Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from

Bengal
Arlo Griffiths

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of Archaeology, Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, 2018, New Series (9),
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Pratna Samiksha
A Journal of Archaeology

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Volume 9

2018

CENTRE FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES & TRAINING

EASTERN INDIA • KOLKATA

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 Contents

EXPLORATIONS
Reconnaissance in Search of Sarutaru
Jitendra Kumar and Sukanya Sharma 1

EPIGRAPHY
Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal
Arlo Griffiths 15
An Inscription of the Western Calukya King Vikramaditya VI Tribhuvanamalla
Nupur Dasgupta 59
Inscribed Buddhist Images and Copperplates from Odisha:
An Analysis of the Social Background of Donors and Issues of
Brahmanical-Buddhist Relations
Umakanta Mishra 69

SCULPTURE
New Sculptural Evidence from the Lower Ajay River Valley
(District Birbhum, West Bengal)
Shubha Majumder and Pampa Biswas 95
A Rock-cut Panel of Heruka-Nairatma and an Unrecorded Female Figure
from Unakoti, Tripura
Priyanku Chakraborty 103

ARCHAEOMETRY
Understanding Ancient Iron Technology of the Vidarbhan Megalithic:
An Archaeo-Metallurgical and Ethnographic Perspective
Oishi Roy and K. Krishnan 115

NOTE
An Inscribed Stone Sculpture of ‘Marici’ from Birbhum (West Bengal)
in the Gurusaday Museum (Kolkata)
Rajat Sanyal and Sharmila Saha 137
Few Recently Reported Sculptures from Pali (District Gaya, South Bihar)
Kumkum Bandyopadhyay 147

A Note on an Old Bridge of Pandua

Pratip Kumar Mitra 153
EPIGRAPHY

Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal

ARLO GRIFFITHS
École française d’Extrême-Orient (Paris)
UMR 5189 Histoire et Sources des Mondes Antiques (Lyon)

Abstract : A recent volume of Pratna Samiksha (New Series 6, 2015) contained the publication of two land-sale
grants relating to the history of ancient Pupdravardhana, the first dated to year 159 of the Gupta era and the
second dated to year 5 of a king Pradyumnabandhu who must have ruled in the period immediately following
the disappearance of Gupta rule in Bengal. This paper will present four further copperplate inscriptions that
have recently become available for study, and extend the corpus of Gupta-period land-sale grants from 12 to
16 items. As is the rule in the early epigraphy of Bengal, the grants are composed in Sanskrit. Three of the new
plates are rather heavily corroded, but nevertheless largely decipherable, while only a fragment is preserved of
the fourth. Among the points of interest in these new documents are several coin terms previously unattested
in Bengal, or previously unattested anywhere at all in Indian epigraphy; further occurrences of the toponymic
element gohali, here interpreted for the first time as meaning ‘hamlet’; possible evidence of territorial extension
into southwestern Bengal; and a donation to a group of three Jaina monasteries—the third such event we now
have on record in early Bengal—with important implications for the history of Jaina monasticism.

Keywords : Pupdravardhana, Bengal, copperplate inscription, Sanskrit, land-sale grant, Jainism,

Baigram, Raktamala, Tavira, gohali, karxapapa, papa, rupaka.

I. Introduction sale grants, a type of document characteristic for

the epigraphy of Bengal in the Gupta period;
Preliminary remarks such grants are not royal inscriptions, but
When in 2015 I published a land-sale grant records, formulated in Sanskrit prose, of a local
concerning an estate (agrahara) called ‘Major transaction in which a private party, wishing to
Red Garland’ (mahati-raktamala) in the pages make merit, pays local authorities so that a piece
of this journal, I discussed its seal and used as of waste land (khilakxetra) can be transferred to
illustration a photo of another copperplate with
a Brahmin or other religious beneficiary.2 The
the same seal. At the time, I was only aware of
purpose of this article is to publish these three
the existence of that other copperplate but had
new Gupta-period land-sale grants that have
no information as to where it was preserved, nor
become available for study since 2015, along with
any photographs of sufficient quality to decipher
much more than its seal legend. Photographs of the hitherto unpublished fragment of a plate of
another plate, this one totally bent so that I did whose existence I became aware only when most
not even begin to contemplate the possibility of of the following pages had already been written.
its decipherment, were also communicated to me Although this article is not the place for a
in 2015. In the course of the same year I was systematic evaluation of the implications of these
contacted by a private collector and requested to texts for prevalent views on the history of early
decipher the first of these unpublished plates; the Bengal, I will nonetheless have occasion to single
same collector acquired the second plate in the out some historical conclusions to which I have
course of 2016, and turned out to own already been led by the study of these new documents
a third Gupta-period plate that was entirely against the background of a fresh study of the
unknown to me.1 These new inscriptions are land- related documents that were known so far.
Pratna Samiksha, New Series 9, 2018. © Centre for Archaeological
Studies & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata, pp. 15–57.
16 ARLO GRIFFITHS

The corpus of Gupta-period land-sale grants Previous generations of scholars were dealing
The following table is a revised and expanded with inscriptions that reached them from the
version of the one that was included in my previous field along with information on provenance that
article (2015, Table 1: ‘Gupta-period copperplate tended to be relatively precise, generally to the
inscriptions of Bengal’), now bringing to 16 the village level. Despite the fact that village names
total number of known land-sale grants dating such as Damodarpur or Baigram are of common
to the Gupta period.3 Except in cases where the occurrence in the landscape of Bengal, it is
relevant portion is lost or illegible, these records possible to identify most provenances on modern
are dated in an unspecified year (salvat) which maps with a satisfactory degree of certainty. In
is interpreted by all specialists as expressing the the table, I have recorded what seemed to be
Gupta era.4 With only one exception, they are the most plausible administrative identifications,
of certain or likely provenance in Bengal. The relying on colonial-period publications and
exception is the Nandapur plate, which seems to recent survey work by archaeologists on both
pertain to the area where it was found, in what sides of the India-Bangladesh border.6 These
is today the Indian state of Bihar, but this is known provenances are also shown here in a map
directly upstream on the Ganges from the main (Pl. 1).
concentration of known find-spots, in the wedge The reality of copperplate discoveries in
between the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, Bangladesh and India today is that new finds
corresponding to what are today Rajshahi and are more often than not filtered directly to the
Rangpur Divisions of Bangladesh. antiquities market, and hence come to scholars
A notable feature of this small corpus—not without any reliable or in any case no precise
untypical, I fear, for South Asian copperplate information on provenance. The regrettable
inscriptions in general—, is that of all 11 plates consequences for archaeological and historical
published before 2015, the present place of study are many and well known to the readers
conservation is known for only 4. These are the of this journal. But there is also a very practical
Dhanaidaha, Jagadishpur and Baigram plates, problem that arises in the case of copperplates
whose present places of conservation at the Indian of unknown provenance, namely how to
Museum in Kolkata and the Varendra Research designate them. In his handbook Indian Epigraphy,
Museum at Rajshahi have been identified by R. Salomon (1998: 328) describes his own
Ryosuke Furui; the fourth is the Nandapur plate, practice as follows:
and this seems to be kept in the Indian Museum Inscriptions are cited by their generally accepted
as well, if one may rely on information from the designations, normally referring to their original
Museums of India website, which shows colour findspot, if known, or sometimes to a geographical
photos of the Nandapur plate although it does name in the inscription itself (typically the name
not identify the inscription as such. Most of the of a village granted in a copperplate charter, e.g.,
plates that were stated to be kept at the Varendra ‘Marmuri copperplate ins.’). Inscriptions whose
Research Society (presently the Varendra provenance is unknown are usually designated by
Research Museum), in Rajshahi, according to their present location (e.g., ‘Bombay Royal Asiatic
reports of the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s, seem Society copperplate ins.’) or by the name of the
no longer to be found there today. 5 And the issuing authority (e.g., ‘Indravarman relic casket
ins.’).
photos of the Nandapur plate on the Museums
of India website are not of sufficient quality to In the case of the corpus of land-sale
allow reading of the text. This means that for grants in question, scholars have so far been
8 out of 11 previously published plates, critical able to designate the plates with reference to
reexamination of published readings is possible their provenance. The plate published in my
only on the basis of published facsimiles—and 2015 article (Raktamala #1 in the table) is
these are not always of high quality. the first one where this approach fails, as its
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 17

Pl. 1. Map of Bengal showing the provenances of the land-sale grants of the Gupta-period
(Drawn by Pierre Pichard, 2018)

provenance is unknown. The table also shows Abbreviations

that systematic designation on the basis of any
ARASI Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey
other imaginable criterion—such as place of of India
issue, village(s) concerned, name(s) of petitioner ARIE Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy
or beneficiary—is impossible because there is EI Epigraphia Indica
not a single distinctive category of information EIAD Early Inscriptions of Andhradesa.
known for every inscription. The designations See the database http://epigraphia.efeo.fr/
for the unprovenanced new plates proposed in andhra.
the table are therefore based on a pragmatic IN Inventory number in ‘the’ South Asian
mix of criteria involving names of villages and Inscriptions database http://siddham.uk,
petitioners contained in these new documents. which contains editions by Dániel Balogh.
Inscriptions designated on the basis of elements
of contents will be called ‘X grant’, while those
designated after provenance will be called ‘X
plate’.7
18 ARLO GRIFFITHS

table : Gupta-period land-sale grants from Bengal

Designation Issued from Concerns village(s) Petitioner(s) Beneficiary/ Seal(s)

Beneficiaries

Dhanaidaha ? ? ? brahmapa no seal

Varahasvamin preserved

Kalaikuri- Srogaveravaitheya- Hastisirxa, Vibhitaki, group led brahmapas Devabhatta, no seal

Sultanpur Purpakausika Gulmagandhika and by the kulika Amaradatta and preserved
Dhanyapatalika Bhima Mahasenadatta

Damodarpur not specified not specified brahmapa same as petitioner no seal

#1 Karpatika preserved

Jagadishpur Srogaveravaitheya- Gulmagandhika kutumbin(s) monastery at no seal

Purpakausika Kxemaka, Mecikamrasiddhayatana, preserved
Bhoyila and and monastery at
Mahidasa Gulmagandhika as
well as temple of
Sahasrarasmi

Damodarpur not specified Airavatagorajya lost same as petitioner no seal

#2 preserved
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 19

salvat Lines dimensions weight Original locality Last known Bhandarkar References
(obv. + rev.) of support (g) locality (source) (1929) no.
(cm)
H W

113 17 13 14 ? Dhanaidaha, Varendra 1267 Bandhyopadhyaya

(17 + 0) Duaria Union, Research (Banerji) 1909: 459–61,
Lalpur Subdt., Museum, pl. XX; Basak 1923–4,
Natore Dt., Rajshahi, pl.; Sircar 1965, III,
Rajshahi Div., without inv. no. no. 16, pp. 287–9;
Bangladesh (Furui, autopsy Bhandarkar 1981:
July 2009) 273–6, pl.; Agrawala
1983: 36–7, no. 22, pl.;
IN00023.
120 34 13.7 24.1 ? Sultanpur, Varendra — Sircar 1943, pl.; Sanyal
Vaisakha 1 (16 + 18) near Naogaon Research 1955–6; ARIE 1956–7,
town, Naogaon Society, A.110; Sircar 1965, III,
Dt.—but the Rajshahi (ARIE no. 40A, pp. 352–5,
plate may also 1955–6) pl. XLVIII–XLIX; not
have come included in Bhandarkar
from Kalaikuri, 1981; Agrawala 1983:
Adamdighi 127–30, no. 64, pl.;
Subdt., Bogra IN00074.
Dt., Rajshahi
Div., Bangladesh
124 13 10.8 16.2 130 Uttar Varendra 1271 Basak 1919–20a:
Phalgupa 7 (8 + 5) Damodarpur, Research 129–32, pl.; Sircar
Eluary Union, Society, 1965, III, no. 18,
Phulbari Subdt., Rajshahi pp. 290–2; Bhandarkar
Dinajpur Dt., (Bhandarkar 1981: 282–7, pl.;
Rangpur Div., 1929) Agrawala 1983: 44–5,
Bangladesh no. 27, pl.; IN00026.
128 29 11.9 19 367 Jagadishpur, Varendra — Sircar 1969; Siddhanta
Caitra 20 (14 + 15) Silmaria Union, Research 1972; Sircar 1973:
Puthia Subdt., Museum, 8–14, 61–3, pl. I–II;
Rajshahi Dt. Rajshahi, not included in
and Div., without inv. no. Bhandarkar 1981;
Bangladesh (Furui, autopsy Agrawala 1983: 51–4,
July 2009) no. 30, pl.; IN00062.
128 13 8.2 15.2 183 Uttar Varendra 1272 Basak 1919–20a: 132–
Vaisakha 13 (8 + 5) Damodarpur, Research 4, pl.; Dikshit 1923–4;
Eluary Union, Society, Sircar 1965, III, no. 19,
Phulbari Subdt., Rajshahi pp. 292–4; Bhandarkar
Dinajpur Dt., (Bhandarkar 1981: 288–91, pl.;
Rangpur Div., 1929) Agrawala 1983: 46–7,
Bangladesh no. 28, pl.; IN00028.

cont.
20 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Designation Issued from Concerns village(s) Petitioner(s) Beneficiary/ Seal(s)

Beneficiaries

Baigram Pañcanagari Trivrta and Srigohali kutumbins temple of no seal

Bhoyila and Govindasvamin preserved
Bhaskara, sons
of Sivanandin

Baigram ? mentions Vatagohali mentions ? no seal

fragment and Srigohali Sivanandin preserved

Tavira ? Vidalaka and vixayapati brahmapa Guhadaman no seal

Sannahakutumbaka Dvipasoma preserved

Raktamala #1 Mahati- Khuddi-raktamalika brahmapa same as petitioner primary

raktamalagrahara Nandabhuti legible,
secondary
mostly
illegible

Raktamala #2 ? lavilintyagrahara Khuddi-raktamalika kulaputra brahmapa Yasobhuti primary

Gapadatta legible,
secondary
illegible

Paharpur Pupdravardhana Vatagohali, brahmapa monastery at Vatagohali no seal

Prxthimapottaka, Nathasarman preserved
Goxatapuñjaka and and his wife
Bilvagohali Rami
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 21

salvat Lines dimensions weight Original locality Last known Bhandarkar References
(obv. + rev.) of support (g) locality (source) (1929) no.
(cm)
H W

