddhyato

(line 1) and -rmmaddhye (line 28). A final m is

conjoined with a following p in sagha nam=parigrahe

(line 5) -palanam=prati (line 11) and with a

following v in -dattam=va (line 13). The word vimsati

is always written with the dental nasal in place of

the anusvara. The avagraha is omitted e.g. in lines 3

and 14. From the point of view of Lexicography, we

may note the word khata (ll. 28 and 29) meaning 'a

channel.' It is evidently the original and the more

archaic form of the word khatika occurring in the

Khalimpur grant 1. 43 (cf. Dr. S. K. Chatterji:

Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, p.

488) whence the Bengali word khadi is derived (Ibid.,

p. 179). Similarly the word jola (still current in

several places of Bengal as juli or jola) meaning 'a

water-course,' is transformed into jolaka in the

Khalimpur grant (1. 43) and is probably connected

with jotika also. The word nauyoga is unique and

probably means a small harbour for boats. Hajjika is

another peculiar word which seems to be the origin of

the Bengali word haja (cf. the phrase sukha haja of

popular dialects) meaning "water-logged." The word

vilala is evidently derived from vila with its

peculiar meaning (a large watery hollow) current in

Bengal. All these words are found in the same portion

of the inscription giving the boundary of low and

marshy lands at the end (lines 28-30). It is

interesting to notice how these words, mostly

non-Sanskritic in origin, survive in modern dialects

through a millenium and a half, with very little

change in their form or meaning.

The plate records a gift of land from the camp of

victory at Kripura by Maharaja Vainyagupta made at

the instance of his vassal Maharaja Rudradatta in

favour of a Buddhist congregation of monks

belonging to the Vaivarttika sect of the Mahayana,

which was established by a Buddhist monk, Acaryya

Santideva in a Vihara dedicated to Avalokitesvara.

p. 50

This Vihara was then in course of construction

(karyyamanaka) by the King (Rudradatta) on behalf of

that Acaryya. The boundaries of the lands, divided

into five plots, are given at the end of the

inscription (lines 18-27), followed, besides, by the

boundaries of an unmeasured tract of "low'' lands

(talabhumi) of the Vihara (lines 27-29) and of

another unmeasured tract of "uncultivated marshy

lands belonging to the entrance of the Vihara without

any tax'' (ll. 29-31). The Royal Messenger (Dutaka)

is Mahasamanta Maharaja Vijayasena, who is honoured

with four official titles of distinction. Two of

these titles are new- "Pancadhikaranoparika-

patyuparika, " which we interpret as one word i.e.

President of a Board of five (District) Court Judges;

and "purapaloparika" i.e, President of City

Governors. The king's orders regarding the gift was

communicated by the Dutaka to the three Kumaramatyas

(line 17) who are consequently of a much inferior

position. The writer of the grant was the

Karana-Kayastha Naradatta, who was also the Minister

in charge of Peace and War. The epithet

Karana-Kayastha calls for a remark. The word Karana

itself generally means a clerk (Kayastha) or the

whole clerical staff (kayasthasamhati according to

Medini, Hemacandra, etc.). It appears from the use of

the interesting compound here that Karana properly

denotes the caste as in the Amarakosa being included

among the mixed Sudra castes (II. x. 2). The

commentator Sarvananda prescribed his duty as

'lipi-lekhana-vrtti.' Kayastha, which is not found in

the Amarakosa as a caste name, probably denotes the

office of a clerk.

The plate thus brings to light the name of a new

king Maharaja Vainyagupta, who was reigning in the

easternmost; corner of India four years before the

earliest known date of Bhanugupta (510 A.D.) and

about a quarter of a century before the great:

Yasodharman, whose dominions extended up to the

Lauhitya. As his appellative shows that he belongs to

a distant scion of the Gupta family and he must have

declared his independence during the

p. 51

troubled times of Huna supermacy. He was not probably

directly connected with the Imperial Guptas, who were

Vaisnavas by religion, while Vainyagupta was

professedly a Saiva: his emblem is identical with the

Saiva emblems of the Maitraka dynasty of Valabhi and

of the famous Harsavardhana. His title Maharaja shows

that he was not a paramount sovereign; but neither

was he a mere petty chief for, besides issuing Royal

Seals in his own name, he claims to have under him

one "Maharaja'' as his vassal and. another as his

Dutaka.

