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No. 25-DHULLA PLATE OF SRICHANDRA
(1 Plate) D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND
(Received on 10. 4. 1958) Five copper-plate grants of king Srichandra, who ruled over the south-eastern part of Bengal about the second half of the tenth century A.D., have so far been discovered. Three of these, which have already been edited, are the Rampal,- Kēdārpur and Madanpurplates. The copperplate grants of Srichandra discovered at Idilpur and Dhullā have not yet been edited, although the contents of both the inscriptions have been published. The Idilpur plate was noticed in the pages of this journal. The Dhulla plate was discovered in 1925 by the late Dr. N. K. Bhattasali of the Dacca Museum, whose transcript of the record was utilised by the late Mr. N.G. Majumdar in noticing the epigraph in his Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III. 'On an examination of the impressions of the epigraph preserved in the office of the Government Epigraphist for India, it is found that the preservation of the writing is unsatisfactory. A number of letters on both the obverse and reverse of the plate are rubbed off and consequently their reading is doubtful. Bhattasali seems to have waited for the preparation of a complete and more satisfactory transcript than the one supplied to Majumdar and this may be the reason why he could not publish the inscription till his sad demise about the beginning of 1947.
It is a single plate measuring 88 inches in length, 71 inches in breadth and 1 inch in thickness. The length quoted is that of the sides, the plate being slightly longer in the middle. The well-known Dharmachakra seal of the Buddhist dynasty of the Chandras is fixed at the top of the plate. It is 3 inches in length and its lower part (24 inches wide) disturbs the continuity of the writing of the first line on the obverse of the plate. The circular surface of the seal is 21 inches in diameter. This surface closely resembles that of the seals fixed on the known copperplate grants of Srichandra. There are altogether 47 lines of writing, 23 on the obverse and 24 on the reverse. The preservation of the writing, as already indicated above, is unsatisfactory.
The characters resemble bose of the other inscriptions of king Srichandra who issued the charter. Medial 2 is of both the rishtha-mātrā and siro-mātrā types. B has been indicated by the sign for v. The avagraha has been used in lines 28 and 37. The language is Sanskrit and the record is written in both prose and verse ir style similar to that in the other charters of the king. As a matter of fact, all the nine verses forming to a introductory part of the record are also found in one or other of the same king's records. The change of anusvāra before & to n and before v to mexhibits some of the orthographical peculiarities. It is also often changed to class ríasals. Mistakes like yūtīya for jatiya (line 28) and trina for trina (line 30) are interesting to note. The date in line 46 is difficult to read ; but the reading of the portion may be Samta(Samra) 8 A(A)śtina-dine 18. Tuis is of course not enough to determine the actual date of the record. But we know from other evidences, as already indicated above, that the Buddhist king Srichandra, who belonged to the C'handra dynasty and ruled over South-East Bengal, flourished about the second half of the tenth century A.D.
1 Above, Vol. XII, pp. 136 ff. und Plate; Majumdar, Ins. Reng., Vol. III, pp. 1 ff. and Plate. * Above, Vol. XVII, pp. 188 ff. and Plate; Majumder, op. cit., pp. 10 ff. and Plate. Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 51 ff. and Plate; pp. 337 ff. Above, Vol. XVII, pp. 189-10; Majumdar, op. cit., pp. 166-67. Op. cit., pp. 165.66. 01., .g., above., Vol. XXVIII, Plato facing p. 56.
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