128 25 12.5 22.5 ? Baigram, Indian 2114 Basak 1931–2; ARASI

Magha 19 (15 + 10) Boaldar Union, Museum, 1934–5, 42; ARIE
Hakimpur Kolkata, acc. 1956–7, A.15 and
Subdt., no. A20047/ 1961–2, A.22; Sircar
Dinajpur Dt., 9084 (Furui, 1965, III, no. 41,
Rangpur Div., autopsy August pp. 355–9, pl. L–LI;
Bangladesh 2011) Chakravarti 1977:
12–13; not included
in Bhandarkar 1981;
Agrawala 1983: 48–50,
no. 29, pl.; IN000061.
? remnants 4.9 4.7 ? Baigram, Indian — http://museumsofindia.
of 6 lines Boaldar Union, Museum, gov.in/repository/
on both Hakimpur Kolkata, acc. record/im_kol-A20050-
sides Subdt., no. A20050/ 9085-18. This article,
Dinajpur Dt., 9085 (Furui, inscription no. 4.
Rangpur Div., autopsy August
Bangladesh 2011)
159 22 15.3 32.7 ? unknown private — This article, inscription
Jyextha 1 (11 + 11) collection no. 2.
(Griffiths,
autopsy January
2016)
159 26 11 22.6 800 unknown collection — Griffiths 2015: 16–27,
Jyextha 8 (12 + 14) Noman figs 1–5.
Nasir, Dhaka
(Griffiths,
autopsy
November
2017)
1xx 26 14 23 ? unknown private — This article, inscription
X 13 (15 + 11) collection no. 1.
(Griffiths,
autopsy January
2016)
159 25 11.4 18.4 338 Paharpur, Indian Museum 2037 Dikshit 1929–30, pl.;
Magha 7 (12 + 13) Badalgacchi (ARIE 1956–7, Sircar 1965, III,
Subdt., A.14, with no. 42, pp. 359–63; not
Naogaon Dt., question mark) included in Bhandarkar
Rajshahi Div., 1981; Agrawala 1983:
Bangladesh 98–100, no. 50, pl.;
IN00065.

cont.
22 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Designation Issued from Concerns village(s) Petitioner(s) Beneficiary/ Seal(s)

Beneficiaries

Damodarpur Palasavrndaka Capdagrama gramika Nagadeva, on behalf no seal

#3 Nabhaka of some brahmapas preserved

Damodarpur not specified Doogagrama srexthin temple of seal

#4 Ribhupala Kokamukhasvamin preserved
and but too
Svetavarahasvamin corroded
to be
legible

Nandapur Amvilagramagrahara Jaogoyikagrama vixayapati brahmapa … svamin seal

Chattramaha preserved
but too
corroded
to be
legible

Nagavasu Pupdravardhana Sixipuñja, Nagavasu monasteries no seal

Madhyamasrgalika at Sixipuñja, preserved
and Madhyamasrgalika
Gramakutagohali and
Gramakutagohali
Damodarpur not specified Lavaogasika, kulaputra temple of preserved
#5 Satuvanasramaka Amrtadeva Svetavarahasvamin
and Paraspatika
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 23

salvat Lines dimensions weight Original locality Last known Bhandarkar References
(obv. + rev.) of support (g) locality (source) (1929) no.
(cm)
H W

163 (?) 13 8.3 19.7 152 Uttar Varendra 1286 Basak 1919–20a,
Axadha 13 (8 + 5) Damodarpur, Research pp. 134–7, pl.; Sircar
Eluary Union, Society, 1965, III, no. 34,
Phulbari Rajshahi pp. 332–4;
Subdt., (Bhandarkar Bhandarkar 1981:
Dinajpur Dt., 1929) 335–9, pl.; Agrawala
Rangpur Div., 1983: 102–3, no. 52,
Bangladesh pl.; IN00044.
a year during 18 12.1 18.1 316 Uttar Varendra 1550 Basak 1919–20a,
reign of (12 + 6) Damodarpur, Research pp. 137–41, pl.;
Budhagupta, Eluary Union, Society, Sircar 1965, III,
Phalguna 15 Phulbari Rajshahi no. 36, pp. 336–9;
Subdt., (Bhandarkar Bhandarkar 1981:
Dinajpur Dt., 1929) 342–5, pl.; Agrawala
Rangpur Div., 1983: 104–6, no. 53,
Bangladesh pl.; IN00046.
169 19 11.6 19 ? Nandpur, Asiatic — Majumdar 1935–6,
Vaisakha (15 + 4) Surajgarha Society, pl.; Sircar 1965, III,
sukla 7 Subdt., Calcutta no. 48A,
Lakhisarai Dt., (Majumdar pp. 382–4; IN00133;
Bihar State, 1935–6) not included in
India but Indian Bhandarkar 1981
Museum nor in Agrawala
according to 1983; shown without
Museums of identification
India (2018) on http://
museumsofindia.
gov.in/repository/
record/im_kol-
SL-49-86.
198 27 13.5 23 ? unknown private — This article,
Sravapa x (14 + 13) collection inscription no. 3.
(Griffiths,
autopsy
January 2016)
224 22 9.8 16.2 263 Uttar Varendra 1307 Basak 1919–20a:
(13 + 9) Damodarpur, Research 141–5, pl.; Dikshit
Eluary Union, Society, 1923–4; Sircar 1965,
Phulbari Rajshahi III, no. 39, pp. 346–
Subdt., (Bhandarkar 50; Bhandarkar
Dinajpur Dt., 1929) 1981: 360–4, pl.;
Rangpur Div., Agrawala 1983:
Bangladesh 123–5, no. 62, pl.;
Griffiths 2015: 16;
IN00056.
24 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Editorial methodology and conventions best I could, I turned to the study of the new
While what little remains of the new plate from additions to this corpus of inscriptions.
Baigram is in very good state, the three other new The conventions adopted for editing them
plates are all in relatively bad physical condition, here are essentially the same as those adopted in
being heavily affected by corrosion and having my previous article (Griffiths 2015), but it seems
suffered from unprofessional attempts to remove useful to repeat their description. In my editions,
line numbers are indicated in parentheses and
the effects of oxidation. Were it not for a number
marked off from the text proper by use of bold
of favourable factors, it would probably have been
typeface. Prose parts of the inscriptions are run
impossible to read enough of these documents to
together into single paragraphs; stanzas (with
translate them. These favourable factors are (i)
one exception all in anuxtubh metre) are always
the strongly formulaic and repetitive nature of
indicated as such by a special layout and roman
these records, which were drawn up largely in stanza numbering. I strive to keep my edited
prose, making it possible to restore many lacunae texts as free as possible from editorial elements
on the basis of text-internal comparison; (ii) not reflecting anything in the original, and do
the fact that there are a substantial number of not mark emendations in the text, but relegate
contemporary documents of the same type (as these to a separate section, presented line-by-line
listed above), making it possible to rely on external below each inscription, containing notes on my
comparison in an effort to understand what the readings and on necessary emendations. Slight
scribes may have wanted to say in damaged deviations from the modern academic norm of
passages and more generally to determine Sanskrit orthography, of the type commonly
what their words were intended to mean; and found in ancient manuscripts and inscriptions,
(iii) the fact that I was able to study three of are generally not indicated. The following further
the four inscriptions first through autopsy and editorial signs are used:
subsequently on the basis of very-high-resolution (…) graphic elements whose reading is uncertain
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), 8 […] graphic elements wholly lost or wholly
making it possible to visualise these documents unreadable on the plate but restorable on the
on my computer and bring out parts of akxaras basis of philological considerations
that would have remained invisible with more /…\ secondary insertions made by the engraver
conventional means of reproduction. below the line
These factors determined my editorial _ one totally illegible or lost akxara
◊ space left blank by the engraver to mark a
methodology, which has been to undertake first
break in the text
a renewed study of all published documents for
⨆ space for one akxara left blank by the engraver
which good visual documentation is available, for no evident reason
either in the form of colour photographs kindly # an illegible sign that must have been a numeral
put at my disposal by Ryosuke Furui (for the °V a vowel that forms an akxara,
Dhanaidaha, Jagadishpur, and Baigram plates i.e. ‘independent vowel’, of the type V
singled out on p. 16) or in the form of published C* a consonant C stripped of its inherent vowel
photos of estampages. This renewed study has by other means than an explicit virama sign
made it possible to arrive at sometimes significantly (e.g. by reducing the size of the akxara or
otherwise differentiating its shape from the
improved readings and translations of known
normal akxara with inherent vowel)
inscriptions, with the benefit of knowledge of a /// left or right end of the fragment
broad sample of epigraphic documents of this
type, that the pioneers of the first half of the
twentieth century, who deciphered the first land-
sale grants to be discovered, naturally could not
bring to bear. Having thus prepared myself as
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 25

II. The New Inscriptions precise can be said than that it fell in the second
No. 1: A second grant concerning the Raktamala century of the Gupta era and on the thirteenth
day of an indeterminable month.
estate
This plate measures 14 cm in height and 23 cm T ext and T ranslation
in width. To its left margin is attached a seal seals
showing the Gajalakxmi device, about 5.5 cm in
diameter. A subsidiary seal has been stamped in The primary seal with its legend is identical to
the right side of the primary seal, but its device that affixed to the other Raktamala grant (#1),
and legend, if there was any, have become and has been discussed in my previous study
unrecognisable due to corrosion. It seems to be (Griffiths 2015: 18–19).
due to the process of soldering the seal to the primary seal ( Pl. 2)
plate that akxaras of the text have been lost at the
beginning of lines 5 through 11 (on the obverse), (1) maddhyamaxapdikavithyayuktakadhi-
and 22 through 25 (on the reverse); like the seal, (2) karapasya
the plate itself has suffered badly from corrosion, ‘Of the council of officers of the division
but it has been possible to read or restore almost (vithi) of Madhyamaxapdika.’
the whole of its text—15 lines on the obverse, 11 secondary seal ( Pl. 3)
on the reverse.
This inscription is issued from a Brahmin illegible
estate (agrahara) whose name cannot be restored obverse ( Pl. 4)
completely but seems to have ended in the
syllables lavilinti. It figures a princely advisor (1) [sva](sti) _ lavilintyagraharad
(kumaramatya), whose name may tentatively be bhattaraka[pa]danuddhyatah kumaram(a)-
restored as Gopala, addressing himself, along [tyag](o)pal[o] dhikarapa(2)[ñ] ca (khuddi)-
with the council, to householders at ‘Minor Red raktamalikayal brahmapottaran sakxudrapra-
Garland’ (khuddi-raktamalika) to order execution dhana(kutu)mbinah k(u)[sa](la)m uktva
of a donation petitioned and paid for by a bodhayanti (3) vijñapaya(t)i [no] maha(ti)-
Gapadatta from the agrahara called ‘Major Red raktamalagraharavastavyakula(p)uttrakaga(pa)-
Garland’ (mahati-raktamala), toponyms which da(tta) °ihavithy(a) pal(4)pyavastuxu karx(a)-
we have already encountered in the Raktamala papasatena sas[v]a(tka)lopabhogyo kxayapivi-
grant #1 (Griffiths 2015). He spent a sum of 200 dharmepa samudayavahyaprati(5)(ka)rakhila-
rupaka coins, ‘measured by the customary rupaka kxettrakulyavapavikrayo nuvrr(tta)[s ta]d aha
of eight papas’, which according to this inscription matapi[ttro]r anugrahepatraiva mahati(6)[ra]-
seems to have been equivalent to 100 karxapapa ktamalagraharavastavyacaturvvidy[a](bhyanta)-
coins, for a single kulyavapa of waste land to be rav[a]jisaneyi(kaut)sa(sa)gotrabrahmapayas(o)-
given to the Brahmin Yasobhuti, resident in the bhu(7)[ti]put[r]apautraprapautradibhi(r
same agrahara. A record-keeper (pustapala) named bhojyam akxaya)pividharmmepa samudaya-
Kesavadatta figures both as authority confirming bah(y)apratikarakhilakxe(8)[trakulyava]-
the local price of such land and, at the end, as pa[m e]kal kritva datum icchamy arhatha
affixer of the seal. The fact that this inscription matto nuvrttaxtapapaka(ru)[pa](ke)peva
mentions the coin terms papa and karxapapa, rupaka[sata](9)[dva]yam upasa[l]grhya
previously unattested in any Gupta-period khuddiraktamalikagra(me) samudayavahy(a)-
inscription, lends it particular interest. Three of pratika(ra)khilakxetrakulyavapal (10)
the usual admonitory stanzas on land donation (da)tum iti tatra pustapala(kesa)vadatta-
are cited in the final part of the inscription, vadharapayavadhrta(m asti)ha(v)ithya papya-
which closes with a colophon containing a date (vastu)[xu] (11) [ka](rxa)pa(pa)[sate]na
which is so poorly preserved that nothing more sasvakalopabhogyo kxayapividharmmepa
26 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Pl. 2. Primary seal of the Raktamala grant #2 (Photo Arlo Griffiths, 2016)

Pl. 3. Secondary seal of the Raktamala grant #2 (Photo James Miles, 2017)
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 27

samudayavahyapratikarakhila(12)(kxe)- plate: ihavithyam apratikarakhilakxetrasya

travikra/yo\ nuvrttah tad(v)ikray[e]pa ca sasvatkalopabhogayakxayanivya
na kas cid virodh(o) bhattarakapada(na)m dvidinarikyakhilakxetrakulyabapavikrayamaryadaya
urtthopaca(yo) (13) [dharmma]xadbhag(ava)- (ll. 12–13); ihavithyam apratikarakhilakxettrasya
sasvatkalopabhogayakxayanivya
[pti]s ca tad asmad api kulaputrakagapadattad
dvidinarikyakulyabapavikkrayo nuvrttas (ll. 18–19).
anuvrttaxtapa(pakaru)pake(14)pa rupa[ka]sata- 4. kxayapivi-: emend kxayanivi-. The same spelling p
dvayam upasalg[r](h)[ya bra](hma)payaso- for n in the word akxayanivi recurs several times
bhuteh tatputrapautraprapautradi(bho- in this inscription and further instances will
jya)(15)m akxaya(pivi)[dha](rmme)[pa] not be noted.
5. aha: emend ahal.
reverse ( Pl. 5) 6. -v[a]jisaneyi-: emend -vajasaneyi- or -vajasaneya-.
(16) samudayabahya[pratikara]khilakxetra- The same spelling -vajisaneyi- is found in the
kulyavapa _ _ _ _ _ raktamalikagrame diyatam Tavira grant, l. 9; we read -vajasaneya- in
Raktamala #1, ll. 3 and 15, but -vajisaneya- in
iti (17) yato yuxman bodhayamas tad anena
Kalaikuri-Sultanpur, l. 14.
yathoparilikhitakavijñapitaka _ _ (r)ita _ _ _ _
8. -(ru)[pa](ke)peva: emend -rupakepaiva.
(18) tattra grame samudayavahyapratikara- 10. -(v)ithya: emend -vithyal.
khilakxettrakulyava(pa)m ekal dattal _ _ _ 11. sasvakalopa-: emend sasvatkalopa-. The same error
_ _ _ _ _ (19) samudayavahyapratikarakhila- is found in the Tavira grant, ll. 11–12.
kxetrakulyavap(e) kutumbinal karxxap(a)vi- 12. urtthopaca(yo): emend artthopacayo. Cf. the
ro[dhistha]ne _ _ _ (20) savisvasenadhi- Paharpur plate, l. 16.
karapena vixayakulakutumbibhis ca saheto 16. -vapa _ _ _ _ rakta-: the word khuddi can almost
n(i)tikaratnyah (°axtaka)[navakana](21)labhyam certainly be filled in to restore part of the
lacuna (cf. l. 9). The remaining gap can
apaviñchya pari[n]iyamya ca dasyatha datva
be filled with less certainty. My translation
(ca) sasvatkalo(pa)bhogyam a[kxayapivi- presumes -kulyavapa[m ekal khuddi]raktamalika-
dha](22)[rmme]panupalayixyathet(i) ◊ °uktañ grame.
ca ◊ 17. anena yathoparilikhitakavijñapitaka _ _ (r)ita _ _ _ _:
I. xaxtim barxxasahasrapi sva[rgge] vasa[ti my translation presumes the restoration anena
yathoparilikhitakavijñapitakavadharitakramepa. Cf.
bhumidah]
the Paharpur plate, l. 18: vijñapitakakramopa-
(23) [°a]kxepta canumanta ca tany eva yogayoparinirddixtagramagohalikexu; the Damodar-
narake vaset* 1 ◊ pur plate #3, l. 6 yatah pustapalapatradasenava-
II. pu[r]vvada[tta](n dvija)tibhyo [yatnad dharital yuktam anena vijñapitam; the Kotalipada
rakxa yu]dhi(24)[xthi]ra plate (Furui 2013), ll. 13–14 yata °etad abhya-
mahi mahimatañ cch(r)extha danac chreyo rthanam adhikrtyasmabhih pustapalajayatsenakrta-
nupalana(m*) 1 ◊ vadharapayavadharitam astiha vixaye … .
III. sva(dattal) paradatta(m ba yo) hare[ta 18. It seems likely that the illegible sequence
vasundha](25)[ral] at the end of the line is to be restored as
°akxayanividharmmepa. Despite the redundancy
svavixtha[yal krmir] (bhu)tva pitrbhih
that results with the expression that occurs
saha pacyateti 1 ◊ again in ll. 21–2, I presume this restoration in
samva 100 ## # _ _ _ di (26) 10 3 ◊ my translation.
likhi[tal] _ _ pa 1 tapital kesavadattena 19. karxxap(a)vi[rodhistha]ne: the restoration is
based on numerous parallel passages, e.g. the
Notes on readings Nandapur plate, l. 13.
22–5. Emended text of the three admonitory
2. sakxudra-: emend sakxudra-.
stanzas:
3–4. °ihavithya palpyavastuxu: emend °ihavithyal
papyavastuxu. Cf. l. 10 below, and similar I. xaxtivarxasahasrapi svarge vasati bhumidah
passages in the Kalaikuri-Sultanpur akxepta canumanta ca tany eva narake vaset
28 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Pl. 4. Obverse of the Raktamala grant #2 (Photo Arlo Griffiths, 2016)

