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No. 44.) SPURIOUS LAPHA PLATE OF HAIHAYA KING PRITAVIDEVA. 293
Another inscription written in PAli was discovered during the excavations carried on by Mr. Marshall and myself in the winter of 1908, on the back of a slab containing conventional represeptations of scenes of the Baddha's life. I publish it hare from impressions prepared in my office. The writing covers a space of 12' 9", and the height of the individual letters is 1"-1".
The characters belong to the 4th, or, perhaps, the 3rd oentury A.D. The tripartito va is almost identical with the ya of the Allahabad prasasti, while the sa has the older form with a hook, and not with a loop. The date of the inscription is of interest for the history of Baddhist iconography.
The language is mixed Pali, the forms -prabhava in line 1, and -framano, 1. 6, not belonging to the dialect. The inscription contains the common formula yo dhamma, eto.
TEXT. 1 ye dhamma hêtu-prabhava 2 tosin hêtum tathaya3 to avocha tesař cha 4 yð niðdhd e. 5 var vadi maha6 śramapô.
No. 44.-SPURIOUS LAPHA PLATE OF THE BAIHAYA KING PRITHVIDEVA.
SAMVAT 806.
BY HIBA LAL, B.A., NAGPUR. At the request of Mr. O. U. Wills, I.C.S., Zamiodari Settlement Officer, Bilaspur District, I have examined a copper plate in the possession of a ZamindAr at Låphê, named Dahiraj Singh, who is over sixty years of age and whom I had the pleasure to meet. He was good enough to lend it to me for taking an impression to accompany this note. He informed me that the plate was given to one of his ancestora, who first came from Delhi and took service at Ratanpor as one of the gate-keepers of the Ratanpur Fort and also as a guard of the Râni's palace. He used to live in the Bhedim adâpara, one of the quarters of Ratanpur town. This portion of the town was eventually given to him as a mú'afi, and afterwards the present copper plate grant is said to have been given bestowing on him 120 villages belonging to the Låpha Fort. The present Zamindari contains only 75 villages and the Zamîndar informed me that before Mr. Chisholm's settlement in the year 1868, there were only 60 villages in it.
The plate is rectangular, measuring 97"x 46", having a smooth surface, inscribed on one side only. There are two small holes on the top. The writing covers 7' x 3}", leaving out the Sri at the top.
The record consists of 8 lines surmounted by a prefatory one, the middle portion of which is spaced down, apparently for ornamental parposes. This line and the word fri at the top together with sri 5 at the commoncement and fubham-aftu and the date in figures at tho end are in prose. The rest is in verse, consisting of 5 anushfubh flákas which are ngmbered, except the ast. There are altogether 206 letters including 9 figures.
The style of writing is Opiya, and there are not less than 25 letters which are distinctly borrowed from the alphabet of that language. All the metrás or vowel signs have been marked according to what is in vogue in the present Opiyê writing. The letters ja, da and va ha 7e been invariably written in the Oriyê form. The language is Sanskrit with spelling mistakes. Thas in verse 2 we find súrašámanta- instead of fdrasamanta..
