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No. 21.]
UPALADA PLATES OF RANAKA RAMADEVA.
141
12 दत्तौ ॥ तथा वणिक (ग् ) महलकेन सत्का (i) विकलक्ष्मीधरेण
13 सत्का वासनिका प्रदत्ता श्री सोमनाथदेवपक्षिका पूवंतः देवमर्यादा |
वासनिका प्रदत्ता || तथा
पश्चिमतः
14 [ठ*]कुरकुडणक[स्य *] वासनिका मर्यादा । उत्तरतः मार्गमा (म)र्यादा | दक्षिणतः नदी मर्या
15 दा । चतुराघाटसाधिता श्रीसोमनाथदेवपत्रिका | मंगलं महाश्रीः ॥ ॥
No. 21.-UPALADA PLATES OF RANAKA RAMADEVA.
BY B. CH. CHHABRA, M.A., M.O.L., PH.D.(LUGD.), OOTACAMUND.
This set of copper plates is one of the nine sets acquired for the Indian Museum, Calcutta, in 1935, some of which have already been published. They are said to have been unearthed by a cultivator, while digging a field, in the village of Upalada in the Parlakimedi Taluk, Ganjam District. I received ink-impressions of the plates from Mr. N. G. Majumdar, Superintendent, Archæological Section, Indian Museum, for editing the record.
These are three copper plates, each measuring 7"x2". They weigh 106 tolas. Their rims are raised and the writing on them is consequently well preserved. The first and the third plates are inscribed only on the inner side, while the second bears writing on both the sides. The inscription consists of nineteen lines in all, three sides containing six lines each and the fourth only one. The plates were originally held together by a ring, about 23" in diameter, passing through the hole cut in the centre of each plate half an inch away from the left margin. The ends of the ring were soldered under a circular seal. This and the ring together weigh 22 tolas. The central portion of the seal is occupied by the figure of a standing boar, cut in high relief, facing the proper left. At the bottom is placed an elephant-goad (ankusa), and at the top another weapon that looks like a battle-axe. Against the hook of the ankusa is to be seen an oval-shaped object-perhaps a lotus-bud. The seal does not contain any legend.
1 There is a symbol between the two pairs of dandas. See above, pp. 73 and 78.
The characters belong to the northern class of about the 11th century, strongly influenced by the Nagari script. Letters like n and I show each two different forms; cf. n in -anudhyāta-, 1. 2 and -dana-, 1. 3; and I in kusalinaḥ, 1. 5 and sa-jala-sthala-, 1. 7. The language of the record is Sanskrit, though it also contains some vernacular terms in 11. 15-18 where boundaries of the donated village are defined. It is composed in prose, barring three of the customary verses found in 11. 9-15. The orthography of the document is as erroneous as its language is faulty. To instance the latter, the verb, adisanti or whatever it be, is missing after kusalinaḥ (1. 5), while some such word as upabhogyam is wanting after samtatīnām (1. 6). Among the orthographical peculiarities may be noted the usage of s for é and sh, of v for b, of y for j and of j for y. These and some other inaccuracies have been pointed out in the footnotes to the text as well as in the text itself.
The record is not dated, but may on palæographical evidence be assigned to the 11th or 12th century A.D. It was engraved by the goldsmith Taula.