Pl. 5. Reverse of the Raktamala grant #2 (Photo James Miles, 2017)

 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 29

III. purvadattal dvijatibhyo yatnad rakxa revenue charges and yields no tax, to be enjoyed
yudhixthira in perpetuity in accordance with the law on
mahil mahimatal srextha danac chreyo permanent endowments, is customary for one
’nupalanam hundred karxapapas. And no conflict of interest
III. svadattam paradattal va yo hareta
(virodha) whatsoever [will result] through its sale:
vasundharam
sa vixthayal krimir bhutva pitrbhis saha
[on the contrary,] for His Majesty [there will be]
pacyate increase of wealth and attainment of one sixth
of the merit. Hence (tad), after receipt of two
T ranslation hundred rupakas, [measured] by the customary
(1–2) Hail! From the … lavilinti 9 agrahara, the rupaka of eight papas, also from this Gapadatta,
princely advisor Gopala, favoured by the feet of son of a good family, one kulyavapa of waste land
the Lord,10 and the council, greet the landholders that is without revenue charges and yields no
(kutumbin) 11 both prominent and modest, tax in the village Minor Red Garland is to be
Brahmins being foremost among them, in the given to the Brahmin Yasobhuti, to be enjoyed
[village called] ‘Minor Red Garland’ (khuddi by his sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, and so
raktamalika) and they inform (as follows): on, in accordance with the law on permanent
(3–10) Gapadatta, son of a good family endowments.’
residing in the agrahara ‘Major Red Garland’ (17–22) Wherefore we inform you: that one
(mahati raktamala), petitions us (as follows): ‘With kulyavapa of waste land without revenue charges
respect to vendible properties in this division, and yielding no tax, as per the above-written
the custom is sale for one hundred karxapapas procedure of request and confirmation, has
of a kulyavapa of waste land which is without been given by him in that village. Regarding the
revenue charges and yields no tax, to be enjoyed kulyavapa of waste land that is without revenue
in perpetuity in accordance with the law on charges and yields no tax [which has been
permanent endowments. Therefore, having given] in accordance with the law on permanent
purchased in this very location (atraiva) one endowments, in a place which poses no obstacle
kulyavapa of waste land that is without revenue to the agricultural activities of the landholders,
charges and yields no tax, for the (spiritual) in the company of council that enjoys our
benefit of my mother and father,12 I wish to give confidence and the landholders of good families
[that land], to be enjoyed in accordance with the of the district, you shall give [this land] after
law on permanent endowments by the Brahmin dividing and demarcating [it] from this14 with
Yasobhuti of the Kautsa gotra, a Vajasaneyin eight by nine of the governmental (nitika)15 cubits.
belonging to the community of [Brahmins] And having given it, you shall protect it to be
studying the four Vedas residing in the ‘Major enjoyed in perpetuity in accordance with the law
Red Garland’ agrahara, by his sons, grandsons, on permanent endowments.
great-grandsons, and so on. Having received (22–6) And it has been said:
from me two hundred rupakas, [measured] by
none other than the customary rupaka of eight I. The giver of land resides sixty thousand
papas,13 be so kind as to give a kulyavapa of waste years in heaven; the one who challenges
land that is without revenue charges and yields (a donation) as well as the one who approves
no tax, in the village ‘Minor Red Garland’.’ (of the challenge) will reside as many [years]
(10–16) In that regard (tatra), it has been in hell.
confirmed through investigation by the record- II. You, Yudhixthira, most excellent of kings,
keeper Kesavadatta: ‘Indeed (asti), with respect must strenuously protect land previously
to vendible properties in this division, the sale given to Brahmins. Safeguarding is even
of [a kulyavapa of  ] waste land that is without better than giving.
30 ARLO GRIFFITHS

III. The one who would steal land given by much of this remains at present, although some
himself or another becomes a worm in attempt seems to have been made to remove the
excrement and is cooked with his ancestors. encrustation presumably at the same time that
Year 1??. Written by …; heated by Kesavadatta. the plate was unfolded.
The name of the place where this inscription
No. 2: A grant of land in the Tavira district was issued is unfortunately lost. An officer
This plate measures 15.3 cm in height and 32.7 (ayuktaka), whose name is not entirely preserved,
cm in width. In its left margin we see a circular addresses himself, along with the council, to
extension with a triangular hole in the middle: householders at the villages Vidalaka and
this is where a seal would originally have been Sannahakutumbaka, to order execution of a
affixed. The seal was already lost when the first donation paid for by Dvipasoma, chief of the
known photos of the plate were taken at an district named Tavira, who is represented by his
antique shop in Dhaka, showing it then to have son Varahasoma. He spent the sum of twenty-
been in fully bent state (Pls 6 and 7).16 When the four dinara coins, to purchase waste land to be
same plate was acquired by its present owner given to the Brahmin Guhadaman, a royal
in 2016, and photos were sent to me, I at first advisor (rajamatya) residing in a village the
did not recognise that these showed the same reading of whose name as Gacikuptaka is rather
as that previously photographed in folded state, tentative. A record-keeper named Sumati figures
because it had now been returned to its original, both as authority confirming the local price of a
flat state, the place of the former fold only being kulyavapa of waste land and, at the end, as scribe.
identifiable to one who has seen the plate in Three of the usual admonitory stanzas are cited
folded state. As shown in the ‘before’ photos, the at the end, but followed by a stanza not found
plate was covered with a thick greenish patina; in any other inscription. The grant closes with

Pl. 6. View of the Tavira grant in an antique shop in Dhaka, 2015. Lines 1–4 on the obverse are visible,
folded back over the reverse, where lines 12–13 and parts of lines 14–15 remain visible

Pl. 7. Side view of the Tavira grant in an antique shop in Dhaka, 2015
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 31

a colophon containing a date in year 159 of the °etadavadharapa(k)ramapyad etasmad

Gupta era. vixayapatidvipasomaputtravarahasomac
catuscatvarinsat* (15) d(i)naran
T ext and T ranslation upasa(l)gr(h)y(o)bhayor (b)vi(da)laka-
obverse ( Pl. 8) sannahakutumbakayor dvavinsatir apratikara-
(1) (sva)s(t)[i] _ _ _ _ (d a)yuktakagu _ khilakxettrakulyavap(a) datta(h) ku 20 2 yatra
ca(nd)r(o) dh[i]kara[pal] mahattara _ _ (pali) (16) vidalake kulyavapa dvadasa ku 10 2
_ _ _ _ _ (kr) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bha _ _ vi- sannahakutumbake kulyavapa dasa ku 10
rudrabrahma(2)senavixpudevasatyaghoxa- °eval ku 20 2 ◊ yuyal vixayamaryyadaya
sat(va)rakxitavanadamajayavix(pu)prabhudama- (17) °axtakanavakanalabhyam apavi(ñ)cchya
kutumbisatyavixpuskandavixpupraiya- kutumvinal karxapavirodhisthane (ca)tus-
vixpu(3)valapalagupadevagupasarmmabhava- simacihnaniyamitani krtva dasyatha (18)
devakupdakrx(p)a(°a) _ ciratavixpusambhukirtti- °akxayanividharmmena ca sasvatkalam anu-
(bhakt)idamamanahkrxpakxemarudrabhava- palayixya(the)ty ape ca vyasamanubhyam ukta
dama(4)lakx(m)a[pa](mittra)somavaladasajaya- slo(ka) [bha](vanti)
dasas(u)ogadamavyaghrasarmmasthavaradama- I. svadattam paradattal (va) (19) [yo hareta
yasodamadamodaradamakumaradama- va]sundharal
ga_(5)dama°adbhutavixpurajyasioha- sa vixthayal krmir bhutva pitrbhis saha
°upen(dra)palapremasio(ha)krxpasomarajya- pacyate ◊
somabhavadamapurogas ca vixayakutumbina[h] II. xaxtim varxasahasrapi svargge vasati
(6) vidalakasannahakutumbakayor bhumidah
brahmapottaran sakxudrapradhanadikutum- (20) °akxepta canumanta ca tany eva
binah ◊ kusalam asasya bodhayanti likhanti narake vaset* ◊
(7) ca (°iha)sman taviravixayapatidvipasomas III. purvvadattal dvijatibhyo yatnad rakxa
svaputtravarahasomena vijñapayati yuxmakam yudhixthira ◊
ihavixaye dvidina(8)rikyakulyavapena mahi mahimatal sre(21)xtha dapac chreyo
sasvatkalopabhogyo kxayanivikhilakxettra- nupala(n)am*
vikkrayo nuvrttas tad arhatha mamapy IV. de puruxasya bha(va)n(t)i ye sahaya
anenaiva kkramepa (s)va(9)pupyapyayanaya kaluxe karmmapi dharmma(sañcaye) _
ca gac(i)ku(pta)kavastavyakasyapasagottra- (°a)vagacchati (me) (22) ta(v)antara(tma)
vajisaneya(j)amatyabrahmapaguhadamnah niyatal te pi jana(s ta)dansabhaja °iti ◊
pañcamaha(10)yaj(ñ)anupravarttanaya matto sal 100 (50) 9 ◊ j(e)x(tha)di (1) ◊ li(khital) tepa
catuscatvarinsad dinaran upasa(o)grhya- to sumatina
pratikarakhilakxettrakulyavapa dvavinsatin
datum iti (11) yata[h] pustapala(s)umativira- Notes on readings
siohabhyam avadharapayotpannam asty ayam 2. -praiya-: emend -priya-?
asmadvixaye dvidinarikkyakulyava(p)ena sasva- 9. -vajisaneya(j)amatya-: emend -vajasaneyirajamatya-.
Cf. my note on Raktamala #2, l. 6.
reverse ( Pl. 9) 12. -kalopabhogyo: emend -tkalopabhogyo. The same
(12) kalopabhogyo vixayo kxaya(n)ivi(kh)ila- misspelling occurs in Raktamala #2, line 11.
kxettravikkra(yo) nuvrttas tad a(s)ya 12. vixayo: this word is intrusive and needs to be
deleted.
taviravixayapatidvipa(so)masya svaputtra(va)ra-
13. kebala bhattarakapadana(n dha)rmmaxadbhag(o):
(ha)(13)somena vijñapayato na kascid virodhah emend kevalal bhattarakapadanan
kebala bhattarakapadana(n dha)rmmaxad- dharmmaxadbhago. Cf. Damodarpur
bhag(o) vixayena ca sasvatkalam #5, ll. 12–13, published as kevalal
anupalaniy(o) (14) tad diyatam iti yata sriparamabhattarakapadena dharmapa[ra]tava-
Pl. 8. Obverse of the Tavira grant in unfolded state (Photo James Miles, 2017)
Pl. 9. Reverse of the Tavara grant in unfolded state (Photo James Miles, 2017)
34 ARLO GRIFFITHS

pti[h*], but certainly to be read/restored as occurring also in the Paharpur plate. But no
follows: kevalal sriparamabhattarakapadanal other sign for any of the multiples of 10 seems
dharmmaxadbhagavaptih. to be more plausible. See Pl. 11.
13. anupalaniy(o): the reading of the final akxara is 22. to sumatina: the akxara to likewise seems
very doubtful. If indeed there is the vowel -o, intrusive (cf. l. 11 sumati) and is ignored in my
as seems to be the case on some of the photos, translation.
then it needs to be emended to anupalaniyah or
anupalaniyam*. T ranslation
14. °etadavadharapa(k)ramapyad etasmad: the akxara (1–7) Hail! From ..., the officer ... -candra, the
pya is intrusive; emend °etadavadharapakramad council and the landholders of the district—led
etasmad. Cf. the Paharpur plate, l. 17 by the notables [names of about six persons
anenavadharapakkramepasmad; Damodarpur #5, undeterminable due to damage] -rudra, Brah-
l. 14 anenavadharapakramepa etasmad. masena, Vixpudeva, Satyaghoxa, Sattvarakxita,
15. (b)vi(da)laka-: emend vvidalaka-.
Vanadaman, Jayavixpu and Prabhudaman; and
17. -niyamitani: in the light of what precedes
by the landholders Satyavixpu, Skandavixpu,
one initially expects -niyamitah, but
see the Jagadishpur plate, line 22
Praiyavixpu (?), Balapala, Gupadeva, Gupasar-
catussimaniyamitakxetral. man, Bhavadeva, Kupdakrxpa, A...ciratavixpu
18. anupalayixya(the)ty ape: emend anupalayixyathety api. (?), 17 Sambhukirtti, Bhaktidaman (?), Manah-
18–21. The first three admonitory stanzas also figure krxpa, Kxemarudra, Bhavadaman, Lakxmapa,
in the preceding grant, and their emended text Mitrasoma, Baladasa, Jayadasa, Suogadaman,
has been cited above. Vyaghrasarman, Sthavaradaman, Yasodaman,
21–2. de: this akxara is intrusive and needs to be Damodaradaman, Kumaradaman, Ga...daman
deleted. The final admonitory stanza (?),18 Adbhutavixpu, Rajyasilha, Upendrapa-
(in Upodgata meter) may then tentatively be la, Premasilha, Krxpasoma, Rajyasoma and
emended as follows: Bhavadaman—greet the landholders at Vidal-
IV. puruxasya bhavanti ye sahayah aka and Sannahakutumbaka, both modest and
kaluxe karmapi dharmasañcaye va prominent, etc., Brahmins being foremost among
°avagacchati me yathantaratma them, inform them and write:
niyatal te ’pi janas tadalsabhaja °iti ◊ (7–10) Dvipasoma, chief of the Tavira district,
22. sal 100 (50) 9: the sign here read as 50 appears through his own son Varahasoma, petitions us
to have a somewhat different shape from here: ‘In your district here, the custom is sale
that seen in the Raktamala grant #1 (Pl. 10), of waste land as permanent endowment to be

