A second grant concerning the Raktamālā estate

Editors: Amandine Wattelier-Bricout, Arlo Griffiths.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSBengalCharters00057.

Languages: Sanskrit, Source.

Repository: Bengal Copper Plates (tfb-bengalcharters-epigraphy).

Version: (3b1ee6e), last modified (ca386bb).

Edition

Primary Seal

⟨1⟩ maddhyamaṣaṇḍikavīthyāyuktakādhi⟨2⟩karaṇasya

Secondary Seal

[1 illegible line]

Plate

⟨Page 1r⟩ ⟨1⟩ [sva](sti)⟨.⟩ [1+] lavilinty-agrahārād bhaṭṭāraka[-pā]dānuddhyātaḥ kumāram(ā)[tya-g](o)pāl[o] ’dhikaraṇa⟨2⟩[ñ] ca (khuḍḍī)-rakta-mālikāyāṁ brāhmaṇottarān s¿ā?⟨a⟩-kṣudra-pradhāna-(kuṭu)mbinaḥ k(u)[śa](la)m uktvā bodhayanti⟨.⟩

⟨3⟩ vijñāpaya(t)i [no] maha(tī)-rakta-mālāgrahāra-vāstavya-kula-(p)uttraka-ga(ṇa)da(tta)⟨.⟩

Iha-vīthy¿(ā)?⟨āṁ⟩ pa{ṁ}⟨4⟩ṇya-vastuṣu kārṣ(ā)paṇa-śatena śaś[v]a(t-kā)lopabhogyo ’kṣaya-¡ṇ!⟨n⟩īvī-dharmeṇa samudaya-vāhyāprati⟨5⟩(ka)ra-khila-kṣettra-kulyavāpavikrayo ’nuvr̥(tta)[s ta]d a¿ha?⟨haṁ⟩ mātā-pi[ttro]r anugraheṇātraiva mahatī⟨6⟩-[ra]kta-mālāgrahā-vāstavya-cātur-vvidy[ā](bhyanta)ra-v[ā]jisaneyi-(kaut)sa-(sa)-gotra-brāhmaṇa-yaś(o)bhū⟨7⟩[ti]-put[r]a-pautra-prapautrādibhi(r bhojyam akṣaya)-ṇīvī-dharmmeṇa samudaya-bāh(y)āpratikara-khila-kṣe⟨8⟩[trakulyavā]pa[m e]kaṁ krītvā dātum icchāmy arhatha matto ’nuvr̥ttāṣṭa-paṇaka-(rū)[pa](ke)ṇ¿e?⟨ai⟩va rūpaka-[śata]⟨9⟩-[dva]yam upasa[ṁ]gr̥hya khuḍḍī-rakta-mālikāgrā(me) samudaya-vāhy(ā)pratika(ra)-khila-kṣetra-kulyavāpaṁ ⟨10⟩ (dā)tum iti⟨.⟩

tatra pustapāla-(keśa)vadattāvadhāraṇayāvadhr̥ta(m astī)ha-(v)īthy¿ā?⟨āṁ⟩ paṇya-(vastu)[ṣu] ⟨11⟩ [kā](rṣā)pa(ṇa)-[śate]na śaśva⟨t⟩kālopabhogyo ’kṣaya-ṇīvī-dharmmeṇa samudaya-vāhyāpratikara-khila⟨12⟩-(kṣe)tra-vikra⟨⟨yo⟩⟩ ’nuvr̥ttaḥ tad-(v)ikray[e]ṇa ca na kaś cid virodh(o) bhaṭṭāraka-pādā(nā)m ¿u?⟨a⟩rtthopaca(yo) ⟨13⟩ [dharmma]-ṣaḍ-bhāg(āvā)[pti]ś ca⟨.⟩ tad asmād api kula-putraka-gaṇadattād anuvr̥ttāṣṭa-pa(ṇaka-rū)pake⟨14⟩ṇa rūpa[ka]-śata-dvayam upasaṁg[r̥](h)[ya brā](hma)ṇa-yaśobhūteḥ tat-putra-pautra-prapautrādi-(bhojya)⟨15⟩m akṣaya-(ṇīvī)-[dha](rmme)[ṇa]

