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. 59ÿ
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).