Pl. 10. Close-up of the Raktamala grant #1, l. 26, Pl. 11. Close-up of the Tavira grant, l. 22,
showing figures 100 50 9 (Extracted from a photo by showing figures 100 (50) 9 (Extracted from RTI by
Arlo Griffiths, 2017) James Miles, 2017)
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 35

enjoyed in perpetuity with a kulyavapa for (the donation) as well as the one who condones
price of) two dinaras. Thus (tad) for me too, with (the challenge) will reside as many [years]
this very procedure and for the purpose of (my) in hell.
own merit being increased, be so kind as to take III. You, Yudhixthira, most excellent of kings,
from me forty-four dinaras and give twenty-two must strenuously protect land previously
kulyavapas of waste land that yields no tax to given to brahmins. Safeguarding is even
the Brahmin Guhadaman, a royal adviser and better than giving.
Vajasaneyin belonging to the Kasyapa gotra, IV. My inner spririt understands that those
residing at Gacikuptaka (?), for the purpose of the companions a man has in action that brings
regular performance of the five great sacrifices.’ defilement or for collecting merit inevitably
(11–16) Because it has appeared from the also get a share of it.
certification of the record-keepers Sumati Year 159, (month of) Jyextha, day 1. Written by
and Virasilha: ‘Indeed (asti), the custom in that Sumati.
our district is sale of waste land as permanent
endowment to be enjoyed in perpetuity with a No. 3: A grant of land to monasteries at Sixipuñja,
kulyavapa for (the price of) two dinaras, so that (tad) Madhyamasrgalika and Gramakutagohali
there is no conflict whatsoever (with the interests This plate measures 13.5 cm in height and
of the king) when this Dvipasoma, chief of the 23.3 cm in width. In its left margin we see a
Tavira district, respectfully requests (such a sale) semicircular extension with a rectangular hole in
through his own son Varahasoma, (but on the the middle: this is where a seal would originally
contrary) only the sixth share of the merit for his have been affixed. This seal is unfortunately lost.
majesty, and it is to be protected in perpetuity by The plate has suffered badly from corrosion, but
the district. So let the gift be made.’ Therefore, thanks to the repetition of long strings of text in
consequent to this procedure of investigation, two parts of the inscription it has been possible
twenty-two kulyavapas, ku 22, of waste land to read or restore most of it—14 lines on the
yielding no tax have been given at both Vidalaka obverse, 13 on the reverse. It records a donation
and Sannahakutumbaka—among which twelve in favour of three monasteries whose affiliation
kulyavapas, ku 12, in Vidala, ten kulyavapas, ku 10, with Jainism is revealed by a string of unique or
in Sannahakutumbaka, so ku 22—after having rarely attested terms (see pp. 45–50). The grant
taken forty-four dinaras from this Varahasoma, must be compared with the Jagadishpur plate,
son of the district chief Dvipasoma. dated to year 128, and the Paharpur plate, dated
(16–18) You shall19 separate them off using to year 159, both in favour of Jaina ascetics.
two reeds, eight by ninefold according to the This new grant is, like the Paharpur plate, issued
convention of the district, in a place that does not from the capital of Pupdravardhana. It figures
conflict with the cultivation of the landholders; anonymous officials addressing householders
shall make (the fields) delimited by markers of in the localities Sixipuñja, Madhyamasrgalika
the four boundaries; shall make the donation and and Gramakutagohali to order execution
shall protect it in perpetuity according to the law of a donation petitioned and paid for by a
on permanent endowments. certain Nagavasu. He spent a sum of 4 dinara
coins, for a total of 2 kulyavapas, covering three
(18–22) And there are also verses pronounced
distinct parcels of waste land, to be given to
by Vyasa and Manu:
the monasteries in the mentioned localities, for
I. The one who would steal land given by the sustenance of the monks, for the regular
himself or another becomes a worm in performance of worship, and for the maintenance
excrement and is cooked with his ancestors. of the buildings. A number of named record-
II. The giver of land resides sixty thousand keepers figure as authorities confirming the local
years in heaven; the one who challenges (a price of a kulyavapa of waste land. Two of the
36 ARLO GRIFFITHS

usual admonitory stanzas on land donation are adhixthit(ayo) bhaga(va)tam arhatal ga-
cited in the final part of the inscription, which ndha(18)dhupasumanodipabalicarunivedya-
closes with a colophon containing a date in the dipravarttanaya nigranthaputrajitana(19)gata-
month of Sravapa in year 198 of the Gupta era, bhyagatanan tanivasinañ ca[n]y(a)dyapipda-
corresponding to around 518 ce, making this the panipat(r)kadibhojyakhapda(20)phuttaprati-
latest inscription but one of the Gupta period in salskaradyarttha sixipuñjakhilakxettrasyardha-
the Pupdravardhana area. kulyavapa maddhyamasr(21)galikayal
khila(kx)ettrasya kulyavapal gramakupago-
T ext and T ranslation halyal khilakxettrasyarddhakulya(22)vapal
obverse ( Pl. 12) °eval samudayabahyapratikarakhilakxettrasya
(1) svast[i] pupdravarddhanad ayuktaka kulyavapadvayal da (23) viharatra(ya) tad
°adh[i]xthanadh[i](ka)rapañ ca (xa)pd(ika)- yuxmabhih svakarxapavirodhisthane xatkanalair
apavi(24)ñ(cch)ya datavyam akxayanividhar-
vith[e]ya[r](y)ya(g)r[ama](2)pravesyasixi-
mmepa ca sasvatkalam anupalyam iti °u(ktal)
puñjamaddhyamasrgalikayabjatatapagaccha-
(25) (bhagava)ta vyasena ◊
pravesyagramakutagohaly(al) (3) brahma-
padin kutumbinah kusalam uk[tvanu](bo)dha- I. svadattal paradattal va yo hareta
yanti vijñapayati na nagavasuh yu(xma)(4)da- vasundharal
dhikarap(e) dvidina(r)ikyakulyava(pe)[na] (sa)- sa vixth(a)y(al kri)(26)mi(r) bhutva
svatkalopabhojyakxayanividharmmepa pitrbhih saha pacyate ◊
samuda(5)yabahyapratikarakhilakxettravi- II. xaxtivarxasahasrapi svargge modati
kra(yo) nuv(r)ttas tad arhatha mamapy anenaiva bhumidah
kramepa sixi(6)puñja _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [°a](27)(kxepta canumanta ca tany eva
_ _ viha(ra)dvaya(l) g[ra](ma)kutagohalyal narake vaset*)
brahma(7)pa _ _ pdanakar(i)takavihara _ _ _ _ (sal 100) 90 8 sravapa di _
viharatrayasya (kx)amapacaryyajinadasa-
Notes on readings
ka(8)(r)ppakabhyam adhixthitayal bhaga-
vatam arhatal ga(ndhadh)[upa](s)uma[no]- 1. (xa)pd(ika)vith[e]ya[r](y)ya(g)r[ama]-: at the
beginning, a number of alternative readings
dipabalicaruni(9)vedyadipravartta(naya ni-
of the unclear or lost akxaras are imaginable,
granthapu)traji(tanagatabhyagatanan ta)ni-
notably khapdaka- or khapdika-, while nothing
vas(i)nañ cany(a)(10)dyapipdapanipatrkad(i)- more is certain about the first akxara after
bhojyakhapdaphuttapratisalskaradyopayo(ka) -vitheya than that it has a -y- in final position
⊔ matto dinara(11)catuxtayal grhitva of a consonant cluster; the consonant
sixipuñjakhilakxettras(y)ar(ddha)kulyavapal immediately above it seems to have been
maddhyamasrgalikaya (12) khilakxattresya fairly wide, which means another y is a likely
kulyavapal gramakuta(go)halyal (khila)[kxe]- candidate. What little remains visible of this
ttrasyarddhakulyavapal °eval °apra- consonant supports the hypothesis that it is
ti(13)karakhilakxettrasya kuvapadvayal datum indeed y.
2. -srgalikayabjata-: emend -srgalikabjata-. A similarly
iti (ya)tah (p)rathamapustapalasarvvadya-
structured long compound with various hamlet
pu(s)[ta](14)pala(pri)tivixp(u)dharajayadatta- names that are pravesya to superordinate units
ramadattasudarsapasridasabhavadasanal is found at the beginning of the Paharpur
reverse ( Pl. 13) plate, and makes clear that one should not
here emend -srgalikayam abjata-, although
(15) [°ava]dha(ra)pa(y)[a](vadhrtya) naga- perhaps the error can be explained as being
vaso(h) sakasad dinaracatuxtayam ay(i)(16)kr- due to hesitation between two coordinated
tya diyatam iti sixipuñjasrigohaligra- locative forms, and the dvandva compound that
makutagohalyañ ca viharatrayy[al] (17) I assume.
kxamanacaryyajinadasaka(r)ppakabhyalm 3. na naga-: emend no naga-.
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 37

Pl. 12. Obverse of Nagavasu’s grant (Photo James Miles, 2017)

Pl. 13. Reverse of Nagavasu’s grant

(Extract from RTI in specular enhancement mode, James Miles, 2017)
38 ARLO GRIFFITHS

4. -kulyava(pe)[na] (sa)svat-: restored after the adhixthit(ayo): emend viharatrayyal kxamapa-

Paharpur plate, ll. 4 and 11. … -kabhyam adhixthitayal. Cf. ll. 7–8 above,
4. -bhojyakxaya-: emend -bhogyo kxaya- or Paharpur, l. 6 (sramapacaryya) and 6/13
-bhogyakxaya-. (adhixthita[sad]vihare); see also pp. 46–7.
6. The part of the lacuna immediately after Confusion of p/n is observed also elsewhere in
-puñja may be filled in with the string this text, and throughout the corpus. In l. 7 it
maddhyamasrgalikaya. is clearly not -trayyal that has been written.
6. viha(ra)dvaya(l): read or emend viharadvaye? 18–19. nigranthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan: emend
6–7. brahmapa _ _ pdanakar(i)takavihara: one has nirgranthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan. Cf. l. 9.
the impression that what stands before 19. tanivasinañ: emend tannivasinañ.
-karitakavihare must here be the name of a 19. ca[n]y(a)dyapipdapanipat(r)kadibhojya-: emend
Brahmin, perhaps the founder of the vihara canyadyapipdapapipatrikadibhojya-. Cf. l. 10.
in question, although when the sequence 20. -salskaradyarttha: emend -salskaradyartthal.
-karitakavihare is used in the Jagadishpur 20. -kulyavapa: emend -kulyavapal.
plate, three times in lines 9 and 10, it is 21. gramakupa-: emend gramakuta-.
preceded each time by the beneficiary of 22. da: this akxara seems to be intrusive.
the monastery’s foundation: see the passage 23. viharatra(ya): it is unclear whether the plate
quoted below, p. 46. is very worn here, or whether the original
7. viharatrayasya (kxa)mapacaryya-: emend engraving was not carried out properly; emend
viharatrayyal kxamanacaryya-, as in ll. 16–17. viharatrayyal?
On the word kxamapacarya, see discussion 24. datavyam: emend datavyam.
below, p. 47. In the lacuna before vihara-, I
expect evam, as in l. 12. T ranslation
9. -pravartta(naya nigranthapu)traji(tanagatabhyagatanan (1–3) Hail! From Pupdravardhana, the officials
ta)nivas(i)nañ: emend -pravarttanaya and the council of the capital greet the
nirgranthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan tannivasinañ. landholders, beginning with the Brahmins, in
9–10. cany(a)dyapipdapanipatrkad(i)bhojya-: emend [the hamlets] Sixipuñja and Madhyamasrgalika,
canyadyapipdapapipatrikadibhojya-. Cf. l. 19.
falling under (pravesya) 20 the village Arya,
The emendation to -papipatrikadi- is based on
and in Gramakutagohali, falling under
the occurrence of the same term in the Jaina
image inscriptions cited below, p. 47. The first Abjatatapagaccha,21 (all three) in the Xapdika
two akxaras are of uncertain reading both division,22 and they inform:
here and in l. 19, where the first seems to be ca (3–13) Nagavasu petitions us: ‘The sale,
rather than ca; c(a/a)nyo, c(a/a)tyo are among in your council, of waste land that is without
other possibilities, none of them yielding revenue charges and yields no tax, to be enjoyed
recognizable words. in perpetuity in accordance with the law on
10. -pratisalskaradyopayo(ka)⊔: the normal formula permanent endowments, is customary with a
is -pratisalskarakarapaya (see the Baigram kulyavapa for (the price of) two dinaras. Thus (tad), for
plate, l. 11; Damodarpur #5, l. 8; the me too,23 with this very procedure, for the regular
Gunaighar grant edited by Bhattacharyya performance of (offerings of) perfume, incense,
1930, l. 7; the plate edited in Furui 2015, l. flowers, lamps, grain oblation (bali), rice oblation
13—see also von Hinüber 2013: 373). In l. (caru), food oblation (nivedya), etc. to the venerable
20 we see -pratisalskaradyarttha; emend here
Arhants at the three monasteries superintended
-pratisalskaradyupayogaya (cf. Paharpur, l. 13
by the ascetic (kxamapa) masters Jinadasa and
gandha[dhup]adyupayogaya and Damodarpur #5,
l. 9 madhuparkkadipadyupa[yo]ga[ya]). Karpaka—[thus:] the two monasteries at
11–12. -srgalikaya khilakxattresya: emend -srgalikayal Sixipuñja [and Madhyamasrgalika] as well
khilakxettrasya. as the monastery founded by the Brahmin …
13. kuvapadvayal: emend kulyavapadvayal. in Gramakutagohali —; and for the sake of
14. -sudarsapa-: emend -sudarsana-. food for those who use their (cupped) hands as
16–17. viharatrayy[al] kxamana- … -kabhyalm bowl (papipatrika) for morsels which were intended
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 39

