Plate : first translation
Hail! In the fifth year of the victorious suzerainty of the suzerain of great kings Śrī Pradyumnabandhu,
on the twenty-second day of the month Āśvayuja, when his appointee as governor,
named Cellaka,
was managing affairs vyavaharati
For similar expressions, see [Damodarpur plate #1](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00047.xml), lines 3–6 (emended): tan-niyuktaka-kumārāmātya-vetravarmaṇy adhiṣṭhāṇādhikaraṇañ ca nagara-śreṣṭhi-dhr̥tipāla-sārthavāha-bandhumitra-prathamakulika-dhr̥timitra-prathamakāyastha-śāmbapāla-puroge saṁvyavaharati; [Damodarpur plate #3](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00032.xml), lines 1–2 (emended): puṇḍravardhana-bhuktāv uparika-mahārāja-brahmadatte saṁvyavaharati.
in Śrī Puṇḍravardhana province,
when the Ghoṇā-island district falling under it had been obtained
as fief by the great chamberlain Avadhūta,
at that time the people of the district,
beginning with the great notables and the notables,
together with the council,
were requested by him i.e. Avadhūta
whose mind was inspired by merits acquired in a previous life:
Cf. the [Jayarampur plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00076), line 7: sākṣād dharmma ivopāttajanmā. Despite the availability of this parallel, the idea of an embodied Dharma does not seem to suit our context.
I wish to make donation of the village Mastakaśvabhra
along with its citron-grove to a Brahmin,
after purchasing it from you,
in accordance with the custom of the district,
for the sake of increasing the merit of my parents and myself,
and after making it a tract of land with copperplate deed of purchase.
Having been thus requested, they answered: We inform as follows
after having spoken together.The placement of iti in line 4 is somewhat problematic. In a personal communication, Yuko Yokochi suggests to me that the structure is strange because the content of the vijñapti comes after iti, due to the length of what was informed. I translate as though one more iti stood between dātum and evam.
In this matter yatra,
the great notables Ādityadeva, Jayadeva and Jāvabhadra;
the great notable Śarvadeva;
the hamlet notables Yaśodeva, Praśastarudra and Mitradeva;
residing in Bhiloṭa, the notable Nātharudra;
the hamlet notables Śāntirudra and Dharmarudra;
from Vr̥ddhapriya, the notables Pavitrasoma and Kṣemadeva;
residing on Ṣaṇḍa-island, the notables Gaurakakiraṇasvāmin and Rudrasvāmin;
residing on Pravara-island, the Brahmin Guhayaśas;
residing in Navadevakula, the notable Śambhusvāmin;
residing in Pippalivanikā, the notable Bhākideva;
from Patravāṭa, the notable Gopasoma; from Śaṅkarapallika, Bhaṭṭadharmasvāmin;
residing in Śivanagara, Bhadrasvāmin, Śrīcandra and Kṣemaśarman;
from the island, the notable Amr̥taśāntanu;
residing in Varāhakoṭṭaka, the notables Dharmakuṇḍa and Śivagupta;
residing in Khātaka, the notable Jalla;
from Ardrala, the notables Jālacandra and Śyāmadeva;
from Audumvarika, the notables Abhinandana and Malayarudra as well as the scribes karaṇika Naradatta, Eḍita/Vāḍita and Devasena;
the district councilors Śambhudatta, Kr̥ṣṇadatta, Paurudatta, and others, have deliberated.
In translating all the references to the places of residence of the members of council, I have assumed that no significant difference of meaning is conveyed by the choice of terms (ni)vāsin or vāstavya (both rendered as ‘residing in’), while both of these seem also to be synonymous with the use of a nominal derivative in -eya (‘from’)
They have confirmed avadhr̥tavantas:
There is this custom
— also by good people in the past,
fields in the surroundings of district villages have been purchased donated to temples, monasteries and excellent Brahmins;
and kings in the past have given their consent.
And the land renders no benefit whatsoever to the king as long as it is lying fallow;
if on the other hand, it is once again,
in the stated fashion, made the object of donation,
it will yield fruit in this world and the next.
Cf. The [Panchrol plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00064.xml), lines 23–25 (emended): cira-khila-śūnyāvaskarāyāṁ bhūmāv avatiṣṭhamānāyāṁ na kāñ cid artha-māttrāṁ rājñaḥ puṣṇāty asya ca rājño dharmma-phala-ṣaḍ-bhāga-prāptir asty eva yato dīyatām iti; and the [Ghugrahati plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00003.xml), line 13–15 (emended): rājño dharmārtha-niṣphalā yā tu bhogyā kr̥tā bhūmir nr̥pasyaivārtha-dharma-kr̥t tad asmai vrāhmaṇāya dīyatām iti.
