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No. 11. ] GANJAM COPPER-PLATES OF VAJRAHASTA III; SAKA-SAMVAT 991.
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Be it known to you, that having constituted six halas of land, with four cottages, in this village, as (a separate) section, and making it an agrahāra for god, which is to last as long as the moon and the sun, and having exempted it from all taxation, we have, at the request of (lit. being informed by) Buddha-mafichi, the Bhögika, and for increasing the religious merit of (our) parents and ourselves, granted it to god Närāyaṇa,-who lies on the seven seas, who is sung in seven hymns (Rathantara, etc.), who is the sole lord of seven worlds'; and who has the designation Rapabhitodaya, for the sake of performing (oblations known as) bali, charu and satra, and for the repairs of dilapidations (of the temple).
Having known this, nobody should cause any hindrance.
The boundary marks are as follows :-On the east, the trenches of the village ; on the south, the mound of earth; on the west, the trenches of the district with the Kuravaka-thicket; on the north, along with the palm-grove.
The future kings should maintain this religions gift. And likewise the verses sung by Vyāsa are quoted.
(Here follow three of the customary verses). In the year Seventy-nine 70, 9 of the prosperous victorious reign, on the twelfth day of the bright fortnight of Jyēshtha.
(Verse 4) At the command of his (the king's) own mouth, this charter of Rajasirha has been written by Vinayachandra, son of Bhanuchandra.
(Verse 5) (This is a charter of the glorious Rapabhita, whose commands are irresistible, and who has totally crushed the hostile confederacy by the strokes of the point of (his) scimitar,
No. 11 .-GANJAM COPPER-PLATES OF VAJRAHASTA III ; SAKA-SAMVAT 991.
BY PROF. R. C. MAJUMDAR, M.A., PH.D., DACCA. This is a set of five copper-plates measuring 81 inches in length and about 4 inches in breadth. The outer face of the first plate has been left blank, while there is no writing on the last plate, which was evidently put in to protect the writing on the second side of the fourth plate. The plates are strung on a ring, the ends of which are soldered to the bottom of a circular seal bear. ing a couchant Nandi, a drum, a conch, two fly-whisks (chämaras), two darts or lances, an umbrella, a makara-tõrana and the sun and the moon.
The inscription consists of fifty-three lines. It is, generally speaking, in a good state of preservation. The second side of the third plate and the first side of the fourth plate, are, however, partly corroded, and a few letters are either wholly or partly effaced.
The plates were found somewhere in the Ganjām District and are now deposited in the Madras Museum. The text was published in the Telugu Journal Bharati, which is not accessible to me. I edit them from excellent Ink-impressions supplied by the Government Epigraphist for India.
The alphabet is northern Nägari of the same kind as is used in four other plates of Vairahasta. The final form of m occurs in mahim (1. 36) where, in addition to the sign of the virāma. the top-stroke of the letter is omitted. The sign of the virāma is also found in ardakan (1. 17) and
1 All the three epithets of Nārāyana occur in the Raghupamba, X, 21. Sapta-sm-opagitan tvih sapt-arnava-jalēdayam sapt-archir-mukham-dchakhyah aapla-lok-aika-sarayam 1
See introductory remarks...
• (a) The Nadagam plates, year 979 Saka (above, Vol. IV, p. 183): (b) The Madras Museum platea, year 984 Saka (above, Vol. IX, p. 04): (c) The Chicacolo plates, year 971 Saka (J. A. H. R. S, Vol. VIII, p. 171) and (d) Narasapatam plates, year 967 Saka (above, Vol. XI. p. 147).