to be eaten by others (i.e. leftovers), and others, donation) as well as the one who approves
among the Nigranthaputras who have defeated (of the challenge) will reside as many [years]
past and future (karman) resident there, as well in hell.
as repairs, etc. of what is broken into pieces, be
Year 198, Sravapa, day … .
so kind as take from me four dinaras and to give
two kulyavapas of waste land yielding no tax— No. 4: A fragment of a second plate
thus: a half kulyavapa of waste land at Sixipuñja, from Baigram
a kulyavapa of waste land at Madhyamasrgalika, a I found this fragment by chance during perusal
half kulyavapa of waste land at Gramakutagohali.’ of the Museums of India website, which
(13–16) ‘Wherefore, after confirmation indicates that it is preserved at the Indian
through an investigation by the first (prathama) Museum, Kolkata, under accession number
record-keeper Sarva and the primary (adya) A20050/9085.26 Subsequently, I learned from
record-keepers Priti, Vixpudhara, Jayadatta, Ryosuke Furui that he has indeed seen the
Ramadatta, Sudarsanasridasa and Bhavadasa, fragment in that museum, and was able to make
and after having taken in cash four dinaras from the photographs that he has kindly allowed me to
the side of Nagavasu, (the two kulyavapas) must publish here. The website indicates dimensions
be given.’24 4.9 × 4.7 cm, and provenance from Baigram
(16–24) And the two kulyavapas of waste land in Bangladesh. Although no mention of this
without revenue charges and yielding no tax— fragment is known to me from any printed
thus: a half kulyavapa of waste land at Sixipuñja, publication of the colonial or post-colonial
a kulyavapa of waste land at Madhyamasrgalika, a periods, the information about provenance is
half kulyavapa of waste land at Gramakutagohali— borne out by several correspondences with the
for the regular performance of (offerings of) known Baigram plate.
perfume, incense, flowers, lamps, grain oblation,
rice oblation, food oblation, etc. to the venerable T ext
Arhants at the three monasteries at Sixipuñja, obverse ( Pl. 14)
Srigohali 25 and Gramakutagohali, superintended
(1) ///pitra sivanandina///
by the ascetic masters Jinadasa and Karpaka,
(2) ///ca svasurasivanandi///
and for the sake of food for those who use their
(3) ///vasadao gacchanti ruca///
(cupped) hands as bowl for morsels which were
(4) ///dinarikkyakulyavapavi///
intended to be eaten by others, and others,
(5) ///saogahya sa devakulava///
among the Nigranthaputras who have defeated
(6) /// ya ca vata(gohalikhi)///
past and future (karman) resident there, as well as
5. saogahya: the intended reading may have
repairs, etc. of what is broken into pieces, are to
been [upa]saogrhya. Although not occurring
be given by you to the three monasteries, after
in the published Baigram plate, there are
you have separated them off with sixfold reeds
several occurrences in related inscriptions.
(xatkanala) in a place that does not conflict with
See, e.g. in this article the Raktamala grant
your own cultivation, and are to be protected
#2, l. 9 and the Tavira grant, l. 10.
in perpetuity in accordance with the law on
permanent endowments. reverse ( Pl. 15)
(24–6) It has been said by the venerable Vyasa:
(1) mostly illegible
I. The one who would steal land given by (2) ///(ro)dha °upacaya °eva_///
himself or another becomes a worm in (3) ///nandivaoganandiya_///
excrement and is cooked with his ancestors. (4) ///yikrtya ◊ sigo°uli///
II. The giver of land revels sixty thousand (5) ///stuno dopavapaca///
years in heaven; the one who challenges (a (6) ///ri _ y(u)yal svakarxapa///
40 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Pl. 14. Obverse of the fragment of a plate from Pl. 15. Reverse of the fragment of a plate from
Baigram (Photo Ryosuke Furui, 2015) Baigram (Photo Ryosuke Furui, 2015)

4. sigo°uli: if this is indeed what was written, the III. Historical and Philological
intended reading must have been srigohali. Commentary
On this toponym best known from the
published Baigram plate, see below, pp.
The meaning of gohali
40–2. So far, while no attestations of the word gohali
5. dopavapaca: the intended reading was are known to me from any other first-millennium
[sthalava]stuno dropavapaca[tuxtayal]. See the source, epigraphic or otherwise, there were
published Baigram plate, lines 9 and 16–18. occurrences of this word in four inscriptions of
6. ri _: perhaps restore/read [catva]ri 4? Gupta-period Bengal:
(a) Baigram plate, ll. 1–3:
Observations svasti pañcanagaryya bhattarakapadanudhyatah
◊ kumaramatyakulavrddhir etadvixayadhikarapañ
The contents, to the extent recoverable, reveal
ca vayigramikatrivrtasrigohalyoh brahmapottaran
a clear connection with the published Baigram
samvyavaharipramukhan gramakutumbinah ◊ kusalam
grant, because the name Sivanandin figures
anuvarpya bodhayanti
there too (as father of the purchasers Bhoyila
‘Hail! From Pañcanagari, the princely advisor
and Bhaskara in ll. 3–4: avayoh pittra sivanandina),
Kulavrddhi, favoured by the feet of His Majesty
as do the toponyms Vatagohali and Srigohali. the (Gupta) Sovereign, and the council of this
It is remarkable that this fragment contains district, greet the landholders of the village in
several incomplete akxaras—a kind of error not (the hamlets) Trivrta and Srigohali belonging
encountered with such frequency, if at all, in to Vayigrama—the most eminent among them
other inscriptions of the corpus. Nevertheless, being the Brahmins, led by the administrator
the fragment is a valuable little scrap of (salvyavaharin)—and inform them’. There are
information, revealing that the known Baigram further occurrences of the toponym Srigohali
plate must have been part of a hoard, that would in lines 8 and 16 of the same inscription. The
have contained two or more plates forming the same has now also been found, apparently as
archive of a particular shrine or family, like the equivalent to Madhyamasrgalika, in Nagavasu’s
Damodarpur plates. grant (l. 16) and in the Baigram fragment.
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 41

(b) Paharpur plate, ll. 1–3: (d) Kalaikuri-Sultanpur plate, ll. 1–2:
svasti pupdravarddhanad ayuktaka svasti srogaveravaitheyapurppakos(i)kayah
°aryyanagarasrexthipurogañ cadhixthanadhikarapam* ◊ °ayuktakacyutadaso dhikarapañ ca hastisirxe
dakxipalsakavitheyanagirattamapdalikapalasattapa- (vibhitak)y(al gulmagandhi)kayal dhanyapatalikayal
rsvikavatagohalijambudevapravesyaprxthimapottaka- sagohalixu brahmapadin gramak(u)tumbina(h k)usalam
goxatapuñjakamulanagirattapravesyavilvagohalixu anuvarpya bodhayanti
brahmapottaran mahattaradikutumbinah kusalam ‘Hail! From Purpakausika in the Srogavera
anuvarppyanubodhayanti division, the officer Acyutadasa and the council
‘Hail! From Pupdravardhana, the officers and the greet the landholders, beginning with the
city council led by the noble urban trader, greet Brahmins, of the villages Hastisirxa, Vibhitaki,
the landholders, beginning with the notables— Gulmagandhika [and] Dhanyapatalika, with
the most eminent among them being the their (respective) gohalis, and inform them’. Sanyal
Brahmins—in Vatagohali by the side of Palasatta read sagohalixu, where Sircar read salgohalixu.
in the Nagiratta circle of the Dakxipalsaka The presence of anusvara is unclear and the
division, in Prxthimapottaka under Jambudeva, former reading makes it possible to understand
in Goxatapuñjaka, and in Bilvagohali under sagohalixu here as an adjective to the toponyms
Mulanagiratta, and inform them’. After several Hastisirxa, etc.
other occurrences of the toponyms Vatagohali These data quite clearly demonstrate that
and Bilvagohali in ll. 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, we gohali was a noun, which could be used as
read in l. 18: uparinirddixtagramagohalikexu. The such or for building toponyms. The toponym
toponym Vatagohali has now also been found in Nitvagohali read by Dikshit (and after him by
the Baigram fragment. Sircar and subsequent scholars) in the Paharpur
(c) Jagadishpur plate, ll. 1–3: plate is quite clearly revealed by the published
svasti srogaveravaitheyapurppakausikayah reproduction of the estampage to be a wrong
bhattarakapadanuddhyatah °ayuktakacyuto reading for Bilvagohali. This means that the
Paharpur plate contains two toponyms built with
dhikarapañ ca gulmagandhike sagohalike brahmapadin
tree names (Vata and Bilva) in compound with
pradhanakutumbinah kusalam asasya bodhayanti
gohali. Besides these we have found Srigohali,
‘Hail! From Purpakausika in the Srogavera
where sri may stand as a synonym of bilva, in
division, the officer Acyuta, favoured by the feet
which case Bilvagohali and Srigohali, not found
of the (Gupta) Sovereign, and the council (of
together in a single text, might have designated
this division), greet the principal landholders,
the same place. However that may be, the fourth
beginning with the Brahmins, at Gulmagandhika gohali-toponym, Gramakutagohali, that we now
with its gohalis, and inform them’. For sagohalike, encounter in Nagavasu’s grant, makes clear that
Sircar read sa[l*]ggohalike [ca*] in 1969, and (sal)- gohali-toponyms did not necessarily involve tree
gohalike (ca*) in 1973, clearly assuming a toponym names, because gramakuta means something like
Salgohalika parallel to Gulmagandhika. There ‘village headman’.27 Dikshit speculated about the
is definitely only a single g, so gg in the 1969 possible persistence into modern times of such
edition was probably a misprint. The anusvara a toponym mentioned in the Paharpur plate
seems to have been restored by Sircar on the (1929–30: 60):
grounds that he read salgohalixu in the Kalaikuri-
The Jaina vihara at Vata-Gohali mentioned in this
Sultanpur plate, but the presence of an anusvara
inscription, it would appear, must have stood at
there is doubtul, and there is certainly no ca: see the original site of the present temple at Paharpur.
the next entry. As soon as the reading sagohalike The boundaries of the site are partly situated
is accepted, it becomes clear that we are dealing within the limits of the village of Gōalbhita to the
with an adjective to the toponym Gulmagandhika north-west and the mound where the temples has
so that the need to insert ca disappears. been unearted was pointed out to Dr. Buchanan
42 ARLO GRIFFITHS

Hamilton in 1807 as ‘G ōalbhitar Pahar’ (the propose the hypothesis that the tadbhava word in
eminence of Gōalbhita). The identification of question had undergone a semantic shift, and
Gōalbhita with the ancient Vata-Gohali easily was used in the period and area that concern us
suggests itself as the stem Gohali is substantially in a meaning like ‘hamlet’. In support of this,
identical with Gōal.
I may cite the Hindisabdasagara, s.v. ieesMeeuee: ‘ieewDeesb
And Sircar (1965: 360 n. 1) concurred: ‘The JeÀs jnves JeÀe mLeeve (= place for cows to stay), ieesÿ’ and
word gohali (Sanskrit gosala; Bengali goal) suggests s.v. ieesÿ, where, apart from ieesMeeuee and a few other
that either Vata-gohali or Nitva-gohali (possibly meanings, we find as sixth meaning: ‘Denerjesb JeÀe iee@bke
the former which was a more important place village of Ahirs’. In New Indo-Aryan languages
owing to the situation of the Jain Vihara) is to other than Bengali or Hindi, some of the words
be identified with the village of Goalbhita, near derived from Sanskrit goxtha, synonymous with
Paharpur.’ Now that it is starting to become clear Sanskrit gosala, have such meanings, notably
that toponyms ending in gohali were a rather Sindhi gothu m. ‘village, town’.29 If we thus assume
common feature of the ancient landscape in a meaning like ‘hamlet’ for gohali in North Bengal
the area covered by our corpus, it seems that we around the turn of the sixth century, this means
should be more prudent in making connections we are dealing with a dialectal meaning, which
with specific modern places, all the more so as has either disappeared from or not been recorded
modern toponyms containing goal seem to begin for any Prakrit languages or for Bengali, where
rather than to end with this element.28 goal seems to mean only ‘cow shed’.
The epigraphical data include the diminutive
form gohalike and the attributive compound Delimitation of land and placement of
sagohali/sagohalika derived from gohali according boundary markers (simacihna)
to regular processes of Sanskrit grammar. These In lines 23–4 of Nagavasu’s grant, the
data also show that gohali has something to do with instruction to go and delimit the plots of land
grama: the expression uparinirddixtagramagohalikexu to be transferred to the beneficiaries is expressed
in the Paharpur plate could mean either ‘in in xatkanala. This unit is only found elsewhere
the above-mentioned villages and gohalis’ or ‘in in the Paharpur plate, ll. 19–20: tad yuxmabhih
the gohalis of the above-mentioned villages’; svakarxapavirodhisthane xatkanadair apaviñcchya
but the fact that in a parallel context, the datavyo ‘so you must separate them off with sixfold
Kalaikuri-Sultanpur plate, ll. 24–5, writes reeds, in a place that does not conflict with your
yathoparinirddixtakagramapradesexu, suggests that own cultivation, and make the donation’. Since
we should retain the second option and assign to that plate as well as Nagavasu’s grant are the
gramagohali a meaning analogous to gramapradesa only inscriptions issued from Pupdravardhana in
‘a spot in or part of a village’. the corpus, one may infer that this was a unit
Now did gohali simply mean the same thing prevalent in the city.30
as Sanskrit gosala and Bengali goal, namely ‘cow In the Tavira grant, the passage concerning
shed’? The data can perhaps not be said to demarcation of the gifted land contains the
exclude this assumption altogether, and if this is words catussimacihnaniyamitani krtva. In order
what gohali meant then we would have to assume to determine what the boundary markers
that cow sheds were important markers in the (simacihna) intended here were, we may turn
landscape of ancient North Bengal. However, to a passage in the Nandapur plate, ll. 14–15:
the above-cited passages from the opening cirakalasthayituxaogaradicihnais caturddioniyamitas[i]-
paragraphs of address in four grants each clearly manal krtva.31 And this, in turn, is elucidated by
use gohali to indicate parts of social space, namely the following words from the Baigram plate, ll.
the places where the respective addressees 17–20: … °akxayanivyas tamrapattena dattam* ninna
resided; and it is hard to imagine that prominent ku 3 sthala dro 2 te yuyal svakarxapavirodhisthane
householders resided in cow sheds. I therefore darvvikarmmahastenaxtakanavakanaḷabhyam apavi-
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 43

ñcchya ◊ cirakalasthayituxaogaradina cihnais caturddiso In the context of the Baigram plate, the word
niyamya dasyathakxayanividharmmena ca sasvatkalam ninna=nimna seems to serve as an equivalent to
anupalayixyatha ‘… has been given with a copper khilakxetra (see n. 2). The Naradasmrti passage
plate for a permanent endowment. Low: 3 just cited also clarifies another word figuring
ku[lyavapa]; inhabitable: 2 dro[pavapa]. You there in the Baigram and the Nandapur plates, viz.
(the gramakutumbins mentioned at the start of the tuxaogara. The somewhat cryptic statement of the
grant) shall separate them off using two reeds, Naradasmrti passage is in turn clarified by the
eight by ninefold with the ladle-work (darvikarma) following passage translated from fragments of
cubit,32 in a place that does not conflict with the Brhaspatismrti (Jolly 1889: 351):
your own cultivation; shall limit them in the 1. This rule regarding rescission of purchase and
four directions with long-lasting markers such as sale has been declared. Hear the laws concerning
(pots filled with) chaff or charcoal; shall make boundaries of villages, fields, houses, and so
the donation and shall protect it in perpetuity forth.
according to the law on permanent endowments.’ 2. The determination of boundaries should be
We see that the total of gifted land in the settled at the time of foundation, and it should
Baigram plate is summarised with the indication be marked by visible and invisible signs, so as to
dispel doubt.
ninna ku 3 sthala dro 2 (l. 17). On the word ninna
3. Wells, tanks, pools, large trees, gardens, temples,
in this summary, R.G. Basak as editor of the mounds, channels, the course of a river, reeds,
inscription made the following note (1931–2: shrubs, or piles of stones.
82 n. 2): ‘This word put before the abbreviated 4. By such visible signs as these a boundary line
totalisation of the amount of land purchased should always be caused to be marked; also, by
does not appear to me explicable.’ The editor of other (marks) deposited underground which the
the Epigraphia Indica issue in question33 added a earth is not likely to destroy.
note of his own stating that ‘Phutta (= Skt. sphutta) 5. Dry cowdung, bones, chaff, charcoal, stones,
in line 7 would suggest that it might stand for potsherds, sand, bricks, cows’ tails, cotton seeds,
and ashes.
Skt. nimna meaning low land’. This hypothesis is
6. After having placed these substances in vessels,
confirmed by the fact that nimna and sthala form one should deposit them underground at the
a fixed pair. See Ramayapa 6.93.19 (ed. Vaidya extremities of the boundary.34
1971) sthalanimnani bhumes ca, but particularly
these stanzas from the Naradasmrti (11.3–5, ed. Tavira: a frontier district ?
and transl. Lariviere 1989): The petitioner in the Tavira grant was a district
gramasimasu ca bahir ye syus tatkrxijivinah| chief (vixayapati) named Dvipasoma who was in
gopasakunikavyadha ye canye vanagocarah|| charge of taviravixaya. Now the toponym Tavira
samunnayeyus te simal lakxapair upalakxitam| is actually attested in two plates dated to the reign
tuxaogarakapalais ca kumbhair ayatanair of Sasaoka in the early seventh century. These
drumaih|| plates ‘were collected from one Surat Khan of
abhijñatais ca valmikasthalanimnonnatadibhih| the village of Antla in the present Dantan Police
kedararamamargais ca purapaih setubhis tatha|| Station of the district of West Medinipur’ (Sanyal
In the case of the village boundaries, those who 2010: 123), i.e. from the Bengal/Orissa border
make their living by farming outside it, cowherds,
area on the left bank of the Subarnarekha. R.C.
bird catchers, hunters and others who inhabit
the forest should delineate the boundary which is
Majumdar, who edited the plates, speculated
marked by such things as pots–of chaff, charcoal that ‘Tavira, the administrative headquarters in
or crockery–shrines, trees, and by familiar Dapdabhukti, from which both the grants were
markers such as ant hills, mounds, depressions, issued, may be identified with Debra about 15
elevations, etc., and paddies, groves, roads, or old miles southeast-east of Midnapore’ (1945: 7). This
dikes. identification is not supported by anything more
44 ARLO GRIFFITHS

