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BENARES COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF KARNADEVA.
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XXIII. BENARES COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF KARNADEVA. THE [CHEDI] YEAR 793.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, PH.D., C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN.
This inscription was first brought to public notice, about eighty-five years ago, by Captain Wilford, who, in the Asiatic Researches, vol. IX, page 108, gave the following account of it :
"A few years ago (in 1801) this grant was found, at the bottom of an old well filled with rubbish, in the old fort of Benares. It is engraven upon two brass plates, joined by a ring, to which is affixed the Imperial seal. It is of the same size nearly, and in the same shape, with that found at Mongir. The writing is also the same, or at least without any material deviation. The Imperial seal is about 3 inches broad: on it, in bas-relievo, is Pârvatî with four arms, sitting, with her legs crossed: two elephants are represented, one on each side of her, with their trunks uplifted. Below is the bull, Nandi, in a reclining posture, and before him is a basket. Between Pârvatî, and the bull, is written Sri-Karnna-deva. The grant is dated the second year of his new Era, and also of his reign, answering to the Christian year 192. . The ancestors of Sri-Karnṇa-deva, mentioned in the grant, were, first, his father Gângeyadeva, with the title of Vijaya-kantaka: he died in a loathsome dungeon. He was the son of Kokalla-deva, whose father was Lakshmana-raja-deva."
The plates, thus described by Captain Wilford, were lost for a long time; but they were rediscovered about 1862, when, through the kindness of Mr. Griffith, then Principal of the Benares College, Sir A. Cunningham received an impression of the inscription, together with a transcript which had been prepared by one of the students of the College.* Both were made over to Dr. F. E. Hall, who now at my request has placed them at my disposal, and has thus enabled me to publish the text of this inscription the original of which has again been lost sight of. Fortunately the impression, which has thus come into my hands, has been prepared with great care, so that the loss of the original plates will be less felt than would have been the case otherwise.
The inscription is on two plates which appear to measure about 1'4′′broad by 114" high each, and each of which is inscribed on one side only. Each plate contains a round hole, about " in diameter, for a ring to which was affixed the seal, described by Wilford. The plates probably are thick and substantial, for, to judge from the impression, the letters must have been deeply engraved. The first plate contains twenty-eight lines of very close writing, the second only twenty lines. The writing is well preserved almost throughout, so that, with the exception of about half a dozen aksharas, the actual reading of the text is hardly at all doubtful. The size of the letters is between" and ". The characters are Nagari of the period to which the inscription belongs, the 11th century A.D. The language is Samskrit, excepting a verse in line 13, which is in
I give the names which occur in this extract as we should spell them now.
See Sir A. Cunningham's Archæological Survey of India, vol. IX, page 82. In justice to myself I must say here that the transcript, mentioned above, has not been of any use to me.
I have to thank my friend Professor Lauman for having personally communicated to Dr. Hall my request, which has been granted most readily.
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