गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

196 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.

No. 41; PLATE XXVII.

RAYPUR COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF THE RAJA MAHA-SUDEVARAJA.

THIS inscription,—which was first brought to notice by General Cunningham, in 1884,
in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVII. p. 55 ff., and Plates xxvi. and xxvii.; and is now
published in full for the first time,—is from some copper-plates that were obtained by
Colonel Bloomfield at **Râypur,**¹ the chief town of the Râypur District in the Central
Provinces. The original plates are now in the Provincial Museum at Nâgpur.
The plates, of which the first is inscribed on one side only, are three in number,
each measuring about 6" by 3¼" at the ends and a little less in the middle. They are
quite smooth, the edges of them being neither fashioned thicker nor raised into rims.
The inscription is in a state of perfect preservation throughout. The plates are of fair
thickness; and the letters, though fairly deep, do not shew through on the backs of them
at all. The engraving is very good; but, as usual, the interiors of some of the letters
shew marks of the working of the engraver's tool.—Towards the proper right end of
each plate, there is a hole for a ring to connect them. The ring is circular, about
¼" thick and 3¼" in diameter; it had already been cut, for the purpose of taking impres-
sions of the plates, when the grant came into my hands; but there is no reason to
suppose that it is not the ring properly belonging to the plates. The seal, in which
the ends of the ring are secured, is circular, about 3⅝" in diameter; and, like the seal of
the Ârang grant of Mahâ-Jayarâja, No. 40 above, page 191, and Plate xxvi., it has
the appearance of being made of a kind of brass, rather than of copper. It has
plainly, at some time or other, been subjected to the action of fire, which, with
the effects of wear and tear, has almost completely destroyed the upper surface of it.
But there are visible, in relief on a slightly countersunk and concave surface, faint traces
of—across the centre, a legend, in two lines, of which, as restored, the text and translation
are given below;—in the upper part, a standing figure of the goddess Lakshmî, facing
full-front; on each side of her, an elephant, standing on a waterlily, with its trunk lifted
up over her head, to pour water over her; in the proper right corner, an expanded water-
lily, on its stalk; and, in the proper left corner, a śaṅkha or conch-shell;—and, in the
lower part, there seems to have been a floral device.—The weight of the three plates
is about 1 lb. 5½ oz., and of the ring and seal, 1 lb. 7½ oz.; total, 2 lbs. 13 oz.—The average
size of the letters is about ¼". The characters belong to the southern class of
alphabets; and give another specimen of the ‘box-headed’ variety of the Central India
alphabet, on which I have commented at page 19 above. They are of almost exactly
the same type as those of the preceding inscription of Mahâ-Jayarâja, No. 40 above,
page 191, and Plate xxvi. The most noticeable difference is in the formation of the
superscript long vowel î; the stroke, similar to an anusvâra, which distinguishes it from
the short i, being placed, not in the centre of the circle, but on the right side of it, as part
of the down stroke of the circle; see, for instance, vilâsinî, line 2, and râshtrîya, line 4.
The separate sign for the lingual ḍ, as distinct from the dental d, occurs in chûḍâ, line 1.

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¹ The ‘Raepoor Raipur, and Ryepoor,’ of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 91. Lat. 21°
15' N.; Long. 81° 41' E.