than the resemblance of the names;35 somewhat apradakxetrakulyavapa ekadasa dattakas), while most
further to the north, in Burdwan District, is a donations amounted to five kulyavapas or less.37 If
village Teora whose name might equally well it is safe to work under the assumptions (a) that the
derive from ancient Tavira, to mention just kulyavapa was a stable land measure throughout the
one other possibility. Wherever Tavira of the period in question and (b) that correspondences
seventh-century grants lay precisely, if indeed this between the measures kulyavapa and dropavapa
toponym was situated in one of the districts of known to be valid in ancient Pupdravardhana
what is today the southern part of West Bengal, were also valid between different subregions
and if the Tavira of those plates is the same as of ancient Bengal, as does C. Gupta (1989),38
that in the new inscription, we will have to accept then we may apply to the Tavira grant the same
the corollary that our grant concerns a donation inferences that she draws from the comparison
made quite a distance away from the Rajshahi- of the records of northeastern Bengal with the
Bogra area where most of the plates of the land grant recorded in the Gunaighar inscription
corpus originate (see the map in Pl. 1). Resisting from the Trans-Meghna area of southeastern
the temptation to speculate on how a grant that Bengal, which is contemporary with our corpus
would then concern a region falling outside of but reflects a different socio-political and natural
the territory of what is today Bangladesh could landscape (1989: 276):
have ended up in a Dhaka antique shop, I adduce
It appears from this inscription that in this part
several arguments here that may lend credibility of the Gupta dominion there was not yet much
to the hypothesis that our Tavira was a frontier scarcity of land, and as such, instead of kulyavapa,
district of the Gupta realm at a significant pataka became the standard unit of land-
distance from Pupdravardhana. measurement here. One pataka was equivalent to
First, it is perhaps no coincidence that the five kulyavapas, and the present record is concerned
only other case of a named vixayapati in our with transactions of eleven such khila-patakas. If
corpus was the Chatramaha of the Nandapur we recall in this connection the maximum amount
plate, whose provenance makes it a western of land purchased by the nagarasrexthin Rbhupala
outlier in the corpus. The name of the district at Kotivarxa-vixaya, then the changed ecological
setting becomes understandable to some extent.
under his charge is not made explicit in this plate,
which does mention that the beneficiary hailed The inferences drawn from comparison with the
from a Nandavithi—but this of course does not Gunaighar plate of year 188 would now seem
necessarily mean that Chatramaha governed to be confirmed by a more recently discovered
Nandavithi.36 The data presently available allow inscription from Southeast Bengal (ed. Furui
formulating the hypothesis, however tentative, 2015), dated to year 184, which concerns the
that vixayapatis were appointed to govern outlying donation of no fewer than 28 plots of land for a
territories. In any case, the Nandapur grant total extent of 1,235 dropavapas, which is thought
shows that the emission of land-sale grants in the to be equivalent to nearly 155 kulyavapas—still
Gupta-period was not limited to the immediate working under the assumptions formulated above.
environs of Pupdravardhana. Even if these working assumptions are not tenable,
A concrete indicator of a location at the the much greater extent of the land donated in
frontier of the Gupta realm may be read in the the Tavira grant, compared to the average size
fact that, with a total of 22 kulyavapas distributed of land-grants in the Pupdravardhana region,
over two plots, the Tavira grant is double the remains noteworthy, and suggests that Tavira lay
size of what was so far the largest land-grant in a region where social and ecological conditions
in the corpus, viz. the 11 kulyavapas for two were different. The fact that the Brahmin
plots in the Kotivarxa district whose donation beneficiary seems to be identified as a rajamatya
is recorded in the Damodarpur plate #4 (ll. ‘royal advisor’,39 a term not so far encountered
10–11: kokamukhasvamisvetavara[ha]svami[noh] in other Gupta-period plates, will then be easily
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 45

accommodated in the hypothesis, by speculating Vaidika and Jaina beneficiaries

that such rajamatyas were settled at the frontiers The majority of the beneficiaries of the grants
to represent the crown’s interests. recorded in our corpus are Vedic Brahmins,
The last but certainly not the least interesting and the epigraphic material of early Bengal has
unique characteristic of the Tavira grant is the already been analysed from the point of view
fact that after three of the standard admonitory of the social history of the Brahmins. The new
stanzas, it includes a fourth stanza, in Upodgata plates published here do not contain any new
meter, that has never been found in other data beyond additions to the prosopographic
inscriptions as far as I can tell, and certainly not database that has been compiled and recently
in Bengal. What is more, this stanza is not taken published by R. Furui (2017). I refer, therefore, to
from Epic, Purapic or dharmasastra literature but, the same scholar’s article presenting a synthesis
with only minor variants, from a known kavya on the history of Brahmins in the early history
work, viz. Asvaghoxa’s Buddhacarita, where of Bengal (Furui 2013), with the updated
we read in stanzas 76–8 of canto 5 these words
perspectives formulated in his more recent
spoken by Siddhartha, the future Buddha, to his
contribution (2017: 181–2). Since they are not
steed Kanthaka (ed. and transl. Johnston 1935–6):
cited by Furui, I mention here also the important
sulabhah khalu salyuge sahaya overview of earlier philological and historical
vixayavaptasukhe dhanarjane va| work by M. Witzel (1993) and a recent study by
puruxasya tu durlabhah sahayah patitasyapadi A. Schmiedchen (2007), which offers important
dharmasalsraye va|| 76 || comments on the social realities behind the
iha caiva bhavanti ye sahayah kaluxe
term caturvidya ‘belonging to the community of
karmapi dharmasalsraye va|
avagacchati me yathantaratma niyatal te [Brahmins] studying the four Vedas’, that we
’pi janas tadalsabhajah|| 77 || have encountered above in the Raktamala plate
tad idal parigamya dharmayuktal mama #2, notably with regard to the question whether
niryapam ito jagaddhitaya | the term is evidence or not for the presence
turagottama vegavikramabhyal of Brahmins affiliated to the Atharvaveda. So
prayatasvatmahite jagaddhite ca || 78 || far, the corpus has brought us evidence only
75. Easy it is to find companions for battle, for the of named Brahmins belonging to the White
pleasure of acquiring objects of sense and for the Yajurveda (vajasaneya) and Samaveda (chandoga)
accumulation of wealth; but hard it is for a man to traditions.
find companions, when he has fallen into distress The corpus also contains a small number
or attaches himself to dharma.
of grants to temples (Baigram, Damodarpur
76. Moreover as for those who are companions in
this world whether in action that brings defilement #4), but none of the new plates belongs to this
or in resort to dharma, undoubtedly they too, as my subgroup. Besides the two donations to Brahmins
inner soul realises, take their share of the fruit. recorded in the Raktamala plate #2 and in
77. Understand therefore, O best of steeds, this my the Tavira grant, the new material contains a
departure from here to be connected with dharma donation made to a group of three monasteries
for the benefit of the world, and strive with speed which I have above identified as Jaina. This
and courage in a matter which concerns your own identification was not immediately evident to me
good and the good of the world alike. when I started studying the inscription, in part
The redeployment of the stanza in our context because of the poor state of preservation of the
raises interesting questions of literary history, plate. I will present here the evidence which led
which unfortunately may not detain us here. to the conclusion that we are dealing with a grant
The important point is that the presence of this to Jaina monks.
concluding stanza sets the Tavira grant apart It will be helpful to start by repeating the two
from all other inscriptions in the corpus. relevant passages from Nagavasu’s grant, which
46 ARLO GRIFFITHS

express twice almost exactly the same information, tatraiva gulmagandhike bhagavatas sahasrarasmeh
restored and emended in accordance with my karitakadevakule ca balicarusatrapravarttapaya
edition and notes above: khapdaphuttapratisalskarakarapaya gandhadhupa-
tailopayogaya sasvatkalopabhogyakxayanivya-m-
lines 5–10: apratikarakhilakxetrasya kulyavapam ekal kritva
sixipuñjamaddhyamasrgalika _ _ _ _ _ datul
karitakaviharadvayal gramakutagohalyal ‘For offerings of bali, caru and sattra, for
brahmapa _ _ pdanakaritakavihara _ _ eval carrying out the repair of what is broken into
viharatrayasya kxamapacaryyajinadasakarppakabhyam
pieces, (and) for requirements of perfumes,
adhixthitayal bhagavatam arhatal
incense, and oil in the monastery commissioned
gandhadhupasumanodipabalicarunivedyadipravarttanaya
ni[r]granthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan tannivasinañ for the venerable Arhants in the shrine
canyadyapipdapapipatrikadibhojyakhapdaphuttaprati- of Pecikamrasiddhi in the Dakxipalsaka
salskaradyupayogaya division, and in the little peripheral monastery
commissioned for the purpose of worshipping
lines 16–20: the Arhants at Gulmagandhika, and in the
sixipuñjasrigohaligramakutagohalyañ ca temple commissioned for the Lord Sahasrarasmi
viharatrayyal kxamanacaryyajinadasakarppakabhyam (i.e. Surya) in the same Gulmagandhika, we wish
adhixthitayal bhagavatam arhatal to purchase and give one kulyavapa of waste land
gandhadhupasumanodipabalicarunivedyadipravarttanaya without revenue charges by way of permanent
ni[r]granthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan tannivasinañ endowment to be enjoyed in perpetuity’. After
canyadyapipdapapipatrikadibhojyakhapdaphuttaprati-
which we read in ll. 17–18: xaddropavapah
salskaradyartthal
sravapakacaryyabalakupdasya samavisitah, possibly
In interpreting these passages, I was for a long to be emended and translated as follows:
time on the wrong track, by imagining a term xaddropavapah sramapakacaryyabalakupdasya vihare
ni[r]granthaputrajita, whose prima facie meaning samavesitah ‘the six dropavapas were entrusted to the
would have been ‘defeated by the sons of the monastery of the sramapaka master Balakupda’.
Nirgrantha’, but which I considered to be an (b) Paharpur, ll. 5–9 (emended): tad
inverted compound (Oberlies 2003: XLIV, arhathanepaiva kkramepavayos sakasad dinaratrayam
361), making it translatable as ‘by whom the upasalgrhyavayoh svapupyapyayanaya vatagohalyam
sons of the Nirgrantha have been defeated’, evasyal kasikapañcastupanikayikani[r]granthasra-
which seemed like a potential designation of mapacaryyaguhanandisixyaprasixyadhixthitavihare
Buddhist or Ajivika monks. My problems of bhagavatam arhatal gandhadhupasumanodipadyartthan
interpretation were made worse by the presence talavatakanimittañ ca […] evam adhyarddhal
of gaps in the first passage, by errors of spelling kxetrakulyavapam akxayanivya datum
of certain terms or differences between the ‘So, in this very manner, be so kind as to take from
two passages, notably for the string that reads both of us three dinaras and—for the purpose of
canyadyapipdapapipatrikadi- in emended form, and the merit of the both of us being increased—to
by the fact that the term kxamapa (see below) is give as permanent endowment, for the sake of
not found in any Sanskrit dictionaries. 40 The perfume, incense, flowers and lamps, etc. for the
process of resolving these problems started by venerable Arhants in the monastery at the same
reading the above data from Nagavasu’s grant Vatagohali here, overseen by the disciples and
in conjunction with parallel passages from two grand-disciples of the Nirgrantha sramapa master
previously published inscriptions: Guhanandin of the Kasika-Pañcastupa order
(a) Jagadishpur, ll. 8–12 (emended): °icchamah and for the purpose of (use as) adjoining parcel:
dakxipaosakavithyal pecikamrasiddhyayatane41 […] thus one-and-a-half kulyavapa of land.’ The
bhagavatam arhatal karitakavihare gulmagandhike same basic information is repeated in ll. 12–16
carhatal pujartthal karitakaprantaviharike of the inscription.
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 47