And this village’s additional taxes uparikara
for the coming years are forty-five kārṣāpaṇas.
What other income of the district there will be, that must be divided and borne by us.
On the sense of the word ābhāvya, see 150: “accompanied by all the contributions supposed to go to the royal family (rāja-kulābhāvya-sarva-pratyāya-sameta)”. It is glossed as ‘income or proceeds’ by 1. In the present context, one might wonder if it means income from the district to the king, or separate revenue to be collected and used at district level, because the translation of voḍhavya depends on this. I settle in favor of the former interpretation by comparing the [Mallasarul plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00084.xml), lines 12–13 (emended): tat sampadyatām asyābhiprāya ity asmad-vāra-kr̥tair anena dattaka-dīnārān saṁgr̥hya vīthyāṁ samvibhajyāsmadvettra-garttāgrāme 'ṣṭābhyaḥ kulyavāpebhyo yathocitaṁ dānaṁ tad-vīthī-samudaya eva prāṇāyyaṁ voḍhavyam ity avacūrṇyāṣṭau kulyavāpā mahā-rāja-vijayasenasya dattāḥ. See 3755, who explains “prāṇāyyaṁ = honestly. vīthīsamudaye = in the revenue, i.e. revenue account, of the vīthī. voḍhavya = to be borne. dāna = deya = dues. avacūrṇya = apaviñchya”.
From what source? We do not have any source from which to pay these taxes.
Therefore, on account of the district, we are in need of cash.
And this great chamberlain Avadhūta humbly requests an act that is proper and fruitful for this village, object of the present report
.
It is difficult to know how to divide the text into sentences in line 13. I only know one Bengal inscription using yuktam in a similar context, i.e. the [Panchrol plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00064.xml), lines 21–23 (emended): etad-dharmma-sahita-vacanām upaśrutyāsmābhir yair uparilikhitakair anyonyāvadhāraṇayāvadhr̥taṁ yuktam ayaṁ prārthayate.
And after having confirmed this,
we have let the district arbitrators
The term viṣayavārika is not found elsewhere in early Bengal inscriptions. Ryosuke Furui has recommended me to compare it with the functionaries named kulavārika and vārakr̥ta, appointed as arbitrators by the adhikaraṇa and mahattaras, in the [Faridpur #3](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00081.xml), [Mallasarul](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00084.xml) and [Ghugrahati](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00003.xml) plates. 37153753 has suggested that kulavāra possibly means ‘arbitrator’, and that the meaning of vārakr̥ta seems related.
receive a thousand cūrṇikās
Comparison with line 12 suggests that taxes were calculated in the currency unit of kārṣāpaṇa (149), whereas land was paid for in cowrie shells: according to 53, the term cūrṇikā “possibly meant a sum of the value of 10 kapardas or cowries used as coins”. While the unit figures elsewhere in early Bengal epigraphy only in the [Jayarampur plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00076.xml) (line 31), the unit kārṣāpaṇa seems not to be used anywere else in Bengal epigraphy at all (see 57-60). Our plate thus provides valuable new light on the monetary system of early post-Gupta Bengal.
as price of the village
as well as incense, flowers and garments on the occasion of hearing of the king’s assent,
The meaning of the expression śravaṇanimittam in this context is not clear to me, and I can find no parallels for it in other inscriptions. The phrase ājñāśravaṇavidheya, frequent e.g. in the Pāla corpus, is translated by 254 (Khalimpur Plate, line 55) as ‘ready to obey our commands’.
and we have sold the village Mastakaśvabhra,
along with its citron grove,
into the hand of the great chamberlain Avadhūta.
And after he had bought it,
by him it has been made over to the Brahmin Jayadeva,
belonging to the Kātyāyana gotra, student of the Vājasaneya school of the Yajurveda,
son of Bhogadeva, to be enjoyed in sequence by his sons, grandsons, and so on,
as long as moon and sun shall last,
for purpose of the regular performance of the five great sacrifices.