⟨Page 1v⟩ ⟨16⟩ samudaya-bāhyā[pratikara]-khila-kṣetra-kulyavāpa [5+] rakta-mālikāgrāme dīyatām iti⟨.⟩

⟨17⟩ yato yuṣmān bodhayāmas tad anena yathopari-likhitaka-vijñāpitakā [2+](r)ita [4+] ⟨18⟩ tattra grāme samudaya-vāhyāpratikara-khila-kṣettra-kulyavā(pa)m ekaṁ dattaṁ [8+] ⟨19⟩ samudaya-vāhyāpratikara-khila-kṣetra-kulyavāp(e) kuṭumbināṁ karṣṣaṇ(ā)viro[dhisthā]ne [3+] ⟨20⟩ sa-viśvāsenādhikaraṇena viṣaya-kula-kuṭumbibhiś ca saheto n(ī)tikāratnyāḥ (Aṣṭaka)[nava-kana]⟨21⟩lābhyām apaviñchya pari[n]iyamya ca dāsyatha⟨.⟩ datvā (ca) śaśvat-kālo(pa)bhogyam a[kṣaya-ṇīvī-dha]⟨22⟩[rmme]ṇānupālayiṣyathet(i)⟨.⟩

Uktañ ca⟨.⟩

I. Anuṣṭubh

ṣaṣṭim bar{ṣ}ṣasahasrāṇi

a

sva[rgge] vasa[ti bhūmidaḥ]

b

⟨23⟩ [Ā]kṣeptā cānumantā ca

c

tāny eva narake vaseT 1

d
II. Anuṣṭubh

pū[r]vva-da[ttā](n dvijā)tibhyo

a

[yatnād rakṣa yu]dhi⟨24⟩[ṣṭhi]ra

b

mahī⟨ṁ⟩ mah¿i?⟨ī⟩matā¿ñ cch?⟨ṁ ś⟩(r)eṣṭha

c

dānāc chreyo ’nupālana(M) 1

d
III. Anuṣṭubh

sva(dattāṁ) paradattā(m bā)

a

(yo) hare[ta vasundha]⟨25⟩[rāṁ]

b

¿śvavi?⟨sa vi⟩ṣṭhā[yāṁ kr̥mir] (bhū)tvā

c

pitr̥bhiḥ saha pacyateti 1

d

samva 100 [2+] [1+] [3+] di ⟨26⟩ 10 3⟨.⟩ likhi[taṁ] [2+] ṇa 1 tāpitaṁ keśavadattena⟨.⟩

Apparatus

⟨2⟩ s¿ā?⟨a⟩-kṣudra-pradhāna-(kuṭu)mbinaḥ • The similar expressions found in Raktamālā Grant no. 1, year 159 line 2 and in A grant of land in the Tāvīra district line 6 support this correction.

⟨3⟩ Iha-vīthy¿(ā )?⟨āṁ⟩ pa{ṁ}⟨4⟩ṇya-vastuṣu • Cf. line 10 below, and similar passages in the Kalaikuri-Sultanpur plate: iha-vīthyām apratikara-khila-kṣetrasya śaśvat-kālopabhogāyākṣaya-nīvyā dvi-dīnārikya-khila-kṣetra-kulyabāpa-vikraya-maryādayā (lines 12–13); iha-vīthyām apratikara-khila-kṣettrasya śaśvat-kālopabhogāyākṣaya-nīvyā dvi-dīnārikya-kulyabāpa-vikkrayo ’nuvr̥ttas (lines 18–19).

⟨4⟩ ’kṣaya-¡ṇ!⟨n⟩īvī- • The same spelling ṇ for n in the word akṣaya-nīvī recurs several times in this inscription and further instances will not be noted.

⟨6⟩ -v[ā]jisaneyi- • Emend -vājasaneyi- or -vājasaneya-. The same spelling -vājisaneyi- is found in the Tāvīra grant, line 9; we read -vājasaneya- in Raktamālā #1, lines 3 and 15, but -vājisaneya- in Kalaikuri-Sultanpur, line 14.