With regard to the Jagadishpur plate, its Sri Ramagupta. The best preserved of these
editor D.C. Sircar unhesitatingly assumed that three copies of what is basically a single text,
the monastic beneficiaries were Buddhists, and labelled A in Bhandarkar’s edition (1981: 231–4),
his great authority has led several subsequent reads as follows:44
scholars to accept this idea. Schopen (1990:
(1) bhagavato rhatah candraprabhasya pratimeyal
208–9/1997: 281, n. 26) was more prudent karita ma-
and pointed to the significant parallels with the (2) harajadhirajasriramaguptena °upadesat
Paharpur plate which certainly concerns Jaina papipa-
beneficiaries, adding the important observation: (3) trikacandrakxam⟨ap⟩acaryyakxamapasramapa-
‘The mere fact that it is not always easy to prasixya°aca-
distinguish Buddhist and Jain inscriptions of this (4) ryyasarppasenakxamapasixyasya golakyantya⟨h⟩
sort is […] in itself significant.’ We will see below satputrasya cellakxamapasyeti||
some examples of overlap between the technical This image of the Lord, the Arhant Candra-
terminology of the two religions. But to return to prabha, was commissioned by the maharajadhiraja
the affiliation of the Jagadishpur plate, which is Sri Ramagupta, at the instigation of Cella-
the least explicit of the three grants, the sum of kxamapa, son of Golakyanti, who is the pupil
of the preceptor Sarpasenakxamapa and the
the evidence presented in this section persuades
grand-pupil of the papipatrika Candrakxamapa,
me that its beneficiaries were Jaina monks as preceptor (acarya) and forbearing monk
well. Their abbot is here called sravapakacaryya, (kxamapasramapa).
probably an error for sramapakacaryya.
The Paharpur plate speaks of a kasikapañca- In his recent article giving a useful overview of
stupanikayikani[r]granthasramapacaryya, and the what is known about Jainism in North India
reading sramapa here is secure. This word can during the Gupta period, P. Dundas (2014: 239,
indicate not only Jainas, but also Buddhist n. 16) affirms that ‘there is no doubt that the
and Ajivikas. For the former, see the Sanchi expression appended to these monks’s names is
inscription cited below; for the latter, see the the same as the Prakrit honorific khamasamapa
aforementioned plate dated to year 184 from (~Sanskrit kxamasramapa), and has perhaps
Southeast Bengal, where we read (ll. 3–4, ed. been misheard or misunderstood as being in a
Furui 2015): purvvamapdalajayanatane bhagavatas quasi-rhyming relationship with -sramapa by a
caturmmukhamurtter mma[pi]bhadrasyayatana-m-aji- scribe unfamiliar with Jain usage’. Although
vakabhadantasramapasalghaya ‘for the sake of the the new inscription may require rethinking of
community of respectable Ajivika sramapas at the these matters, and the Vidisa image inscriptions
abode of the venerable Mapibhadra in four-faced may have to be reinterpreted in such a way that
image in Jayanatana of Purvamapdala’. But the kxamapacarya stands as a unit, as it clearly does in
Jaina affiliation of the Paharpur grant is beyond our text, the main point of importance for my
doubt, because the pañcastupanikaya is a known discussion is that the use of the term kxamapa
name for a Jaina order42 and Jaina affiliation is may be considered a clear indicator of the Jaina
implied also by the term nirgrantha.43 Incidentally, affiliation of the beneficiaries of Nagavasu’s
this word is consistently spelt nigrantha in the grant. The Vidisa image inscriptions also contain
four occurrences in our corpus, perhaps because another Jaina technical term that occurs in our
of subliminal influence from its Prakrit form inscription, namely papipatrika, which has been
niggantha. elucidated by Dundas (2014: 239–40 n. 18):
Now our new inscription contains the variant The expression papipatrika is a common epithet
kxamapa, which is known only in Jaina context, normally used of monks of the Digambara sect who
and to my knowledge only once elsewhere in differentiate themselves from the Svetambaras who
South Asian epigraphy, viz. in the Vidisa stone use alms bowls. However, the practice of using the
image inscriptions of the time of maharajadhiraja hands as an alms bowl was also prescribed amongst
48 ARLO GRIFFITHS

the Svetambaras for advanced monks following Tournier cites and translates the first three of the
the jinakalpa, the ‘practice of the Jinas’, a more following epigraphical Sanskrit passages, the last
intense mode of renunciant life. As noted above, two being added here by me:
the honorific kxamasramapa, however represented
in the inscription, seems to be characteristic of (a) caturddigabhyagataryyasalghaparibhogaya
Svetambara usage, and the conclusion must be ‘for the enjoyment of the noble
that the monks in question were Svetambaras, community coming from the four
although the term may not have had a formally directions’ (EIAD 180, ll. 27–8)
sectarian sense at this particular time. (b) -mahaviharanivasyagatanagatacaturddi-
saryyavarabhikxusaoghacatuxpratyayapari-
I am unable to find any other occurrence of
bhogartthan ‘for the enjoyment of the four
the term anyadyapipda, which is joined here with
requisites by the community of noble
papipatrika, and the reading is in both instances
and excellent monks of the four quarters,
open to doubt. If I am correct in reading this
current and future residents of the
term, it appears to give expression to the rule
mahavihara’ (EIAD 186, ll. 22–4)
that Jaina monks ‘were required not to accept
(c) svakaritavihare ratnattrayopayogaya
any food or water especially prepared for them’
catuxpratyayanimittal bhagnasphuti(ta …)
(Balcerowicz 2016: 110).45
kimmajuvdevya °agatanagatajetavana-
Let me now try to explicate the sequence
nigranthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanantanivasinañ ca vasisthaviracaturddisaryyabhikxusaogha …
which is clearly preserved only on the reverse gramo nisrxto ‘Kimmajuvdevi endowed
of the plate, and whose precise reading on the village … to the community of noble
the front can no longer be known, but which monks of the four quarters, current and
I have proposed to emend as follows: ni[r]- future residents of the Jetavana, the
granthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan tannivasinañ ca. Sthaviras, to be used for the Three Jewels
The position of ca after the two genitive plural in the vihara she had herself commissioned
forms seems to be due to the author’s desire to to be built [and, in particular] for the four
establish a syntactic coordination between, first, requisites [and] (for the repair of) broken
the long clause ending in pravarttanaya and, second, and shattered [parts] ...’ (Arakan copper-
the long clause ending in pratisalskaradyupayogaya/ plate, c. 600 ce, ll. 11–12, ed. Sircar 1967)
pratisalskaradyartthal. As regards the elements (d) kuberanagarasvatalanivixtayasonandikaritavadda-
anagata, abhyagata and tannivasin, it seems to me vihare tannivasicaturddigabhya[ga]-
that the author was consciously playing with taryyabhikxusaoghasya ca civarapipdapata-
terminology that was used by his Buddhist sayanasanaglanapratyayabhaixajyaparixkaropayo-
contemporaries. Occurrences of these elements [gaya] ‘in the Vadda (= old?) monastery
in Buddhist contexts have been discussed in a erected by Yasonandin on the city
recent article by V. Tournier (2018: 67), with territory (svatala) of Kuberanagara, for the
reference to sixth-century Sanskrit inscriptions use for robes, alms-food, beds and seats,
from the Andhra region: ‘the dvandva agata-anagata, medicine to cure the sick of the noble
distinguishing between those who have arrived order of monks coming from the four
and will arrive in the future to reside at a given directions and residing there’ (Ambalasa
monastery, is uncommon in Indian inscriptions, Plates of Siladitya I, year 290 of the
and the term occurs almost exclusively in Pali Valabhi = Gupta era, ll. 26–8, ed. and
literature. Occurrences of the compound may transl. Schmiedchen forthcoming)
thus be found in the Pali Vinaya’s discussion (e) caturddigabhyagataya sramapapuogavava-
of how residences should be dedicated to the sathayaryyasaoghaya ‘for the community of
Saogha, the locus classicus being the gift of the noble ones coming from the four quarters,
Jetavana by Anathapipdada.’ In his discussion, which is the abode of most eminent
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 49

ascetics’ (Sanchi stone inscription of a fury and proclaimed: ‘All of the Ajivikas in the
Candragupta II, year 93 Gupta era, l. 2, whole of Pupdavardhana are to be put to death at
Bhandarkar 1981: 250) once!’ And on that day, eighteen thousand of them
were executed.
It will be noticed that none of these passages gives
the precise combination anagatabhyagata, which I cite the text after the edition of Mukhopadhyaya
indeed I am unable to find in any other context. (1963: 67–8), and the translation of Strong (1983:
I tentatively interpret the apparently unique 232). The reading pupdavardhananagare is of course
expression jitanagatabhyagata as a reconfiguration to be corrected to pupdravardhananagare, as in the
of in origin Buddhist terms to express the Jaina edition by K.P. Jayaswal used by P. Balcerowicz
tenet of eradication of past (abhyagata) and future who has cited the same passage in his recent
(anagata) karman,46 although I cannot exclude other book (2016: 270), and whose comments must be
possibilities, among which the most plausible one quoted here:
seems to be that the intended meaning of ni[r] The story is clearly fictitious and ahistorical for
granthaputrajitanagatabhyagatanan was ‘of those no images of the Buddha or the Jina are known
who come in the present (abhyagata) and in the to have existed at the time of Asoka, and the
future (anagata), the conquerors (jita) among the account of the execution is similarly fictitious and
Nirgranthaputras’ and that the conjunction ca ahistorical. Nevertheless, the legend may preserve
was intended to distinguish wandering ascetics a grain of truth, namely that Pupdravardhana
had once been another centre of the Ajivikas. Of
from permanent residents (tannivasinam).47
note is that the passage is one of several examples
The designation nirgranthaputra is rather when the term nirgrantha is erroneously used by the
commonly used in Buddhist sources to designate Buddhists to denote an Ajivika.
Jainas and it often occurs as a ‘surname’
for the heretic teacher Satyaka, or Saccaka Other evidence for such confusion on the part
Nigapthaputta in Pali (Lamotte 1960: 39). A of Buddhist authors is added by Balcerowicz
long passage that is particularly relevant for elsewhere in his book (2016: 278–9, 321). But he
our copperplate issued from Pupdravardhana is does not mention that the Chinese transmission
found in the Asokavadana: in the same passage of the Asokavadana, which
I am able to access through the translation of
tasmils ca samaye pupdavardhananagare
J. Przyluski (1923: 278–9), uses characters
nirgranthopasakena buddhapratima
nirgranthasya padayor nipatita citrarpita|
corresponding to the term nirgranthaputra even
upasakenasokasya rajño nivedital|srutva ca where the Sanskrit transmission switches to
rajñabhihital sighram aniyatal|tasyordhval ajivikas. Since the Sanskrit text is available only in
yojanal yakxah srpvanti|adho yojanal nagah| very late manuscripts, whereas the Chinese text
yavat tal tatkxapena yakxair upanital|drxtva translated by Przyluski dates to the third century
ca rajña ruxitenabhihitam|pupdavardhane sarve ce , there is some reason to take the Chinese
ajivikah praghatayitavyah|yavad ekadivase version at face value and read the passage as
’xtadasasahasrapy ajivikanal praghatitani| evidence of Jaina rather than ajivika presence
In the meantime, in the city of Pupdavardhana, in Pupdravardhana in the first half of the first
a lay follower of Nirgrantha Jñatiputra drew a millennium ce.
picture showing the Buddha bowing down at the This can be corroborated with textual evidence
feet of his master. A Buddhist devotee reported from the Jaina tradition itself. For in Jacobi’s
this to King Asoka, who then ordered the man
paraphrase of the Sthaviravali of Bhadrabahu’s
arrested and brought to him immediately. The
Kalpasutra we read (1884: 288–9):48
order was heard by the nagas as far as a yojana
underground, and by the yakxas a yojana up in Arya Bhadrabahu of the Pracina gotra, who had
the air, and the latter instantly brought the heretic four disciples of the Kasyapa gotra: a. Godasa,
before the king. Upon seeing him, Asoka flew into founder of the Godasa Gapa, which was divided
50 ARLO GRIFFITHS

into four Sakhas: α. The Tamraliptika Sakha, oldest occurrence of the karxapapa in the history
β. The Kotivarxiya Sakha, γ. The Pupdravar- of Bengal.
dhaniya Sakha, and δ. The Dasikharbatika Sakha. But this is not its only contribution to the
(b) Agnidatta, (c) Gapadatta, (d) Somadatta. history of the monetary system of this region.
We see here that Jainas were known to be settled For in line 8 and 13 we read that the actual
in ancient Bengal not only at Pupdravardhana but sum that was paid was anuvrttaxtapapakarupakepa
also at such important known sites as Tamralipti rupakasatadvayam. Clearly, the silver rupaka
and Kotivarxa. See the map in Pl. 1. intended here is not the one intended in the
Baigram grant, which has been read as implying
Payments in cash an exchange rate of 1:16 with the gold dinara,
The beginning of the petition in the Raktamala although it has also been pointed out that
grant #2, reads as follows (ll. 3–5, emended): comparison of weights of actual specimens of
ihavithyal papyavastuxu karxapapasatena sasvatkalo- gold and silver coins from Bengal complicate
pabhogyo ’kxayapividharmepa samudayavahyapratikara- the scenario (Chattopadhyaya 1977: 45–6). The
khilakxettrakulyavapavikrayo ’nuvrttas. rupaka in our grant seems to have had half the
Compared to this, the corresponding value of the karxapapa, which would imply an
passage of the Tavira grant (ll. 7–8) represents exchange rate with the dinara between 1:100
what may be called the standard formula: and 1:67. And the rupaka intended here seems
ihavixaye dvidinarikyakulyavapena sasvatkalopabhogyo itself to have been equivalent to 8 papas. This
’kx ayani vi khilakx ettravikkrayo ’nuvr ttas. The last exchange rate is attested also in a seventh-
noteworthy differences are the inclusion of the century Licchavi inscription from Nepal, the
otherwise unattested word papyavastuxu in the Thankot stela, where one reads in ll. 22–5: yena
former, and the fact that it expresses the value karxapapan deyan tenaxtau papa deya, yenaxtau papa
of a kulyavapa of khilakxetra not in dinaras, as do deya tena papacatuxtayal mallakare ca papacatuxtayan
all other grants in the corpus, but in karxapapas. deyam ‘One who has to give a karxapapa should
It is difficult to gauge whether the inclusion of give eight papas; one who has to give eight papas
the word papyavastuxu implies any significant should give four of them and four in malla tax’.50
difference from the transactions recorded in I find it hard to avoid the impression that our
text, when it states anuvrttaxtapapakarupakepa
the other grants of the corpus, or whether the
rupakasatadvayam, is also echoing the following
translation I have proposed above (‘With respect
stanza from the Arthasastra (3.17.15, ed. Kangle
to vendible properties …’), that implies no such
1960–5): dapdakarmasu sarvexu rupam axtapapal
difference, correctly captures its meaning. In the
satam|satat parexu vyajil ca vidyat pañcapapal
latter case, taking into account that the stated
satam||, although Olivelle’s translation (2013)
rates per kulyavapa recorded in the corpus are
might suggest otherwise: ‘Whenever fines are
either 2 or 3 dinaras,49 while the same amount of
assessed, one should know that there is an impost
land is said here to cost 100 karxapapas, one gets
of eight Papas per 100, and when fines exceed
the impression that the exchange rate between 100, also a surcharge of five Papas per 100.’51
the two currencies would have been between In any case, none of these exchange rates seem
1:50 and 1:33. Until just a few years ago, the to correspond to any of those assembled from
currency unit karxapapa was not attested in the disparate sources in Sircar’s Indian Epigraphical
early epigraphy of Bengal at all (Chattopadhyaya Glossary (1966), under his entries karxapapa, dinara,
1977: 57–60); an occurrence then came to papa, and rupaka.
light in the Mastakasvabhra grant issued in
Pupdravardhana and datable to the range 550–
650 ce (l. 12, Griffiths 2015: 30 and 36 n. 34);
and the Raktamala grant #2 now furnishes the
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 51

A cknowledgements : I wish to record here my sincere gratitude to Ryosuke Furui, who has
accompanied and supported every step of my studies in Bengal epigraphy, and furnished useful
comments on a draft of this article; to Swadhin Sen, who shared his geographic data on provenances
of copperplates in Bangladesh and to Pierre Pichard for drawing the map included here; to Piotr
Balcerowicz, who shared generously of his time and knowledge to help me understand the grant to
Jaina monks included in this article; to Peter Bisschop and Annette Schmiedchen, who proofread
earlier drafts; and to the participants of my course on the early epigraphy of Bengal taught in Paris
at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in 2017–18, who struggled with me through the difficulties
of the Gupta-period plates of Bengal.