And the boundary markers of this village Mastakaśvabhra are,
in this connection yatra:
in the East, the stream; in the North, the same, after it has entered the Trighaṭṭikā river by the cremation ground;
in the West, the Omra canal; in the South, too, along the latter, after the Śr̥ṅgāṭaka ‘Crossroad’ pond, the Br̥hacchaṅkajoṭā ‘Great-Conch-Joṭā’;
after the latter, down again to the stream near the silk cotton tree of Kāṇālatī.
Engraved by the scribe Śambhudatta,
Ryosuke Furui points out to me that karaṇika here could also be an abbreviation of adhikaraṇika, if this Śambhudatta is the same as the viṣayādhikaraṇika of that name who figures in line 9.
heated by the record-keeper Kr̥ṣṇadatta. Year 5, day 22.
And Manu and so on used to cite stanzas in this same sense:
The one who would steal land given by himself or another becomes a worm in excrement and is cooked with his ancestors.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 132 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar see II170-200.
The giver of land revels sixty thousand years in heaven; the one who challenges a donation as well as the one who approves of the challenge will reside as many years in hell.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 123 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar see II170-200.
Numerous kings, starting with Sagara, have given land. Whoever holds land at a given moment, to him does the fruit belong.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 23 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar see II170-200.
One who gives a carriage or bed obtains a wife; one who gives food obtains permanent bliss; one who gives land obtains everything at once; one who gives cattle obtains the summit of the sun.
This verse corresponds to the pādas ab and ef of the verse numbered 145 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar see II170-200.
Plate : new translation
Hail! In the fifth year of the victorious suzerainty of the suzerain of great kings mahārājādhirāja Śrī Pradyumnabandhu,
on the twenty-second day of the month Āśvayuja, when his appointee as governor,
named Cellaka,
was managing affairs vyavaharati
For similar expressions, see [Damodarpur plate #1](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00047.xml), lines 3–6 (emended): tan-niyuktaka-kumārāmātya-vetravarmaṇy adhiṣṭhāṇādhikaraṇañ ca nagara-śreṣṭhi-dhr̥tipāla-sārthavāha-bandhumitra-prathamakulika-dhr̥timitra-prathamakāyastha-śāmbapāla-puroge saṁvyavaharati; [Damodarpur plate #3](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00032.xml), lines 1–2 (emended): puṇḍravardhana-bhuktāv uparika-mahārāja-brahmadatte saṁvyavaharati.
in Śrī Puṇḍravardhana province,
when the Ghoṇā-island district falling under it had been obtained
as fief by the great chamberlain Avadhūta,
at that time the people of the district,
beginning with the great notables and the notables,
together with the council,
were requested by him i.e. Avadhūta
whose mind was inspired by merits acquired in a previous life:
Cf. the [Jayarampur plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00076), line 7: sākṣād dharmma ivopāttajanmā. Despite the availability of this parallel, the idea of an embodied Dharma does not seem to suit our context.
I wish to make donation of the village Mastakaśvabhra
along with its citron-grove to a Brahmin,
after purchasing it from you,
in accordance with the custom of the district,
for the sake of increasing the merit of my parents and myself,
and after making it a tract of land with copperplate deed of purchase.
Having been thus requested ,
they answered :
We shall deliberate and inform.
On this matter yattra,
the great notables Ādityadeva, Jayadeva and Jāvabhadra;
the great notable Śarvadeva;
the hamlet notables Yaśodeva, Praśastarudra and Mitradeva;
residing in Bhiloṭa,In translating all the references to the places of residence of the members of council, I have assumed that no significant difference of meaning is conveyed by the choice of terms (ni)vāsin or vāstavya (both rendered as ‘residing in’), while both of these seem also to be synonymous with the use of a nominal derivative in -eya (‘from’) the notable Nātharudra;
the hamlet notables Śāntirudra and Dharmarudra;
from Vr̥ddhapriya, the notables Pavitrasoma and Kṣemadeva;
residing on Ṣaṇḍa-island, the notables Gaurakakiraṇasvāmin and Rudrasvāmin;
residing on Pravara-island, the Brahmin Guhayaśas;
residing in Navadevakula, the notable Śambhusvāmin;
residing in Pippalivanikā, the notable Bhākideva;
from Patravāṭa, the notable Gopasoma;
from Śaṅkarapallika, Bhaṭṭadharmasvāmin;
residing in Śivanagara, Bhadrasvāmin, Śrīcandra and Kṣemaśarman;
from Dvīpaki the small island, the notable Amr̥taśāntanu;
residing in Varāhakoṭṭaka, the notables Dharmakuṇḍa and Śivagupta;
residing in Khātaka, the notable Jalla;
from Ardrala, the notables Jālacandra and Śyāmadeva;
from Audumvarika, the notables Abhinandana and Malayarudra
as well as the scribes karaṇika Naradatta, Eḍita/Vāḍita and Devasena;
the district councilors Śambhudatta, Kr̥ṣṇadatta, Paurudatta, and others,
[then] deliberated.
