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96
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MAY, 1914.
sides of the second plate being written. It is stated in the last verse that the original plates had been burnt and so new plates were issued with inscriptions written in characters differing from the former. The seal with which the plates were found tied bears witness to the destruction of the original plates by fire as it has been bent and shattered, the inscription in it all obliterated and the figure of the elephant--which was the seal-mark of the ancient kinge of Kimaropa-has also been rendered very indistinct. Apparently, though the plates were renewed, the seal was not thought worth renewal.
The most important information that we get from this grant is the names of the ancestors of King Bhaskaravarman. The following is a tabular statement showing the names, but from this the names of the mythological kings Naraka, Bhaga. datta and Vajradatta have been omitted :
Pushya Varman Samudra Varman (Queen Dattadevi)
Balavarman (Q. Ratnavati) Kaly&ņa Varman (Q. Gandharvati),
occur in the Harshacharita (Uchchhvdsa VII) of Bárabhatta : there the genealogy is as follows :
Bhuti Varman Chandramukha Varman Sthiti Varman Susthira Varman alias Mrigarka (9. Syamadevt)
Bhaskara Varman The discrepancies are small and negligible and they were due apparently to Bana's careless notes about what the ambassador of Bhislaravarman had said to king Harshavardhana, or to the errors of the scribes who copied the Harsha. charita. There can be no doubt that the names as found in the inscriptions are correct, as they were written under the immediate superintendence of the king himself.
Two very important points arise in connection with these inscriptions: (1) when and how Karpasuvarpa came under the sway of the king of Kimaropa : and (2) was Sylhet within the political jurisdiction of Kamarupa.
I have discussed these points in detail elsewhere! and the conclusions arrived at are: (1) Karnasuvarpa became a part of the territory of BhAskaravarman when, after the death of Harshavardhana (in 648 A. D.) the former rendered material help to the Chinese invader Wang Hieun Tsi in crushing Arjuna (or Aruņksva) who had usurped the throne of Harsha : and (2) Sylhet which had a separate existence as Shih-li-cha-to-lo mentioned by Yuan Chwang, did not form part of the kingdom of KAmarpa; the plate where the record of locality of the grant was expected having been lost and there being instances of discovery of copper plates far beyond the locality of the grants, it cannot be asserted from the mere accident of the find, that the land granted by these plates belonged to the district of Sylhet.
These copper plates bear the most ancient record hitherto discovered in Assam : and as they contain the names of kings who-assuming at the rate of four in a century-reigned from the middle of the fourth to the middle of the seventh century A. D., these plates are most important documents to a student of the ancient history of Assam,
Gapapati Varman (Q. Yajnavati)
Mahendra Varman (Q. Suvrata)
Nárayapa Varman (Q. Devavati)
Mahabhůta Varman (Q Vijñanavati)
Chandramukha Varman (Q. Bhogavati)
Sthita Varman (Q. Nayanadevi)
Susthita Varman alias Sri-Mriganka
(Q. Syâmâdev1)
Bupratishthita Varman
Bhaskara Varman It is interesting to note that the names of the four immediate ancestors of Bhaskara Varman
PADMANATHA BHATTACHARYYA,
In Bengali, Vijayd Vol. I, No. 10; Rangpur Sahityaparishad Patrika Vol. VII-In English an article is being published in the Epigraphia Indica.