⟨11⟩ śaśva⟨t⟩kālopa° • The same error is found in the Tāvīra grant, lines 11–12.

⟨12⟩ ¿u?⟨a⟩rtthopaca(yo) • Cf. the Paharpur plate, line 16.

⟨16⟩ vāpa [5+] rakta- • The word khuḍḍī can almost certainly be filled in to restore part of the lacuna (cf. line 9). The remaining gap can be filled with less certainty. My translation presumes -kulyavāpa[m ekaṁ khuḍḍī]-rakta-mālikāgrāme.

⟨17⟩ anena yathopari-likhitaka-vijñāpitakā [2+](r)ita [4+] • Possibly restore anena yathoparilikhitaka-vijñāpitakāvadhārita-krameṇa. Cf. the Paharpur plate, line 18: vijñāpitaka-kramopayogāyoparinirddiṣṭa-grāma-gohālikeṣu; the Damodarpur plate #3, line 6 yataḥ pustapāla-patradāsenāvadhāritaṁ yuktam anena vijñāpitam; the Kotalipada plate (Furui 2013), lines 13–14 yata Etad abhyarthanam adhikr̥tyāsmābhiḥ pustapāla-jayatsena-kr̥tāvadharaṇayāvadhāritam astīha viṣaye …. My translation presumes this restoration.

⟨18⟩ [8+] • It seems likely that the illegible sequence at the end of the line is to be restored with Akṣaya-nīvī-dharmmeṇa. Despite the redundancy that results with the expression that occurs again in lines 21–22, I presume this restoration in my translation.

⟨19⟩ karṣṣaṇ(ā)viro[dhisthā]ne • The restoration is based on numerous parallel passages, e.g. the Nandapur plate, line 13.

Translation by Arlo Griffiths

Primary Seal

Of the council of officers of the division (vīthī) of Madhyamaṣaṇḍika.

Secondary Seal

[…]

Plate

(1–2) Hail! From the […]lavilintī 1 agrahāra, the princely advisor Gopāla, favoured by the feet of the Lord, 2 and the council, greet the landholders (kuṭumbin) 3 both prominent and modest, consisting chiefly of Brahmins,4 in the [village called] ‘Minor Red Garland’ (khuḍḍīraktamālikā) and they inform [as follows]:

(3–10) Gaṇadatta, son of a good family residing in the agrahāra ‘Major Red Garland’ (mahatī raktamālā), petitions us [as follows]: “With respect to vendible properties in this division, the custom is sale for one hundred kārṣāpaṇas of a kulyavāpa of waste land which is without revenue charges and yields no tax, to be enjoyed in perpetuity in accordance with the law on permanent endowments. Therefore, having purchased in this very location (atraiva) one kulyavāpa of waste land that is without revenue charges and yields no tax, for the [spiritual] benefit of my mother and father, 5 I wish to give [that land], to be enjoyed in accordance with the law on permanent endowments by the Brahmin Yaśobhūti of the Kautsa gotra, a Vājasaneyin belonging to the community of [Brahmins] studying the four Vedas residing in the ‘Major Red Garland’ agrahāra, by his sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, and so on. Having received from me two hundred rūpakas, [measured] by none other than the customary rūpaka of eight paṇas, 6 be so kind as to give a kulyavāpa of waste land that is without revenue charges and yields no tax, in the village ‘Minor Red Garland’.”

(10–16) In that regard (tatra), it has been confirmed through investigation by the record-keeper Keśavadatta: “Indeed (asti), with respect to vendible properties in this division, the sale of [a kulyavāpa of] waste land that is without revenue charges and yields no tax, to be enjoyed in perpetuity in accordance with the law on permanent endowments, is customary for one hundred kārṣāpaṇas. And no conflict of interest (virodha) whatsoever [will result] through its sale: [on the contrary,] for His Majesty[ there will be] increase of wealth and attainment of one sixth of the merit.7 Hence (tad), after receipt of two hundred rūpakas, [measured] by the customary rūpaka of eight paṇas, also from this Gaṇadatta, son of a good family, one kulyavāpa of waste land that is without revenue charges and yields no tax in the village ’Minor Red Garland’8 is to be given to the Brahmin Yaśobhūti, to be enjoyed by his sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, and so on, in accordance with the law on permanent endowments.”

