Tirodi copper plates
The Tiroḍī copper plates are an epigraphic record of the Vakataka (more properly Vākāṭaka) dynasty, documenting a land donation to a brāhmaṇa in the reign king Pravarasena II in the fifth century CE. They were acquired by T. A. Wellsted at Tiroḍī in District Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Location
Tiroḍī is located eight miles south-east of Katangi in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. According to Ajay Mitra Shastri, the donated village of Kosambakhaṇḍa mentioned in the inscription is represented by the modern Kosamba (coordinates: 21° 38' 0" North, 79° 39' 0" East).[1] The originals are the Central Museum, Nagpur. An inked impression on paper is in the British Museum.[2]
Publication
The Tiroḍī copper-plate charter was read and published by V. V. Mirashi in 1963.[3]
Description and Contents
The Tiroḍī copper-plate charter consists of a series of copper plates with a seal. The text of the inscription is Sanskrit throughout. The object of the inscription is to record the grant, by Pravarasena II, of the village Kosambakhaṇḍa to a person named Varuṇārya of the Harkari gotra. He belonged to the Atharvaveda and was master of the three Vedas. The grant is dated on the twelfth day of the dark half of the month of Māgha during the 23rd year of donor's reign. The charter was written by Navamidāsa who is styled rajyādhikṛta or state officer.
Metrics
The seal carries a verse in anuṣṭubh metre.
Text
Seal:
1) Vākāṭaka-lalāmasya 2) kkra(kra)ma-prāpta-nṛpaśriyam (read: ḥ) [|*] 3) rājña[*ḥ] Pravarasenasya| 4) śāsanaṃ ripuśāsanaṃ[||*]
First plate.
1) dri(dṛ)ṣṭaṃ [||*]
Translation
Seal. A charter of king Pravarasêna, the ornament of the Vâkâtakas, who has attained royal dignity by, inheritance, (is) a charter for (the observance of even his) enemies! Plates.
See also
Notes
- ^ Ajay Mitra Shastri, Vākāṭakas: Sources and History (Delhi, 1997), p. 27.
- ^ http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database.aspx
- ^ V. V. Mirashi, Inscriptions of the Vākāṭakas, CII 5 (Ootacamund, 1963), available online at http://www.archive.org/details/corpusinscriptio014677mbp. Further comments on the charter were published by Ajay Mitra Shastri, Vākāṭakas: Sources and History, pp. 27-8.