51. Saranagarh (M.P.) copper-plates of Sudevarаja
Bh. No. 1881; JASB. Vol. XXXV (1866) (R. L. Mitra), Fleet, CII, iii, 193, fn. 2; pp. 195 ff.; Hiralal, EI. Vol. IX (1907-8), pp. 281-85 & Pl.; & Inscr. in C.P. & Berar, p. 181, No. 310; L.P. Pandeya Sharma, POC. V Session (1928), Vol. I, pp. 456-464 & Pl. (only inner side of the first plate); AMS I: XIV

Language: Sanskrit. In prose except the usual benedictory and imprecatory verses at the end.
Metres: Verse 1: Vasantatilakа; Verse 2 (incomplete): Indravajrа
Script: Box-headed variety of the Central Indian alphabet.
Date: Details lost in the missing plate. Latter half of the sixth century A.D.
The plates are 6 1/2" long and 3 1/2" broad. The hole about the middle of the left margin is roundish on one side and squarish on the other, the diameter being 7/16". The third plate having been lost, the record is incomplete. The lost portion of the text included, besides some of the imprecatory verses, the date and the name of the engraver. The seal is also not forthcoming. (AMS)
Sаrangarh is the capital of a feudatory State of the same name in the Chhattиsgaрh division of the Central Provinces, 32 miles south of Raigarh, the capital of another State and a station on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. The chiefs of these two States are Rаj-Gондs. The plates in question are in the possession of the Rаj family and first came to my notice in the beginning of the year 1903 at my last visit to Sаrangarh. As they were looked up and the keys were not available at the time, the then Superintendent of the State, Rai Sahib Аlam Chand, promised to send them to me when I asked for them, but my reversion to the executive duties before I could return to head-quarters, followed by Paндit Аlam Chand's retirement from service, left them where they were, until the present Superintendent, Munshи Akbar Khаn, took active steps in the matter at the instance of Rai Bahadur Pandа Baijnath, B.A., Dиwаn of the Bastar State, and sent them on to me on the 7th January 1908. Thus the recovery of the plates first discovered over forty years ago is as much due to the interest of the above gentlemen as to the readiness of Rаja Jawаhar Singh to lend them for examination.
The exact date and the details of the first discovery are not now forthcoming, but the plates are said to have reached the Bengal Asiatic Society on the 7th December 1864. [See Journ. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXV., p. 195 ff.] Dr. Rаjеndra Lаl Mitra published them in that Society's Journal in 1866, where he stated that they were presented to the Society by Lieutenant G. Bowie of the Sambalpur Police Corps, but when Dr. Fleet wrote his Gupta inscriptions about 1888, and searched for the plates, he could not find them. He then recorded that as the published version was not sufficiently reliable to be reproduced he was unable to include this inscription in his volume. [Gupta Inscriptions, p. 193, footnote 2.]
The fact appears to be that the plates were never presented to the Society. They were simply lent by and finally returned to the owner, the Sаrangarh family, whose State was in those days included in the Sambalpur district, now transferred to Bengal.
These facts combined with the absence of a facsimile copy of the record in Dr. Rаjеndra Lal's notice, together with certain misreadings of the text, afford, I venture to think, sufficient reasons for re-editing this inscription.
There are two copper plates, each measuring 6 1/2" X 3 1/2", and the weight of the two together is 12 ozs. 5 1/2 drs. About 1" from the proper right margin each plate has a hole, roundish on one side and squarish on the other, the diameter being about 7/16". These were intended for stringing the plates on the ring, the loss of which has deprived our inscription of its last portion, which must have been engraved on a third plate. The lost plate must have contained about 5 or 6 lines [Eighteen lines of our inscription remain; the Khariar plates have 23 lines, the Аrang plates of Jayarаja 24, and the Raipur plates of Sudеva 28, but these last ones are much smaller in size than the others. Our plates are slightly bigger than all the three sets.] which can almost be restored from other inscriptions of the same king, and of Mahа-Jayarаja, all of which are composed in exactly the same wordings, the names of villages granted and the donees being of course different. In our inscription only some of the imprecatory verses are lost as also the date at the end, which of course cannot be restored. Judging from other inscriptions of this king the date must have been in regnal years, so that it could not have been of much help beyond fixing the priority or otherwise of our inscription as compared with others.
The plates recovered are in an excellent state of preservation. One is inscribed on one side and the other on both in characters of the box-headed variety of the Central Indian alphabet. The letters are very neatly and well formed, their average size being about 1/4". The accompanying plate gives a facsimile copy, from impressions kindly taken for me by Mr. T. G. Green, Superintendent of the Government Press, Nagpur. (Hira Lal)

TEXT.

First Plate.

1 Siddhaм [|*] Svasti [|*] Щarabhapurаd=vikkram-оpanata-sаmanta-makuтa-chудаmaнi-prabhа-pra-
2 sеk-аmbu-dhauta-pаdayugalо ripu-vilаsinи-sиmant-оddharaнa-hеtur=vvasu-
3 vasudhа-gо-pradaЫ paramabhаgavatо mаtа-pitр-pаd-аnuddhyаtaщ=щrи-Mahа-Sudе-
4 va-rаjaх Tuндaraka-bhuktиya-Chullaндarakе prativаsi-kuтumbinas=sa-
5 mаjгаpayati [||*] Viditam=astu vо yath=аyaм grаmaх tridaщapati-sadana-sukha-
6 pratiштhаkarо yаvad=ravi-щaщi-tаrа-kiraнa-pratihata-ghоrаndhakаraм ja-

Second Plate; First Side.

7 gad=avatiштhatе tаvad=upaphоgyas=sanidhis=sоpanidhir=acатabhaтaprаvещya[х]
8 sarvva-kara-visarjjitaх rаjya-mahаdеvи-rоjakulaiх mаtаpitrоr=аtmanaмщ=ca pu-
9 нy-аbhivрddhayе udakapуrvvaм Kо(Kau)щika-sagоtra-trisahasravidya-Bhаskarasvаmi-
10 Prabhаkarasvаmi-Barbbarisvаmi-Bотasvаmi-Dattasvаmi-Viшнusvаmi- ||
11 Phalgusvаmi-Svаmikиrttisvаmi-Щaм(Щa)кkarasvаminа[м*] tаmbra(mra)щаsanеn=аtisр-
12 што bhуtv=аsmаbhir=anumоditaх [||*] Tе yуyam=еvam=upalaм(la)bhy-aiшаm=аjгащrava-

Second Plate; Second Side.

13 нa-vidhеyа bhуtvа yathоcitaм bhоga-bhаgam=upanayantas=sukha[м*] prativatsyatha [||*]
14 Bhaviшyataщ=ca bhуmipаn=anudarщayati || Dаnаd=viщiштam=anupаlanaja[м*] pu-
15 rанам(rана) dharmmешu niщcitadhiyaЫ  pravadanti dharmmaм || (|) tasmа[d*] dvijаya suvi-
16 щuddha-kula-щrutаya dattам bhuvaм bhavatu vо matir=еva gоptuм || Tad=bhavadbhi-
17 r=apy=еша dattir=anupаlayitavyа [|*] Vyаsa-gиtамщ=c=аtra щlоkаn=udаhara-
18 nti || Agnеr=apatyaм prathamaм suvarннaм (||) bhуr=vvaiшнavи sуryyasutа