(17–22) Wherefore we inform you that one kulyavāpa of waste land without revenue charges and yielding no tax, as per the above-written procedure of request and confirmation,9 has been given by him in that village. Regarding the kulyavāpa of waste land that is without revenue charges and yields no tax [which has been given] [in accordance with the law on permanent endowments],10 in a place which poses no obstacle to the agricultural activities of the landholders, in the company of council that enjoys our confidence and the landholders of good families of the district, you shall give [this land] after dividing and demarcating [it] from this 11 with eight by nine of the governmental (nītika) 12 cubits. And having given it, you shall protect it to be enjoyed in perpetuity in accordance with the law on permanent endowments.

(22–6) And it has been said:

I
The giver of land resides 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.13
II
You, Yudhiṣṭhira, most excellent of kings, must strenuously protect land previously given to Brahmins. Safeguarding is even better than giving.14
III
The one who would steal land given by himself or another becomes a worm in excrement and is cooked with his ancestors.15

Year 1[2+], day 13. Written by [2+]; heated by Keśavadatta.

Commentary

This plate measures 14 cm in height and 23 cm in width. To its left margin is attached a seal showing the Gajalakṣmī device, about 5.5 cm in diameter. A subsidiary seal has been stamped in the right side of the primary seal, but its device and legend, if there was any, have become unrecognizable due to corrosion. It seems to be due to the process of soldering the seal to the plate that akṣaras of the text have been lost at the beginning of lines 5 through 11 (on the obverse), and 22 through 25 (on the reverse); like the seal, the plate itself has suffered badly from corrosion, but it has been possible to read or restore almost the whole of its text — 15 lines on the obverse, 11 on the reverse.

This inscription is issued from a Brahmin estate (agrahāra) whose name cannot be restored completely but seems to have ended in the syllables lavilintī. It figures a princely advisor (kumārāmātya), whose name may tentatively be restored as Gopāla, addressing himself, along with the aforementioned council, to householders at ‘Minor Red Garland’ (khuḍḍī-raktamālikā) to order execution of a donation petitioned and paid for by a Gaṇadatta from the agrahāra called ‘Major Red Garland’ (mahatī-raktamālā), toponyms which we have already encountered in the Raktamālā grant #1 . He spent a sum of 200 rūpaka coins, ‘measured by the customary rūpaka of eight paṇas’, which according to this inscription seems to have been equivalent to 100 kārṣāpaṇa coins, for a single kulyavāpa of waste land to be given to the Brahmin Yaśobhūti, resident in the same agrahāra. A record-keeper (pustapāla) named Keśavadatta figures both as authority confirming the local price of such land and, at the end, as affixer of the seal. The fact that this inscription mentions the coin terms paṇa and kārṣāpaṇa, previously unattested in any Gupta-period inscription, lends it particular interest. Three of the usual admonitory stanzas on land donation are cited in the final part of the inscription, which closes with a colophon containing a date which is so poorly preserved that nothing more precise can be said than that it fell in the 2nd century of the Gupta era and on the 13th day of an indeterminable month.

Bibliography

First edited by Arlo Griffiths. Re-edited here with small improvements based on direct inspection of the plate. The text has been encoded by Amandine Wattelier-Bricout. Some notes in the translation has been added by Amandine Wattelier-Bricout.

Primary

[G] Griffiths, Arlo. 2018. “Four more Gupta-period copperplate grants from Bengal.” Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology New Series 9, pp. 15–57. [URL]. Item II, pages 25–30.

Secondary

Griffiths, Arlo. 2018. “Four more Gupta-period copperplate grants from Bengal.” Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology New Series 9, pp. 15–57. [URL]. Item II.1, pages 25–30.

