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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XXIV.
to me by the Superintendent for Epigraphy. In his article in this Journal on the Srungavarapukota Plates of the same king, Dr. R. C. Mazumdar has also considered this inscription,
The grant should have consisted of three oblong copper plates of which the last is now missing. They measure 6 4" in length and 21" in breadth, and have their rims slightly raised all round to protect the writing which is incised on the inner side of the first plate and on both sides of the second. They are strung together by a ring about 4" in diameter which passes through a hole about 1' in diameter near the proper right margin of the plates. The ends of this ring are soldered into the bottom of an oval seal of which the rim bears on one side a slight projection. The surface of the soal which measures 11 by lt' is completely worn out, so that the emblem or legend that should have been engraved thereon is lost, but judging from the seal of the Srungavarapukota Plates, we may suppose that it should have contained the figure in relief of a conch. The two plates with the ring and the seal weigh 70 tolas.
The alphabet of the inscription belongs to the same type as that of the Kōmarti Plates of Chandavarman and the Chicacole Plates of Nanda-Prabhañjanavarman. It bears a close resemblance to the writing in the Rāmatirtham Plates of the Vishņukundin king Indravarman who has been assigned to the second quarter of the 6th century A. D.", and, except for one or two lotters which look slightly more developed, to that of the Jirjingi Plates of the Eastern Ganga king Indravarman dated in the 39th year of the Ganga era". It also shows a general likeness to the characters of the Pikira grant of the Pallava king Simhavarman, son of Yuvamahārāja Vishnugopa? This Simhavarman has been placed by Prof. J. Dubreuil in the beginning of the 6th century A.D.'
The language of the grant is simple Sanskrit and similar in style to that adopted in the Brihatproshtha grant of Umavarman', the Komarti Plates of Chandavarman and the Köröshanda Plates of Visakhavarman'
The orthography of the inscription calls for a few remarks. Except in the case of the two words vinirgatam and ā-chandr-arka-kala in 1.15, the consonants are invariably doubled after the Tēpha. Other consonants are also doubled, incorrectly in such words as samppadasya (1. 3), dak. shiny-Olssäha (1.6), Tontāparēssamavētān (11.8 & 9), tēbhya ēva 88a idānim (1. 10), and vidhivassampradattah (1. 16), and in place of the anusvāra in the words sappanno (1.6) and savratsare (1.13). Anusvāra is used in place of the nasal consonant n in the expressions omár-mahārāja (1.5) and vetän kutumbinah (1.9); and both anusvāra and nasal are used together in Ananntavammmā (1.8) and vinirgatamn-cha (1.15). Upadhmāniya is used in place of the visarga in the words bhūh prajā (1.7) and pariharaih parihsitya (1. 14) and redundantly in the case of the words karahprada (1. 10), dänah-pratigraha (1. 11), kalah-pratishtham (1. 15) and vachanah-prèshana (1.17). The final is found in vibhrat (1.2).
The grant was issued in the year Mah-Asvayuja, on the day of full moon in the month of Mágha. This method of dating the record in the Twelve-Year Cycle of Jupiter, according to which the year commences on the day when Jupiter, after its conjunction with the Sun, rises beliacally at mean sunrise in a particular nakshatra after which it is named", is said to have been in vogue to a limited extent only in the 5th and 6th centuries of the Christian era, and found used 1 Above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 56 ff.
* Above, Vol. VIII, p. 161. 1 Above, Vol. IV, p. 144.
. Ancient History of the Deccan, p. 68. . Ind. Ant., Vol. XIII, p. 49.
Above, Vol. XII, p. 5. . Above, Vol. XII, p. 134.
10 lbid., Vol. IV, pp. 142 ff. J. A. H. R. S., Vol. II, p. 167.
11 Ibid., Vol. XXI, p. 24. • Ibid., Vol. III, p. 51.
u Above, Vol. VIII, p. 280.