They ascertained avadhr̥tavanto the following points :
- There is this custom,
— also followed by good people in the past :
After being purchased from various people of the district,
fields in the surroundings of district villages
are donated to
these types of recipients -temples, monasteries and Brahmins-
and in past, these transactions were ratified by kings;
yet
the land, as long as it is lying fallow, renders no benefit whatsoever to the king,
if on the other hand, it is once again made the object of donation
in the stated fashion,
it will yield fruit in this world and the next.
Cf. The [Panchrol plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00064.xml), lines 23–25 (emended): cira-khila-śūnyāvaskarāyāṁ bhūmāv avatiṣṭhamānāyāṁ na kāñ cid artha-māttrāṁ rājñaḥ puṣṇāty asya ca rājño dharmma-phala-ṣaḍ-bhāga-prāptir asty eva yato dīyatām iti; and the [Ghugrahati plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00003.xml), line 13–15 (emended): rājño dharmārtha-niṣphalā yā tu bhogyā kr̥tā bhūmir nr̥pasyaivārtha-dharma-kr̥t tad asmai vrāhmaṇāya dīyatām iti.
- And this village’s additional taxes uparikara
for the coming years
are forty-five kārṣāpaṇas.
- What other income of the district there will be,
that must be divided and borne by us.
On the sense of the word ābhāvya, see 150: “accompanied by all the contributions supposed to go to the royal family (rāja-kulābhāvya-sarva-pratyāya-sameta)”. It is glossed as ‘income or proceeds’ by 1. In the present context, one might wonder if it means income from the district to the king, or separate revenue to be collected and used at district level, because the translation of voḍhavya depends on this. I settle in favor of the former interpretation by comparing the
[Mallasarul plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00084.xml), lines 12–13 (emended): tat sampadyatām asyābhiprāya ity asmad-vāra-kr̥tair anena dattaka-dīnārān saṁgr̥hya vīthyāṁ samvibhajyāsmadvettra-garttāgrāme 'ṣṭābhyaḥ kulyavāpebhyo yathocitaṁ dānaṁ tad-vīthī-samudaya eva prāṇāyyaṁ voḍhavyam ity avacūrṇyāṣṭau kulyavāpā mahā-rāja-vijayasenasya dattāḥ. See 3755, who explains “prāṇāyyaṁ = honestly. vīthīsamudaye = in the revenue, i.e. revenue account, of the vīthī. voḍhavya = to be borne. dāna = deya = dues. avacūrṇya = apaviñchya”.
From what source? We do not have any source from which to pay these taxes.
- Therefore, on account of the district, we are in need of cash.
- And this great chamberlain Avadhūta
humbly requests
an act that is proper and fruitful for this village,
object of the present report.
It is difficult to know how to divide the text into sentences in line 13. I only know one Bengal inscription using yuktam in a similar context, i.e. the
[Panchrol plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00064.xml), lines 21–23 (emended): etad-dharmma-sahita-vacanām upaśrutyāsmābhir yair uparilikhitakair anyonyāvadhāraṇayāvadhr̥taṁ yuktam ayaṁ prārthayate.
And having ascertained these points,
they have let the district arbitrators
The term viṣayavārika is not found elsewhere in early Bengal inscriptions. Ryosuke Furui has recommended me to compare it with the functionaries named kulavārika and vārakr̥ta, appointed as arbitrators by the adhikaraṇa and mahattaras, in the [Faridpur #3](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00081.xml), [Mallasarul](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00084.xml) and [Ghugrahati](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00003.xml) plates. 37153753 has suggested that kulavāra possibly means ‘arbitrator’, and that the meaning of vārakr̥ta seems related.
receive a thousand cūrṇikās
as price of the village
as well as incense, flowers and garments
under the auspicious sign of the constellation of Śravaṇa
In , the expression śravaṇanimittam has been translated by on the occasion of hearing of the king’s assent
with the following note : The meaning of the expression śravaṇanimittam in this context is not clear to me, and I can find no parallels for it in other inscriptions. The phrase ājñāśravaṇavidheya, frequent e.g. in the Pāla corpus, is translated by 254 ([Khalimpur Plate](DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00088.xml), line 55) as ‘ready to obey our commands’.