The plate is probably the earliest epigraphic

record of a Brahmanic king making a gift of land to a

Buddhist monastery. The Vaivarttika Sangha of the

Mahayana is for the first time mentioned in this

plate alone and we are quite unable to trace it in

the Buddhist works. The name seems to have reference

to the doctrine of Vivarta (Illusion), which found

so much currency in post-Sankara Vedantism, but the

term is never used in Buddhist philosophy as far as

we know. The sect which was founded (as we interpret

and construe the word pratipadita in the text) by

Acarya Santideva had probably a very narrow local

existence and did not apparently long survive its

founder. Nevertheless, it is an interesting fact that

in the far Eastern corner of India Mahayana Buddhism

flourished under the broad patronage of both Buddhsit

and Brahmanic kings fully a century before the time

of Yuan Chwang and allowed one of its teachers to

found a new and distinct school of monks. It is

tempting to identify Acaryya Santideva of our plate

with the famous Mahayana teacher of the same name

who wrote the Siksasamuccaya and the

Bodhicaryavatara. There is nothing however to show

that they are identical. According to the Tibetan

historian Taranatha the author flourished in the

middle of the 7th century sud the late Dr. Bendall

found nothing to contradict his statement

(Siksasamuccaya, p.v). The Tibetan account of the

Acaryya is substantially corroborated by a short

life of the scholar in Sanskrit (Sastri's Des.

p. 52

Cat. of Buddhist Mss. pp. 51-53) according to which

he lived and died at Nalanda.

The total measure of the granted land divided

into five plots is II Patakas, comprised in one

village named Kanteda daka situated in Uttara

Mandala. The measurement of the different plots are

also given in the plate as follows:--

Plot I ... 7 Patakas and 9 Dronavapas

Plot II ... 28 "

Plot III ... 23 "

Plot IV ... 30 "

Plot V ... 1 3/4 "

-----------------------------

Total 11 Patakas.

This easily works out the important equation I

Pataka= 40 Dronavapas. Pataka as a measure of land is

mentioned in the Asrafpur plate of Devakhadga and

subsequently in the several Pala and Sans records.

The late Mr.Ganga Mohan Laskar worked out the

equation 1 Pataka=50 Dronavapas from the Asrafpur

plates (Mem. A.S.B., vol. I, p. 87) but this is

definitely disproved by the present plate where exact

figures are given, whiles the Asrafpur figures are

only rough. Unfortunately there are no means yet

available to determine the measure of a Dronavapa, as

there is great divergence of views regarding the

corn measure Drona whence it is derived. Drona as a

land measure is still current in Eastern Bengal and

probably provides a better clue to the extent of a

Dronavapa than any of the ancient texts.

The lands were situated near the find place of

the plate. For, among the boundaries of Plots Nos. I

and II occurs the name of the village Gunikagrahara,

which can be safely identified with Gunaighar. None

of other place-names can be identified now. The fact

that these lands were situated in the Northern

Mandala may lead us to conjecture that the main

kingdom of Vainyagupta with the Headquarters were

probably situated in the southern part of the

District

p. 53

of Tippera. The village Gunaighar belongs to the

large pargana Bardakhat (formerly Baldakhal) and is

one of the twelve villages of the pargana with their

names ending in "-ghar" (cf. the popular phrase in

Bengali current in the pargana--"Bara ghar ek dwar").

It is already well-known in the district as full of

antiquities. A fine image of Visnu in black stone was

discovered many years ago in the village and is still

worshipped there. About 5 years ago a stone image of

the Buddhist God Avalokitesvara with twelve hands was

also discovered in the village, with the formula "ye

dharmma &c.'' inscribed in the pedestal. Only

recently another stone image of Visnu has been

unearthed. Ruins of a temple of Visnu exist in the

village and a small mound popularly known as Chudar

Par is supposed to cover the ruins of another temple.

The place is likely to yield more important finds if

properly investigated. A temple of Pradyumnesvara is

mentioned in the plate giving a far greater

antiquity to the worship of a form of Siva,

immortalised by the poet Umapatidhara in the Deopara

prasasti of Vijaya sena.

