North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI

No. 107 ; PLATE C – A
NANYAURĀ COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF DĒVAVARMAN
[Vikrama] Year 1107

THE copper-plate which bears the subjoined inscription was found in 1872, along with the one issued by Dhaṅgadēva and edited above (No. 100), by a farmer, in the process of ploughing his field at Nanyaurā, or Nānyaur, a village in the Panwārī-Jaitpur tahsīl of the Hamīrpur District in Uttar Pradesh. The plate was acquired by W. Martin, B.C.S., who presented it to the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; and six years subsequently the record was published by V. A. Smith, with an English translation, in the Journal of the Society, Vol. XLVII (1878), Pt. I, p. 81, without an illustration, though accompanied by a note by the local Pandit who prepared the transcript. The inscription was thereafter systematically edited by F. Kielhorn is the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XVI (1887), pp. 201 ff., with his own reading of the text and a fresh translation,¹ accompanied by a photo-lithograph, from an impression prepared by Fleet who was then one of the editors of the Journal. Some time subsequently, the plate is stated to have been made over to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, but in my attempt I failed to obtain a definite clue regarding its present whereabouts; and as neither the original nor any estampage of the inscription is now forthcoming, I edit the record from the facsimile accompanying Kielhorn’s article in the Volume of the Indian Antiquary, referred to above.

It is a single copper-plate, smooth and plain with its corners rounded off, and is inscribed on one side only. According to Kielhorn’s statement it measures about 15¼” by 10¾”, which are respectively equivalent to 38∙7 and 27∙4 cms. “The plate is not very thick but the letters are rather shallow and do not show through on the reverse side”. The inscribed portion covers a space about 36 cms. broad by about 25 cms. high ; and the size of the letters varies from ∙5 to ∙8 cms. The central part of the first line of the plate shows a mark as for a ring, but no ring nor any seal was ever obtained. The photo-lithograph shows that a few of the aksharas in the lower proper right corner have been slightly damaged by verdigris, but they are throughout legible; otherwise the plate was in a good state of preservation when Kielhorn wrote. There are also redundant marks of the engraver’s tool. The inscription consists of nineteen lines of writing.

The characters are Nāgarī of the eleventh century A.C. and are slightly developed than those employed in the plate-inscription of Dhaṅgadēva, which was obtained along with it from the same place and under the same circumstances. The initial a generally begins with a curve and resembles the modern lr, as in Abhi-, l. 11, but occasionally it has a more modified form, as it anyasya, l. 15. The form of the initial i which occurs in ittham-, l. 6, is represented by two hollow circles placed horizontally and subscribed by the sign for medial u. The loop of k, which is often formed with a sudden bend of the lower extremity of the vertical, as in Kālañjarain l. 2, appears generally in its developed form, as in bhaṭṭāraka in the same line ; and in such aksharas as kṛi and kṛī, or when the first member of a conjunct consonant, it shows an unlooped form ; see, e.g., kṛimi, l. 18 and dīkshā, l. 4, but there are exceptions like vikrīṇa-, l. 15, Kh is formed of two loops with a vertical stroke on each and joined by a horizontal bar at the top ; see Vaiśākha, l. 7 ; but occasionally this letter appears in its modern form ; cf. śākhinē, l. 11, showing it in a transitional stage. The aksharas t and n which in rare instances have their antique form as in varjita-, l. 13 and snātvā, l. 9, respectively, show the developed form as in hutvā, l. 10 and pitṛīn, l. 9, N occasionally also shows its unlooped form, see bhōgēna, l. 15. In a few instances the upper loop of th is not developed ; cf. panthi-, l. 16; sometimes this letter is engraved as the modern Nāgarī gh, as in yathāvat, l. 10 ; and a totally different form of its subscript occurs is sthala-, l. 12 where it much resembles the modern dh. The letters dh, v, ch and r are occasionally confused ; see, e.g., dhavala-, l. 5, Vāchaspati-, l. 5, and kara, l. 14. Y shows its forms with and without the vertical bar, e.g. in gāṁbhīryēṇa and satyēna, both in l. 4; and in addition to some of its forms noted in the preceding inscriptions, r has its form resembling ch in pravara and pāra-, ___________________________
¹ The necessity of the fresh attempt is explained by Kielhorn himself who says: “my own reading will be found to differ considerably from those of my predecessors.”