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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 52, PLATE XXXII B. 231
No. 52; PLATE XXXII B.
SONPAT COPPER SEAL INSCRIPTION OF HARSHAVARDHANA.
THIS inscription, which is now brought to notice for the first time, is from a copper
seal in the possession of Moharsingh Ramratan Mahajan, a merchant at Sônpat¹ or
Sônipat,² the chief town of the Sônpat Tahsîl or Sub-Division of the Dehli District in the
Pañjâb. I obtained the seal for examination through the kindness of Mr. J. D. Tremlett,
B.C.S., who, in fact, had the first information of it, and brought it to my notice.
The seal is oval, measuring about 5⅞″ by 6⅞″. All round it there runs a rim, about
½″ broad; and inside this there are, in rather shallow relief on a slightly countersunk sur-
face,—at the top, a bull, recumbent to the proper right; and below this, the inscription that
is given below. That it is only a seal, belonging to a copper-plate from which it has been
detached, is shewn by plain indications of soldering on the back of it, and also by the
spurious Gayâ plate of Samudragupta, No. 60 below, Plate xxxvii., which has a similar seal
attached to it. The letters of the inscription are worn down so much, that in many places
they can only be read by getting the light to fall on the surface at different angles; and in
some places they are entirely illegible. The only historical information, however, that seems
to be lost, is the completion of the name of Prabhâkaravardhana’s father, in line 4. I have
to acknowledge some assistance from Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji in reading this inscription;
but, of course, without binding him to any of the details of it, as here published.—The
weight of the seal is 3 lbs. 6 oz.—The average size of the letters is about ⅛″. The
characters belong to the northern class of alphabets, and are of much the same type as
those of the Asîrgaḍh seal of Śarvavarman, No. 47 above, Plate xxxA.; but the forms are
rather more conservative in details.—The language is Sanskrit; and the inscription is
in prose throughout.—In respect of orthography, the only point that calls for notice
is the doubling of t, in conjunction with a following r, in puttra, lines 2 and 7.
The seal is one of Harshavardhana, king of Kanauj, who began to reign³ A.D.
606 or 607; and it is of peculiar interest, as being the first of his own epigraphical records
that has ever come to light. I have made every effort to discover the plate to which it
belongs; as the inscription on the plate would make the genealogy perfect, and also, if be-
longing to the early years of Harshavardhana’s reign, would probably shew what era was
used by him prior to the establishment of his own. But I have not succeeded in obtaining
any information about it; and it seems to have been hopelessly lost sight of. The pre-
sent owner of the seal states that there is no record of the plate itself having ever been in
the possession of his family; so it is very doubtful whether it is now in existence.
¹ The ‘Sonipat, Soonput, and Sunput,’ of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 49. Lat. 28° 59′ N
Long. 77° 3′ E.
² Other forms of the name are Sônêpat, and Sunpat.
³ See Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 420, note 37.