TEXT

OBVERSE

1. Svasti Maha-nau-hasty = asva-jayaskandhavarat =

Kri-purad = bhagavan = Mahadeva-padanuddhyato

Maharaja-Sri-Vainyaguptah

2. kusali(l).....svapadopajivinas = ca kusalam =

asamsya samajnapayati viditam bhavatam = astu yatha

3. maya matapittror = atmanas = ca pu(nya)bhivr(ddha)ye

smat = padadasa-Maharaja-Rudradatta-vijnapyad =

anenaiva Mahayanika-Sakyabhiksv = a-

----------------------

1 About 8 letters are effaced by corrosion here.

p. 54

4. caryya-Santidevam = uddisya gopa (?) 1........,

gbhage (?) karyyamanakaryyavalokitesvarasrama vihare

anenai-

5. vacaryyena pratipadita (ka? ) Mahayanika

(?)-Vaivarttika(2) -bhiksusaghanam(3) = parigrahe

Bhagavato Buddhasya satatam triskalam

6. gandha-puspa-dipa-dhupadi-pra(4)........sya

bhiksusamghasya ca civara-pindapata-sayanasana-glana-

pratyaya- bhaisajyadi-

7. paribhogaya vihare(5) (ca) khanda-phutta-pratisamskara-

karanaya Uttara-Mandalika-Kantedadaka-grame

sarvato bho-

8. genagraharatvenaikadasa-khila-patakah pancabhih

kh- and is = tamrapattenatisrstah(||*) Api ca khalu

sruti-smrti-.

9. hapavihita (||*) Punya-bhumidana-srutim = aihik =

amuttrika-phalavisese smrto (?)(6) bhavatah

samupagamya svatastu pi-.

10. dam = apy = urikrtya pattrebhyo bhumim(7)...

dvisa(? ) dbhir = asmad = vacana-gauravat =

sva-yaso-dharmmavaptaye c = aite

11. pataka asmin = bi (? vi) hare sasvat = kalam =

abhy(8)

----------------------

1 This important portion apparently giving the

situation of the Vihara is almost lost by corrosion:

the last word seems to be digbhage.

2 The superscript r is formed here below the

top-stroke (cf purvvena in l. 28 below).

3 Read sanghanam. The letter gh has a curl here to

the left which is not found in the letter in l.6

below.

4 The portion effaced here would read something

like-varttanaya ta-."

5 The superior stroke for a in -ha- is unusual,

looking like that for e.

6 Read smrtau or smrtam.

7 About 4 letters are indistinct here.

8 4 or 5 letters are cut off here reading something

like -anumantavyah.

p. 55

.........(||*) Anupalanam = prati ca Bhagavata Parasaratma-

jena Vedavya-

12 sena Vyasena gitah sloka bhavanti (||*) Sastim varsa

sa(hasra) ni svargge modati bhumidah (l*) Aksepta c =

anumanta ca ta-

13 nyeva nake(1) vaset (||*) Svadattam paradattam =

va yo hareta (vasu)ndharam (1*)(sa) visthayam krmir=bhu-

tva pitrbhih saha pacyate

14 Purvadattam dvijatibhyo yatnad = raksa yudhisthira

(l*) Mahim mahimatam srestha danat = sreyonupalanam (||*)

Varttaman = astasity = u-

15 ttara-sata-samvatsare pausamasasya caturvvinsa-

titama-divase Dutakena Mahapratihara-Mahapilupati-Pan-

cadhi-

16 karanoparika-patyuparika-(2) ?? -purapaloparika-

Maharaja-sri-maha-samanta- Vijayasenen = aited = ekadasapata-

ka-da-

17 nayajnam = anubhavitah Kumaramatya-Revajjasvami-

Bhamaha-Vatsabhogikah (||*) Likhitam Sandhi-vigrahari (3)

karana-kaya-

18 stha-Naradattena (||*) Yattr = aika-ksettra-khande

nava-dronavapa-dhika-sapta-pataka-parimane sima lingani

Purvvena Guneka

19 grahara-grama-sima Visnu-vardhaki-ksettras = ca

Daksinena Miduvilala (?) -ksettram Rajavihara-ksettranca

Pascimena Surinasiram = purnneka-

20 ksettram Uttarena Dosibhoga-puskarini (4) ........

vam = piyak = Adityavandhuksettrananca sima (||*)

----------------------

1 Read narake

2 2 letters cannot be correctly deciphered here: it is

possibly sura or pura, in the letter case a repetitoin

by mistake of the same word pura.

