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No. 9]
MADANPUR PLATE OF SRICHANDRA; YEAR 44
No. 9-MADANPUR PLATE OF SRICHANDRA; YEAR 44 (1 Plate)
51
R. G. BABAK, Calcutta
This copper plate was found in June, 1946, while earth was being dug out for the foundation of a wall on the land belonging to one Sekh Newajuddin in the mauza of Madanpur, near the old and famous village of Sabhar, situated about 15 miles north-west of the city of Dacca in East Bengal. After its discovery, the plate was made over to the father of Babu Santi Ranjan Roy, a pupil of Mr. Guru Prasad Ganguli, B.A., B.T., Head Master of the Sabhar H. E. School, to whom the former brought it for presentation. I am thankful to Mr. Ganguli, who was himself a student of mine during my professorship at the Rajshahi College long years ago, for his kindly sending the plate to me for decipherment. The plate was, at first, in many places of its surface, covered with a thick coating of hard earth and verdigris, but after it was cleaned by me, it was found that the inscription on it was in a fair state of preservation. Unfortunately, a portion of the plate towards its proper right corner at the bottom was obliquely cut away by some one amongst the ignorant finders, probably for testing its metal out of greed for gold. This has caused a loss of a few letters from the beginning of each of the lines 15 to 23 on the obverse side, and also at the end of each of the lines 29 to 42 on the reverse side. Most of these missing letters could, however, be restored with the help of the published plates of Srichandra.
The chronology of the discovery of the five copper plate grants, including the present one, of king Srichandra of East Bengal may be interesting to epigraphists and historians. The Edilpur (Faridpur) plate, the existence of which in the house of a rich man of the locality for several decades past was known to scholars in Bengal, but which has not yet been available to them for decipherment of the inscription thereupon inspite of strenuous attempts on their part, was the subject of a note on its contents gathered from a hurried study by the late Babu Ganga Mohan Laskar, published in the October issue of the now defunct journal, the Dacca Review, in the year 1912, and extracts thereof were quoted by the late Dr. N. K. Bhattasali, in the pages of the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVII, pp. 189-190. The second grant of this king, the Rampal (Dacca) plate, was first brought to light by the present writer in April, 1913, and was edited and published by him in this journal, Vol. XII, pp. 136-142 and plates. The third one, the Kedarpur (Faridpur) plate, was found in April 1919 by Dr. Bhattasali, the then Curator of the Dacca Museum, and was edited and published by him in this journal, Vol. XVII, pp. 188-192. The fourth epigraph, the Dhulla (Dacca) plate, was also discovered by Dr. Bhattasali in 1925. It is deposited in the Dacca Museum. It remains unpublished, but a short account of its contents was published by the late Mr. N. G. Majumdar, in an Appendix to his edition of Inscriptions of Bengal (Vol. III, pp. 165-6), published by the Varendra Research Society, Rajshahi. The present plate is, therefore, to be regarded as the fifth amongst the grants, hitherto discovered, of this king. Thus within the course of 34 years (1912-1946) Bengal historians have come in possession of five grants of king Srichandra to help them in reconstructing the history of East Bengal under the Chandra dynasty.
This is a single plate inscribed on both sides. It measures about 8"x6". Its edges are raised into rims on the obverse side, evidently for the preservation of the writing. It bears a seal attached to the middle of the top, measuring about 4"x3". It projects about 1" into the inscription thereby causing a break in the middle of the first three lines of writing on the obverse. This seal has a protuberant top and a pedestal-like bottom. It contains in the middle four concentric circles, the outermost having floral decorations which adorn the base. The innermost circle, the diameter of which is nearly 2", has in its upper part the famous Buddhist emblem of the Dharmachakra (the wheel of law) flanked by two couchant deer, which device must be representing
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