. Here we suggest three other understandings of this expression. The first possibility is to supply an other word instead of the 'king's consent' and to assume it is the hearing of the prescribed mantras that must be recited during the gift-ceremony. The second possibility is to translate it as an adverbial accusative in the sense of according to the śruti or Vedic texts
( : nimitta in fine compositi caused or occasioned by
and śravaṇa the act of hearing, also 'that which is heard' equals śruti-
). Finally, considering two specific meanings of each member of the coumpound - nimitta as omen and śravaṇa as the name of the 20th (or 23rd) nakṣatra presided over by Viṣṇu -, the expression śravaṇanimittam could be understand 'under the sign of Śravaṇa' and could express the time during which the transation should be made. In order to choose between these several meanings, one could take a look on the procedure of making gift described in the Agnipurāṇa, chapter 209. The verses 209.49cd-50 mention what the donor and the donee should say. The verses 209.56-63 detail the qualities of the donee, the auspicious place and time for the gift. This latter is defined by the position of the moon and the sun in the sky (Agnipurāṇa 209.57 : somārkagrahaṇasaṅkrāntyādau ca kālake 'in a darkness moment as the passage or the eclipse of the moon or the sun etc.'). Finally the verses 209.61-63 quotes the formula which should be recited. And the chapter 209 ends on this sentence : anena dānavākyena sarvadānāni vai dadet 'One must give all gifts by using this sentence of donation'. As this source belongs to smr̥ti literature and as the words to be recited are not coming from the Veda, the translation 'in the occasion the hearing of the prescribed mantras' could be accepted whereas the one 'according to the śruti' is less likely. As the verses 209.49cd-50 of the Agnipurāṇa prescribe the time of the gift according to the planet positions, as the pāda 209.48d specifies that Viṣṇu is the presiding deity of all things given sarveṣāṃ viṣṇudevatā, idea which seems to be shared by others sources and be quoted by several Dharmanibandha authors see 2.2855 and finally, as the constellation Śravaṇa is presided over by Viṣṇu, the third translation under the auspicious sign of the constellation of Śravaṇa
has been retained here.
and they sold the village Mastakaśvabhra,
along with its citron grove,
into the hand of the great chamberlain Avadhūta.
And after he had bought it,
by him it has been made over to the Brahmin Jayadeva,
belonging to the Kātyāyana gotra,
student of the Vājasaneya school of the Yajurveda,
son of Bhogadeva,
to be enjoyed in sequence by his sons, grandsons, and so on,
as long as moon and sun shall last,
for purpose of the regular performance of the five great sacrifices.
And the boundary markers of this village Mastakaśvabhra are,
in this connection yatra:
in the East, the stream; in the North, the same, after it has entered the Trighaṭṭikā river by the cremation ground;
in the West, the Omra canal;
in the South, too, along the latter, after the Śr̥ṅgāṭaka ‘Crossroad’ pond, the Br̥hacchaṅkajoṭā ‘Great-Conch-Joṭā’;
after the latter, down again to the stream near the silk cotton tree of Kāṇālatī.
Engraved by the scribe Śambhudatta,
Ryosuke Furui points out to me that karaṇika here could also be an abbreviation of adhikaraṇika, if this Śambhudatta is the same as the viṣayādhikaraṇika of that name who figures in line 9.
heated by the record-keeper Kr̥ṣṇadatta.
Year 5, Āśvayuja month day 22.
And Manu and so on used to cite stanzas in this same sense:
The one who would steal land given by himself or another becomes a worm in excrement and is cooked with his ancestors.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 132 among the Bhūmi Stanzas listed by Sircar see II170-200.
The giver of land revels sixty thousand years in heaven; the one who challenges a donation as well as the one who approves of the challenge will reside as many years in hell.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 123 among the Bhūmi Stanzas listed by Sircar see II170-200.
Numerous kings, starting with Sagara, have given land. Whoever holds land at a given moment, to him does the fruit belong.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 23 among the Bhūmi Stanzas listed by Sircar see II170-200.
One who gives a carriage or bed obtains a wife; one who gives food obtains permanent bliss; one who gives land obtains everything at once; one who gives cattle obtains the summit of the sun.
This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 145ab and 145ef among the Bhūmi Stanzas listed by Sircar see II170-200.