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248
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIII.
3 ya 3 a[i]vasa 5 ēstā]yam puruvāyam pallānak[a]rasya $[aJpa(pha)4 rasya putrēhi (Mädgali]-putrēhi Saniksā]ya Saņdhak[@]na cha bha[ga]va5 tylā] a(ā)ryyāya d[ējvisya ā]sanapattā sth[@]pit[ä] [*) Punya[m] vardhatu (ll*7
1 Mahār[a]jasya sri-Bhadremēghasyal sa[m]vatsar[o] sa3 p[ta]bitē 807 varsha-paksha tsitiya 3 divasa (pa)3 chama 5 ēstä]yam puruvāya[m] pallānak[a]rasya Sapa(sāpha)4 rasya putrēhi saudäryyēhi bhrāt[ri]hi Mädgalīpu[trē). 5 hi Sanikaya Shandhakēna cha pushki(shka)riņyām ā[sa)6 napațţă pratishchā(shțhā)pitā [i*] Priyatām dharmma Punyam va7. rddhatu (ile)
TRANSLATION.' (Hail]-Of the Mahārāja sri-Bhadramāgha, in the eighty-seventh-87-year, the third. 3-paksha of the Rains, (the fifth)-5-day, at this date, by the son and daughter of the saddler Sāphara, (the brother and sister from the same womb), the son and daughter of Madgali, Sanikā and Shandhaka, slabs for a seat [for the Holy Noble Devi] were put up (at her pond. May Dharma be pleased). May merit increase.
No. 40.-SONEPUR PLATES OF MAHA-BHAVAGUPTA(II)-JANAMEJAYA; THE YEAR 17.
By B. CH. CHHABRA, M.A., M.O.L., PH.D.(LUGD.), OOTACAMUND. These plates were first inspected by me at Sonepur Raj, the headquarters of the Sonepur State in Orissa, in November 1936 when I was on tour in that part. Regarding their discovery I have been told that some three years prior to my visit certain workmen, while digging foundations on a plot of land opposite the modern Khambēšvarai temple at Sonopur Raj, lighted upon a massive stone coffer which was forthwith made over to the State authorities. It was this box that contained the present plates. This along with its contents had since been kept intact at the Sonępur Police Station where it was shown to me. It is oblong in shape and measures 16" long, 12" broad and 13 high. It has a slipping lid on it and was evidently designed specially for the safe deposit of the tämrasāsana. It was not possible then to examine the writing on the plates, because they had been preserved just as they were found, stuck together with crust and verdigris.
Later, in April 1937, the plates were obtained on loan from the Sonepur Durbar by the Gov. ernment Epigraphist for India, who got them properly cleaned by the Archäological Chemist in India and had their impressions taken. This afforded me an opportunity of studying the record from the original as well as from its inked estampages.
The document consists of three copper leaves, held together by a ring of the same metal. Each leaf is slightly narrower in the middle and measures about 8t' long by 51' high at either end. The ring is 4" in diameter. Its ends are secured under a circular seal (diameter 11"). The seal is completely defaced, so that it cannot be ascertained whether it originally contained any legend. It shows, however, some very faint traces of the Gajalakshmi symbol in the centre. The plates together with the ring and the seal weigh 202 tolas. The first plate is inscribed only on one face, while the remaining two bear writing on both the sides. There are altogether 51 lines of writing,
[The name in question decidedly ends in magha as found in other inscriptions including those recently discovered. The stroke above m in this record may be accidental.-Ed.)
? Brackets in only : parentheses in b only.
