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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XV.
any one), (receiving a price) at the rate of three dinarasl for each kulyavāpa, for the convenience of my agnihotra ritos,-to be enjoyed (by me) for ever, as long as the moon, the sun and the stars (exist)." Whea, according to the determination of the record-keepers, Risidatta, Jayanandin and Vibhudatta, it was ascertained " (Land) may thus be given," one kulyarāpa of land was given to him in the region north-west of Donga, after three dināras had been received from him). Here apply the versest regarding grants of land-"He who confiscates land given by him or by another, becomes a worm in ordure and rots with his forefathers."
PLATE No. 2. This plate is inscribed on both sides, the first containing 8 lines, and the second 5 lines, of writing. The edges of this plate were not fashioned thicker, nor raised into rims, to protect the writing. It is thicker than Plate No. 1, but the letters are not incised deep. The extremely corroded and damaged state of this plate made the work of decipherment very difficult. A portion of the proper left side has suffered so much from corrosion that the last few letters of lines 5-8 are wholly illegible, as also a few letters in lines 9-10. The letters in the legible portions also look very much blurred. Had the plate been discovered a few years later, the writing would have been thoroughly obliterated and it would only have appeared as a oorroded and rusty piece of blank copper. By a comparison of the text of this plate with that of Plate No. 1, to which its contents bear considerable resemblance, I have succeeded more or less in restoring the reading of some portions of the inscription.
The weight of the plate is 1516 tolus. It measures 6" x 3" It appears to have had & seal attached to the middle of the proper right side. The protuberant portion, on which the senl was soldered, is still visible, with a hole which was caused by corrosion ; but the seal itself is not forthcoming. The diameter of the seal appears to have been 11
The characters belong to the northern class of alphabets of the fifth century A.D. The peculiar form of da, which looks like ţa, may be remarked. We have the sign for the initial vowel a in adhishthana, 1. 4, arhatha, 1. 6, and api, 1. 11, and the sign for è in ētad-, 1. 7, and ētasmāds, 1. 8. This plate also has the peculiar vowel-mark for a, a stroke in hook-for attached to the lower right of the letter dha, as in dhuranayā, 1. 8, and -vrasudha, 1. 12. T! forms of the numerical symbols for 100, 20, 9, 10 and 3 occur in line 1
As regards orthography, the following peculiarities call for remark :-(1) The letters ta, a(h)a, ma, ya and va are doubled after & preceding r, e.g. opravarttanīya, 1. 6, Pundravarddhana 1. 2, varmmani, 1. 4, dharmma, 1. 10, maryyadaya, 1. 7, pūrova., 1. 11, bahubir=vvasudhā, l. 12.
1 dinaras-The Gupta gold coins are mentioned in many inscriptions by this name (the other name used being sworna): cf. Fleet, C. I. I., Vol. III, Nos. 5, 7, 8, 9, 62 and 64 (Allan, Indian Coins: Gupta Dynasties, Introduction, p. cxxxiv). In Sanskrit literature also we have mention of this coin: ef. Dandin's Darakumarcharita—"dinaran asankhyan ráfiksitya," etc., Book IV. This name was borrowed from the Romans, who called some of their coins by the name of denarins. The Roman influence on Indian coinages of those days is evident from this name of dinara also (oide also Rapson, Indian Coins, p. 25, Encyclopædia of Indo-Aryan Research). We have mention of this word dinara as a synonym of nishka in the marakofa, III. 3, 14.
kulyavāpa-According to Sanskrit lexicons (Mėdini, Visva, and Hēmachandra, II, 361) one kulya is equal to 8 drönas. For a fuller note on this measurement vide Mr. Pargiter's romarks in Indian Antiquary, 1910, pp. 214-16. The word råpa may menu the place where seeds are nown, i.e. a feld, "mpyale 's minn iti vapal kahitra"-Bhattoji on Panini, V.1, 4. So kulyarāpa may mean that area of laud on which one kulya of seed could be sowa. Has the word kudavi, used in mensurement formula in Bengal, any connection with kulyarapa ?
pustapala--lit. a keeper of pusta, which, according to Médini, means both löpyädikarma (i.e. plastering, painting images, etc.) and books. Mr. Pargiter's rendering of this terın by "record-keepers " seems to be quite apt. Probably it was these officers who were in later times called akshapatalikas. They may have preserved the books or records containing records of boundaries and demarcation of lands (belonging to differeat persons) which were already settled.
• But only one verse is quoted in the text.