3 Read -vigrahadhikari-.

4 A number of letters here as well as in ll.22 and 23

below are all but effaced. It will serve no useful

purpose by conjectural readings of these portions.

p. 56

21. Dvitiya- khandasy = astavinsati- dronavapa- parima-

nasya sima Purvvena Gunikagrahara-grama-sima Daksinena

Pakka-

22. vilala(?)-ksettram Pascimena Rajavihara-ksettram

Uttarena Vaidya(?)-ksettram (||*) Tritiya-khandasya

trayovinsati-dronavapa-

23. parimanasya sima Purvvena ... ... ksettram

Daksinena-nakhaddarccarika(?)-ksettrasima Pascimena

REVERSE

24. J(o?)lari-ksettram Uttarena nagijodaka-ksettram (||*)

Caturthasya trimsaddronavapa-parimana-ksettra-khandasya

sima Purvvena.

25. Buddhaka-ksettra-sima Daksinena Kalaka-ksettram

Pascimena (S)uryya-ksettra-sima Uttarena Mahipala-ksettram

(||*) (Pa)ncamasya

26. padona-pataka-dvaya-parimana-ksettra-khandasya sima

Purvvena Khanda-vid(u) ggurika-ksettram Daksinena Mani-

bhaddra-

27. ksettram Pascimena Yajnarata-ksettra-sima Uttarena

Nadadadaka-gramasimeti (||*) Vihara-talabhumer = api sima-

lingani

28. Purvvena Cudamani-Nagarasri-Nauyogayor = mmaddhye

Jola Daksinena Ganesvara-vilala-puskarinya nau-khatah

29. Pascimena Pradyumnesvara-devakula-ksetra-prantah

Uttarena Pradamara-Nauyoga-khatah(||*) Etad= Vihara-

pravesya-sunya-pratikara-

30. hajika-khila-bhumer = api sima-lingani Purvvena

Pradyumnesvara-devakula-ksettra-sima Daksinena Sakyabhiksv

= acaryya-Jita-

31. Sena-Vaiharika-ksettravasa(?) nah Pascimena Ha (?)

cata-gamga Uttarena Danda-puskini(1)c = eti || Sam 100 80 8

possya-di (2) 20 4.

----------------------

1. Read -puskarina.

2. Read -pausa-

p. 57

Translation

(Lines 1-2) Hail! From the victorious camp full

of great ships and elephants and horses(1) (situated)

at Kripura, the glorious Maharaja Vainyagupta,(2) who

meditates on the feet of God Mahadeva, being in good

health, issues a command after wishing health to

......, and his own dependents: Be it known to you

that

(Lines 3-8) For enhancing the religious merits of

myself and my parents, on the request of Maharaja

Rudradatta, a slave to our feet, in the village of

Kantedadaka situated in the ''Northern Mandala,"

eleven Patakas of uncultivated lands in five plots

are granted by Me, by means of a copper plate as an

Agrahara in absolute possession; for providing

perpetually for perfumes, flowers, lights, incense,

etc. thrice a day unto the Lord Buddha in the abode

of the Vaivarttika congregation of monks (belonging)

to the Mahayana, estab lished by the Buddhist monk of

the Mahayana, Acaryya Santideva, in the

Asrama-'Vihara (dedicated) to Arya-Ava- lokitesvara,

which (Vihara) was being constructed in the part

of.... by that (king) for the sake of that Acaryya;

and for the enjoyment of garments, food, beds, seats,

medicines for the sick etc. by that congregation; and

also for repairing breaks and cracks in the Vihara.

(Lines 8-11) Here again, both veda and smrti (texts)

are indeed prescribed.(3) By Reading in the legal

text, enjoining special merits both here and

hereafter, the sense of

----------------------

1. The opening expression mahanau etc. occurs in

the Gaya plate of Samudragupta (Gupta Ins., p.256)

and also in the Banskhera and Madhuban plates of

Harsa.

2. Vainya, a spnonym for "the first king" Prthu,

is spelt here with the dental nasal as in Rgveda,

VIlI. ix, Io. It is now generally spelt with the

cerebral (cf.Gupta, Ins., p. 74-- abhijati-gunena

vainyam).

3. Apa-vihita is a rare word not found elsewhere.

p. 58

a (now lost) Vedic text regarding holy gift of

lands,(1) and themselves courting even hardships,

enemy kings, who (are agreeable to giving) lands to

proper persons, should, upon our honour in words and

also for themselves acquiring fame) and merits,

approve (the grant of) these Patakas unto this

Vihara.

