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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
the unlikelihood of its being much earlier.’[1] He further notes the close resemblance of the script
with that of the Faridpur plate (A)[2] of Dharmāditya and the Faridpur plate[3] of Gōpachandra.
He doubts the genuineness of the Faridpur plate (B)[4] of Dharmāditya and suggests that Gōpachandra’s inscription may be earlier than Dharmāditya’s. In this connection, he observes, “Sa
has the triangle on the left in both plates (Dharmāditya’s A and Gōpachandra’s) ; but, while it is
normal in Gōpachandra’s, there are two instances, ll. 14 and 19, in 1722 (Dharmāditya’s A), where
the triangle is enlarged and the apex reaches right up to the top line, as in the bell. Ma is nearly
normal in 1724 (Gōpachandra’s plate), but shows the beginning of the process whereby the bell
form is reached ; 1722, on the other hand, has it in a form even more exaggerated than the bell
and in l. 20 for instance the point of the angle is only just below the main line.” After pointing
out a few more differences between Dharmāditya’s and Gōpachandra’s inscriptions and comparing
some of the letters in the bell inscription with those in certain other inscriptions of Eastern
India, Johnston concludes, “These comparisons are sufficient to prove that we are dealing in
the bell with a script which was derived from Eastern Bengal, descending possibly from a variety
slightly later than any of those described . . . . . . .if the date is fixed on the palaeographical
evidence as somewhere in the first half of the seventh century A.D. the margin of error is likely to
be small.”
The above views on the date of the Vēsālï bell inscription (of the same age as our Inscription
No. 1) do not appear to be fully justified as the inscription seems to be somewhat earlier. In the
first place, the palaeography of our Inscription No.1 closely resembles not only that of the Faridpur
plates of Dharmāditya and Gōpachandra who flourished in the sixth century A. D. but also in
respect of most of the characteristics that of certain earlier records of about the middle of the fifth
century A.D. such as the Kalaikuri-Sultanpur plate[5] of the Gupta year 120 (439 A.D.) and the
Baigram plate[6] of the Gupta year 128 (448 A.D.) even though the affinity may be slightly closer
with the epigraphs of the sixth century. Secondly, the suggestions that Gōpachandra’s plate is
earlier than Dharmāditya’s plates A and B and that the bell inscription is closer to the latter in
respect of letters like s and m are both confusing. Pargiter seems to be justified in suggesting
a later date for Gōpachandra’s inscription as compared to Dharmāditya’s epigraphs on the basis
of the forms of the letter y[7] while similar forms of s and m are also noticed in earlier records like
the Baigram plates of 448 A.D. There is also no reason to doubt the genuineness of Dharmāditya’s
plate B. Thirdly, on the other hand, forms of letters like y and h and signs like that of medial ī
as exhibited by our inscription (as also earlier records like the Baigram plate) are not met with
in Bengal inscriptions later than the sixth century A.D.[8] Of course h and medial ī do not appear
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[1] Op. cit., pp. 360-61.
[2] Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1722 ; Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXIX, pp. 195 ff. and Plate.
[3] Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1724 ; Ind. Ant., op.cit., p. 204 and Plate. See also the Mallasarul plate apparently
belonging to the reign of Gōpachandra (above, Vol. XXIII, pp. 155 ff. and Plate).
[4] Bhandarkar’s List, No. 1713 ; Ind. Ant., op. cit., pp. 200 ff. and Plate.
[5] IHQ, Vol. XIX, pp. 12ff. and Plate ; above, Vol. XXXI, pp. 57 ff. and Plate.
[6] Above, Vol. XXI, pp. 81 ff. and Plate.
[7] See Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXIX, pp. 206-07.
[8] Cf. the Vappaghoshavata grant (end of the sixth century) of Jayanāga (above, Vol. XVIII, pp. 60 ff. and
Plate), Midnapur plates (first quarter of the seventh century) of Śaśāṅka (JRASB, Letters, Vol. XI, pp. 1 ff. and
Plates), Tippera plate (Gupta year 344-663 A.D.) of Lōkanātha (above, Vol. XV, pp. 306 ff. and Plate ; IHQ, Vol.
XXIII, p. 224), Kailan plate (last quarter of the seventh century A.D.) of Śrīdhāraṇarāta (IHQ, Vol. XXXII,
pp. 221 ff. and Plate), etc. The script of our Inscription No. 1 may also be compared with that of the Umachal
roke inscription of Surēndravarman (circa 470-94 A.D.) and the Barganga inscription of Bhūtivarman (circa 518-42
A.D.), discovered in Assam and published above, Vol. XXXI, pp. 67 ff. ; cf. Vol. XXX, pp. 62 ff.
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