N otes
1. The same private collection also includes has repeatedly visited the Museum and photographed
what seems to be a new grant of Sasaoka and a new all inscriptions that could be shown to him.
Bhaumakara grant, inscriptions that I hope to publish 6. Ayoub Khan 2007; Sanyal 2010; Sen 2015.
separately. Swadhin Sen has furnished coordinates and
2. For an overview of the land-sale grants of administrative divisions for the Damodarpur and
Bengal in the Gupta and post-Gupta periods, and the Baigram plates, whose provenances are among the
historical issues involved, Yamazaki’s article (1982) is most securely established of the corpus.
still unsurpassed, although several new inscriptions 7. I adopt this convenient distinction from a recent
of this type have become known since its publication. monumental publication on the Pallava inscriptions
With Gupta (1989: 272), I understand khila to be used of South India (Francis 2013–17, II: 422 n. 4): ‘On
in these inscriptions in the technical sense defined nomme les tablettes soit d’après le nom du village dont
in the Naradasmrti, where we read as stanza 11.23: elles enregistrent la donation (« X grant », « charte de
salvatsarepardhakhilal khilal tad vatsarais tribhih| X »), soit d’après leur lieu de découverte (« X copper-
pañcavarxavasannal tu syat kxetram atavasamam|| ‘A field plates », « tablettes de X »). D’autres tablettes sont
which has been fallow for one year is called half-waste, nommées d’après le lieu de conservation, telles les
for three years, waste, and after five years it has the tablettes cōḻa de Leiden. Il arrive dès lors que certaines
(legal) status of jungle’ (ed. and trans. Lariviere 1989). tablettes soient nommées dans la littérature secondaire
For further evidence in support of the supposition that de plusieurs façons. Ainsi les tablettes de Gupapadēya
the legal framework of these inscriptions is likely to (IR 4) sont aussi désignées comme les tablettes du
have reflected a tradition similar to that laid down in British Museum ou de Carudevi (d’après le nom de
the Naradasmrti, see pp. 42–3. la donatrice).’ For more detailed consideration of the
3. With regard to bibliographic references, I issue of epigraphic nomenclature, and arguments in
should make clear that I have limited myself to favour of a system that relies on names internal to
English-language publications. In several cases the epigraphic documents, I refer to the excellent
inscriptions were initially published in Bengali- work published, also in French, by Louis-Charles
language periodicals, which I have not yet been able Damais (1952: 7–9, §18–25) on the epigraphy of
to access at the time this article goes to press. ancient Indonesia, a case that is in all relevant aspects
4. This assumption is rendered a virtual certainty analogous to that of ancient India and Bangladesh.
by the opening passages of the five Damodarpur 8. On this technology and its archaeological
plates, which mention the names of the respective applications, see http://culturalheritageimaging.org/
ruling Gupta monarchs, although it must be admitted Technologies/RTI/ (accessed 19/04/2018) and Earl
that none of the other inscriptions of the small corpus et al. 2010.
that concerns us here is explicit about a connection 9. There may have been one akxara before lavi. If
with the Gupta empire. What is remarkable is rather so, the akxaras lavi would be the second and third of
the absence of explicit mention of any monarch, the agrahara’s name.
Gupta or otherwise, in most of these inscriptions. See 10. The paramabhattaraka in the plate Raktamala
Griffiths 2015: 25. #1 is identifiable as Budhagupta (Griffiths 2015: 25).
5. Not yet having been able to visit Rajshahi Note the absence of parama- here. Since Budhagupta’s
myself, I owe the information to Ryosuke Furui, who predecessors were also referred to as bhattarakapadah,
52 ARLO GRIFFITHS

no definitive conclusion can be drawn from the usage the same name as that of the Brahmin beneficiary
of this title here with regard to the reign in which this Guhadaman of this grant—and a possible case of
inscription was issued. beneficiary’s membership of council. But it now seems
11. Yamazaki (1982: 25), R. Chakravarti (1996: unlikely to me that the last legible akxara on l. 4 is gu.
190) and other scholars have cited a stanza from the 19. The use of future verb forms where we
Naradasmrti (11.37) in the context of interpretations might expect imperatives is rather common in these
of the important word kutumbin as ‘peasant inscriptions. Cf. the forms dasyatha and anupalayixyatha
(householder)’: grhal kxetral ca vijñeyal vasahetuh in the citation from the Baigram plate in §3.2, and,
kutumbinam| tasmat tan nakxiped raja tad dhi mulal from a similar context, dasyatha ... anupalayixyasi in the
kutumbinam||‘The house and the field are what the Raktamala grant #1, ll. 21–2 (with disagreement of
family lives on; therefore the king should not disturb number, see Griffiths 2015: 19); see also viditam bo
them since they are the foundation of the family’ (ed. bhavixyati (i.e. viditam vo bhavixyati) in the Kalaikuri-
and transl. Lariviere 1989). But the textual material Sultanpur plate, ll. 2–3. On this usage, see Oberlies
assembled by Ritschl and Schetelich (1976), which 2003, §6.2.9.
shows that the word is often used in connection with 20. The term X-pravesya-Y in cadastral contexts
ownership and supports the translation as ‘landholder’ indicates that Y is part of the larger unit X. See the
favoured here, has unfortunately been ignored in most glossary in Schmiedchen forthcoming.
English-language scholarship. 21. This rather surprising toponym seems to mean
12. A fuller expression pañcamahayajñapravarttanaya ‘lotus (abja) – shore (tata) – leave (apagaccha)’.
matapitror anugrahepa ‘for the purpose of the regular 22. Cf. the Madhyamaxapdika vithi of the
performance of the five great sacrifices for the Raktamala grants (see inscription no. 1, pp. 25–30).
(spiritual) benefit of (his) mother and father’ is found 23. The syntactic position of the genitive mama is
in the grant Raktamala #1, l. 9. The ritual services not transparent. It is found in a comparable context
expected from the Brahmin beneficiary are left also in the Tavira plate, l. 8. Is it the indirect object
implicit here. with datum? This is implied by Sircar’s explanation
13. On the coin terms, see p. 50. (1965: 288 n. 7) mama=mahyam on the Dhanaidaha
14. In the parallel passage in Raktamala grant plate, l. 8 (inspection of the published facsimile shows
#1 (l. 21), I have interpreted ito as meaning ‘for this that we must read mamapy anenaiva instead of the read-
reason’ (Griffiths 2015: 23), but I now doubt whether ing mamadyanenaiva found in all publications so far),
this was correct. It may refer instead to one of the but this text it too fragmentary to be helpful. Anyhow,
places fixed in the preceding clauses, in which case the that solution does not seem to work here and in the
meaning could be that the division and demarcation Tavira plate. Could it be construed with pravarttana?
are to be carried out from that place, whether as But one rather expects that the venerable Arhants
starting point of a measurement process that proceeds should be the agents of the pravarttana. Perhaps we
step by step, or in the sense of demarcating X from have contamination from such contexts as Damodar-
Y. Another possibility is that ito refers to the village as pur #1, ll. 6–9 (emended) brahmapakarppatikena vijñapi-
a whole. tam arhatha mamagnihotropayogaya apradaprahatakhilakxe-
15. When editing the Raktamala grant #1 (l. 21), tral tridinarikyakulyavapena sasvadacandrarkkatarakabhog-
I tentatively read naitika, but noted that nitika was yakxayanividharmepa datum.
also a possible reading (Griffiths 2015: 22, 23, and 24. I tentatively presume that this second quotation
35 n. 18). Based on better photographs that I was terminated by iti still forms part of the petition that
able to make in 2017, I now consider that the reading began in l. 3.
is indeed nitika there, and this also seems to be the 25. Note that this toponym, also found in the
reading in the present grant, although its poor state Baigram plate, here takes the place of Madhyamasrga-
of conservation makes it hard to be sure. I retain the lika.
tentative translation ‘governmental’ proposed in 2015. 26. http://museumsofindia.gov.in/repository/
16. I owe these photos to a source who wishes to record/im_kol-A20050-9085-18. Accessed in May
remain anonymous. 2018.
17. Cf. the name of the uparika Ciratadatta in 27. See Sircar 1966: 120–1, and Olivelle 2013:
Damodarpur #1. 632 on Arthasastra 4.4.9.
18. I initially thought that gu[ha]- could be read at 28. Using normal search goal/gohal/gohali and wild-
the end of l. 4, in which case we would have had here card search *goal/gohal/gohali on the India Place Finder
 Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal 53

http://india.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp (set for West Bengal) this area of West Bengal, and the historical issues
and the Global Place Finder http://newspat.csis.u- involved, see also some papers in The Chitrolekha Journal
tokyo.ac.jp/gpf/ (set for Bangladesh) I have found on Art and Design, vol. 4 (1), 2014 http://chitrolekha.
only one place-name where goal is second element com/v4n1/.
(Argoal in Medinipur district) and one toponym 36. This raises the question of the meanings of
where gohali is in second place (there are two villages the terms vixaya (‘district’) and vithi (here translated as
Gandagohali, one near Rajshahi and the second near ‘division’). D.C. Sircar was inclined early on (1943:
Noagaon); by contrast, there are many where goal/ 15–16) to consider the latter a subdivision of the
gohal/gohali is the first element as in Goalbhita, which former, but was less explicit in subsequent publications
is still findable today. (1965: 360 n. 1, 1966: 379–80), apparently admitting
29. See Turner 1966, nos. 4334 (gosala) and 4336 also the possibility that the vithi was a territorial unit
(goxtha). of the same level as the vixaya. Chattopadhyaya (1990:
30. Cf. Gupta 1996: 576. 39–42) appears to work under this assumption, but
31. N.G. Majumdar and subsequent scholars does not make his thoughts on the matter explicit.
accepted here the improbable reading caturddioniyami- 37. See Morrison 1970: 86–7, table 6 (where the
tasalmanal. Damodarpur plate #4 is curiously omitted) and Gupta
32. Predecessors have assumed Darvikarma was a (1989: 276) for indications of the quantities of land
proper noun, and that it designated the person after donated in the grants that were known respectively by
whom the standard had taken its name (cf. Gupta the late 1960s and late 1980s.
1996: 575). I am agnostic about what the term meant, 38. On these issues, see the discussion of Morrison
but in the absence of strong arguments in support of (1970: 85–90).
such an assumption, I prefer to translate literally. 39. This word is obtained by emendation. The
33. According to the title page of EI volume 21,
plate itself calls him jamatya, which is not interpretable
the responsible editors were Hirananda Sastri, K.N.
without editorial intervention.
Dikshit and N.P. Chakravarti.
40. I only realised when most other pieces had
34. These translated stanzas seem to correspond to
fallen into place that the Prakrit equivalent khamapa is
the following in the Brhaspatismrti as reconstructed by
recorded in the Illustrated Ardhamagadhi Dictionary, vol.
K.V. Rangaswami Aiyangar (1941), Vyavaharakapda,
2: 553.
chapter 19, pp. 159–62:
41. Sircar read -vi[th]ya mecikamrasiddhayatane. No
krayavikrayanusaye vidhir exa pradarsitah|
word mecika is known, whereas pecika is a known word,
gramakxetragrhadinal simavadal nibodhata ||1||;
designating a kind of owl.
nivesakale kartavyah sumabandhaviniscayah|
prakasopalsucihnais ca lakxitah salsayapahah ||7||; 42. See the paper by A.N. Upadhye ‘Pañcastupan-
vapikupatadagani caityaramasuralayah|8cd|; vaya’, originally published in the Karnataka Historical
sthalanimnanadisrotah saragulmanagadayah| Review 7 (1–2), 1948, and included in the same schol-
prakasacihnany etani simayal karayet sada ||9||; ar’s volume of papers (Upadhye 1983: 279–83). See
nihitani tathanyani yani bhumir na bhakxayet |17ab|; also Shah 1987: 16, with notes 82–5.
karixasthituxaogarasarkarasmakapalikah |20ab|; 43. This is perhaps a fact too well known to require
sikatextakagobalakarpasasthini bhasma ca |20cd|; a bibliographic reference. Nevertheless, I may refer to
prakxipya kumbhexv etani simantexu nidhapayet |21ab|. Schubring 2000, §137.
On these stanzas, see Renou 1962–3: 99–100. 44. The angle brackets indicate restorations of
35. Sanyal (2010: 124) attempts to anchor the elements omitted in the text, after Bakker 2006: 182
plates to the area where they were found by citing a n. 9 and 2010: 463 n. 12, whose translation I also
village Kotpada in the Dantan P.S. of West Medinipur adopt with only minor modifications. However, for the
District, but forgets that the ancient toponym to reading cellaka- I differ from Bakker, and from Willis
which this would, in his theory, correspond, was (2009: 333 n. 277), who believe the reading cannot be
read Kecakapadrika by Sircar (1983: 25), in place anything else than celuka. In my opinion, reading -lla- is
of Ketakapadrika read by Majumdar. This weakens perfectly possible in view of the estampage published
Sanyal’s hypothesis that ‘Kotpada is in all probability in Bhandarkar 1981 (pl. V A) and expected in the light
the corrupt form of the name Kētakapadrika’, which, of the argument brought forward by Dundas (2014:
in my opinion, was already improbable to begin with. 239 n. 16), while a dignitary named Cellaka is attested
On the archaeological and epigraphic material from in the Mastakasvabhra plate, l. 2 (Griffiths 2015: 29).
54 ARLO GRIFFITHS

45. For more details on this rule, see Schubring up all gaiety, circumspect and restrained, one should
(2000: 272, §154): ‘The alms, above all, must not be lead a religious life.’
prepared in advance, neither for receivers of alms 47. Several of the elements from Nagavasu’s
in general (ahakamma) nor for him personally who is grant analysed so far find significant parallels in the
expected to ask for them (uddesiya), no more than they epigraphic data from Jaina epigraphy in South India
may be sent for (abhi-hada) or bought (kiya-gada) or set assembled in Schmiedchen (2018), with regard to the
aside from one’s own meal (ceiya K. 2, 25–28, Dasa 2, purposes specified in such grants and the importance
4, Nis. 10, 4, Ayar. I 36, 20, II 50, 20; Dasav. 3, 2).’ of teacher-disciple lines.
46. Admittedly, I have so far identified no clearer 48. I have standardised the transliteration system.
expression of this idea than the following passages The corresponding passage in the same scholar’s 1879
translated from the Ayaraogasutta (Jacobi 1884: 81): edition of the text is found on pp. 78–9.
‘The sage, perceiving the double (karman), proclaims
49. In all of the Damodarpur plates that contain
the incomparable activity, he, the knowing one;
a relevant statement, i.e. 4 out of 5 (only #3 lacking
knowing the current of worldliness, the current of
an explicit statement), the price of one kulyavapa is
sinfulness, and the impulse, (15) Practising the sinless
3 dinaras; in all other inscriptions of the corpus that
abstinence from killing, he did no acts, neither himself
contain a statement, the price is 2 dinaras.
nor with the assistance of others; he to whom women
were known as the causes of all sinful acts, he saw (the 50. Ed. and transl. (into French) Lévi 1905–8,
true state of the world). (16)’ In his note on ‘double vol. III: 102–9 (no. XVI); ed. Gnoli 1956 (no. LVI);
(karman)’, Jacobi explains the meaning to be present ed. and transl. (into Nepali) Vajracarya 1973: 433–7
and future, presumably based on the commentary. (no. 115).
But in another passage, translated by Jacobi (1884) 51. The note (p. 620) on ‘impost’ reads: ‘This
on pp. 32–3, we read: ‘There is no past thing, nor must be some sort of fee related to the inspection of
is there a future one; So opine the Tathagatas. He the coins used to pay the fine. …’. My impression
whose karman has ceased and conduct is right, who is that Olivelle’s translation for this stanza basically
recognises the truth (stated above) and destroys follows Kangle’s previous translation. The absence of
sinfulness (thinks): What is discontent and what is significant annotation may mean that neither scholar
pleasure? not subject to either, one should live; Giving was really sure about the interpretation of the stanza.

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