(Lines 11-14) Regarding keeping up (in future),

there are again verses sung by the revered Vyasa, the

compiler of the Vedas, and the son of Parasara:--

(v.1) The giver of land rejoices in Heaven for sixty

thousand years and he who confiscates and he who

assents live in Hell for that period. (v.2) He who

takes away land given by himself or by others rots

along with his forefathers becoming a worm in soil.

(v.3) O Yudhisthira, the best of kings, protect care

fully the land granted by former (kings) to Brahmins,

for, protection is better than the gift itself.

(Lines 14-18) In the current year of One Hundred

and Eighty-Eight, on the 24th day of the month of

Pausa, by the Royal Ambassador, the great Frontier

King Maharaja Vijayasena, who is the High

Chamberlain, the Officer-in- charge of Elephants, the

President of the Board of Five Law Court Officers and

President of City Governors, the (royal) command for

the gift of these eleven Patakas is made known unto

the Kumaramatyas Revajjasvami, Bhamaha and Vatsa-

bhojika. (This is) written by Karana-Kayastha

Naradatta, who is the Minister in charge of Peace and

War.

(Lines 18-27) Wherein the first plot of land

measuring seven Patakas and nine Dronavapas, the

boundary marks are, to the East, the border of the

Gunikagrahara village and the field of Engineer

Visnu; to the South, the field of Miduvilala(?) and

the field belonging to the Royal Vihara; to the West,

the Surinasirampurnneka(?) field; to the North, the

tank of Dosibhoga,...and the boundaries of the fields

of(?) Vampiyaka and Adityabandhu. Of the second plot

measur-

----------------------

1. Reading Smrtam makes much the same sense.

p. 59

ing tmenty-eight.Dronavapas, the boundaries are, to

the East, border of Gunikagrahara village; to the

South, the field of Pakkavilala(?); to the West, the

field of the Royal Vihara. To the North, the field of

Vaidya...... Of the third plot measuring twenty-three

Dronavapas the boundaries are to the East, the field

of......; to the South, the boundary limit of the

field of........; to the West, the field of Jolari;

to the North, the field of Nagi jodaka. Of the fourth

plot of land measuriug thirty Dronavapas, the

boundaries are, to the East, the boundary limit of

the field of Buddhaka; to the South, the field of

Kalaka; to the West, the boundary limit of the field

of Suryya; to the North, the field of Mahipala. Of

the fifth plot of land measuring a couple of Patakas

less a quarter, the boundaries are, to the East, the

field of Khandaviduggurika; to the South, the field

of Manibhadra; to the West, the boundary limit of the

field of Yajnarata; to the North, the boundary limit

of the village Nadadadaka.

(Lines 27-31) The boundary marks of the low

lands(1) belonging to the Vihara are, to the East,

the channel between the (two) ports of ships at

Cudamani and Nagarasri(2); to the South, the channel,

open to ships connnected to the large marshy pond of

Ganesvara(3); to the West, the end of the field

belonging to the temple of Pradyumnesvara; to the

North, the channel (leading) to the port of

Pradamara.(4) The boundary marks also of water-logged

waste lands pertaining to the right of entrance (5)

of this Vihara and paying no

----------------------

1. For talabhumi cf. tala-pataka in the Khalimpur

grant 1.52.

2. There are possibly two place names here: it may

also mean "at the town of Cudamani," the epithet

Sri is then ill construed with nauyoga.

3. Can it be a place name?

4. Also seems to be a place name rather than that of

a person.

5. The word pravesya is difficult to interpret. The

meaning suggested by Dr. Sukthankar, following

Hultzsch, "that which belongs to the pravesa" (a

territorial division), Ep. Ind., XVII, p.106 does

p. 60

requital (tax)' are to the East, the boundary limit

of the field belonging to the temple of

Pradyumnesvara; to the South, the limit of the field

belonging to the Vihara of the Buddhist monk, Acaryya

Jitasena; to the West, the stream(2) Hacata; to the

North, the tank of Danda(?).

(Line 31) The year 188, the 24th day of Pausa.

----------------------

1. Pratikara can hardly mean 'the right of alienation'

; it may simply mean 'tax' (kara) or better

'a state allowance.'

2. Gamga 'a stream' survives in the word gang still

current in East Bengal (cf. Dr. S.K. Chatterji :

loc. cit. pp.305 and 363).