Notes

  1. 1. There may have been one akṣara before lavi. If so, the akṣaras lavi would be the second and third of the agrahāra’s name.
  2. 2. The paramabhaṭṭāraka in the plate Raktamālā #1 is identifiable as Budhagupta (Griffiths 2015, p. 25). Note the absence of parama- here. Since Budhagupta’s predecessors were also referred to as bhaṭṭārakapādāḥ, no definitive conclusion can be drawn from the usage of this title here with regard to the reign in which this inscription was issued.
  3. 3. Yamazaki 1982, p. 25, Chakravarti 1996, p. 190 and other scholars have cited a stanza from the Nāradasmr̥ti (11.37) in the context of interpretations of the important word kuṭumbin as ‘peasant [householder]’: gr̥haṁ kṣetraṁ ca vijñeyaṁ vāsahetuḥ kuṭumbinām | tasmāt tan nākṣiped rājā tad dhi mūlaṁ kuṭumbinām || “The house and the field are what the family lives on; therefore the king should not disturb them since they are the foundation of the family” (ed. and transl. Lariviere 1989). But the textual material assembled by Ritschl and Schetelich 1976, which shows that the word is often used in connection with ownership and supports the translation as ‘landholder’ favored here, has unfortunately been ignored in most English-language scholarship.
  4. 4. The expression brāhmaṇottarān occurs in several other plates: Raktamālā Grant no. 1, year 159, line 2; Baigram Charter of the Time of Kumāragupta I, line 2; A grant of land in the Tāvīra district, line 6 ; Paharpur Charter of the Time of Budhagupta, line 3 and Nandapur Plate of 169 GE, line 1. The translation suggested here corresponds to the specific meaning of the compound brāhmaṇottara- reported by Apte 1890, p. 1174. If we only follow the meaning given by Apte 1890, № 8, p. 408 and Monier-Williams et al. 1899, p. 178 for the word -uttara in fine compositi, the translation would be “followed by Brahmins”.
  5. 5. A fuller expression pañca-mahā-yajña-pravarttanāya mātā-pitror anugraheṇa “for the purpose of the regular performance of the five great sacrifices for the [spiritual] benefit of [his] mother and father” is found in the grant Raktamālā #1, line 9. The ritual services expected from the Brahmin beneficiary are left implicit here.
  6. 6. On the coin terms, see Griffiths 2018, p. 50.
  7. 7. Yājñavalkya’s Dharmaśāstra I.331 mentions the fact the king obtains a sixth portion of the merits by providing protection.
  8. 8. The translation presumes -kulyavāpa[m ekaṁ khuḍḍī]-rakta-mālikāgrāme in order to restaure the gap line 16.
  9. 9. The translation presumes the restoration of anena yathoparilikhitaka-vijñāpitakāvadhārita-krameṇa for the different akṣaras missing line 17. See the apparatus part for the argumentation.
  10. 10. The gap of eight akṣaras at the end of the line 18 could be restored by the expression Akṣaya-nīvī-dharmmeṇa. See the apparatus part for the argumentation.
  11. 11. In the parallel passage in Raktamālā grant #1 (line 21), I have interpreted ito as meaning “for this reason” (Griffiths 2015, p. 23), but I now doubt whether this was correct. It may refer instead to one of the places fixed in the preceding clauses, in which case the meaning could be that the division and demarcation are to be carried out from that place, whether as starting point of a measurement process that proceeds step by step, or in the sense of demarcating X from Y. Another possibility is that ito refers to the village as a whole.
  12. 12. When editing the Raktamālā grant #1 (line 21), I tentatively read naitika, but noted that nītika was also a possible reading (Griffiths 2015, pp. 22, 23, and 35, n. 18). Based on better photographs that I was able to make in 2017, I now consider that the reading is indeed nītika there, and this also seems to be the reading in the present grant, although its poor state of conservation makes it hard to be sure. I retain the tentative translation ‘governmental’ proposed in 2015.
  13. 13. This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 123 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar (see Sircar 1965, appendix II, pp. 170–200), except for the verb used in the pāda b.
  14. 14. This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 131 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar (see Sircar 1965, appendix II, pp. 170–200).
  15. 15. This verse corresponds to the verse numbered 132 among the Stanzas on Bhūmidāna listed by Sircar (see Sircar 1965, appendix II, pp. 170–200).