North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

BHOPĀL COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION MAHĀKUMĀRA HARIŚCHANDRA

(pp. 232-34), illustrating the same with photographic representations, facing p. 232. Unfortunately, we have no information about the original find-spot of the plates ; and my attempts to search them out in the locality met no success. [1] The inscription is edited here from facsimiles accompanying Dr. Chakravarti’s article referred to above.

...As stated above, the set consists of two plates of copper, each measuring 29.85 cms. in length and 19.5 cms. in width, with a thickness of about .6 cm. at the edges which are fashioned thicker than the inscribed surface. The weight of the first plate is 1.36 kgms. but the second weighs only 0.90 kgms. Each of the plates has two ring-holes, each about 1 cm. in diameter, bored through the margin with an intervening space of 8 cms. and disturbing the continuity of the writing in the last and the first line, respectively ; evidently the holes are for passing two rings with which the plates were originally held together. But the rings are not forthcoming.

...The plates are inscribed on the inner side only. The first plate contains 21 lines of writing and the second 20. In the middle of lines 29 to 35 (of the second plate) is engraved the figure of a Garuḍa, in human form, kneeling and facing proper left, in a square, each of its sides measuring 6 cms. In the first 5 or 6 lines the letters are of an average size of .8 cm., but thereafter they are slightly reduced in size till the last line, which measures about three-fourth of the others, again shows its letters which are almost double in size of the letters in those in the initial lines. and is wholly occupied with the sign-manual of the king, with the akshara ‘śrīḥ’ in the end.

...The alphabet is Nāgarī of the twelfth century and the letters bear a close resemblance to those of the Ujjain grant of Jayavarman. [2] The technical execution is fairly good, though the second plate is not so carefully engraved as the first. The engraving of some of the concluding lines, however, betrays slovenliness on the part of the writer and the engraver. To note the palaeographical features of the inscription, we find that the initial a shows transitional forms., one of which is to be seen in āvasthika, where the letter begins with a vertical stroke, and the other in Adavāha, beginning with a curve, both in 1.20 ; initial i is represented by an arrow-head with parallel stroke below, as in Bhāila,1.9 ; and initial ē almost resembles pa, see aindavīṁ, 1.1, and pada, 1.26. Of the consonants, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between ch and v ; for example, see vivaśa, 1.14, where the first letter is much like v, and vachana, 1. 38, where the first two letters are almost similar. Dh has developed a horn on its left limb, as in dharmma, 1. 36, and the verticals of dhā are joined in the middle by a horizontal stroke, as in Dhāmadēva, 1. 21. Occasionally we find no distinction between p and y, e.g., in saṁtarpya and darppita, both in 1. 21, occurring side by side. The letter bh is in its transitional stage ; its older form, for examples, is to be seen in samudbūta, 1. 38, but its form resembling t appears in Bhavānī-pati, 1. 11, and in several other instances where the left limb is bent low so as to end in a fine tail, as in vibhartti, 1. 1. The last two of these instances show both the letters appearing side by side. Incidentally we may also notice some instances of the engraver’s carelessness. P in parvvaṇi, 1. 10 and pālanīyā-, 1. 36, appears as sh by a redundant middle stroke which distinguishes the two letters. V in varmma, 1. 4, is engraved so as to appear as nr ; a redundant additional stroke of the chisel has made m in svāmi, 1. 9, appear as a ; in 1. 10 the word Vētravatī,is engraved as tētravatī ; ārāma in 1. 29 as āpa ; and in āsaptamaṁ , 1. 34, the second letter shows a combination of both the palatal and the dental sibilant. But such blemishes are few and do not go against our remarks above that the technical execution was done carefully.

...The language of the inscription is Sanskrit ; and with the exception of two verse in the beginning, one in 11. 14-16 and six at the end (11. 32-40). which are all customary, the record is in prose. The verses are not numbered.

...Regarding orthography, we find the following : (1) the use of v to denote b as well, e.g., in śavda for śabda, 1. 5 ; (2) putting the dental for the palatal sibilant in a number of cases but the latter for the former only once, in śaptamaṁ , 1. 34. Want of consistency in the former of these cases may be pointed out that in the same word Yaśōdhavala which occurs in 1.18, we find the dental sibilant, whereas just below in 1. 20 the same word is spelt with the
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[1] The text of the inscription, with a preliminary note and translation, was also published by Har Dutta Sharma in the Poona Orientalist. Vol. IV. pp. 22 ff. He stated that he deciphered it from a photograph brought by one of his friends. but is silent about the find and existence of the plates.
[2] No. 38. above.

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