A New Copper Plate Grant from Chhattisgarh
Summary
This article presents the first-time edition of a fragmentary copper plate grant from Chhattisgarh. The surviving artifact is a single central sheet measuring approximately 14 by 10 centimeters and weighing 19.135 grams, currently in the possession of Shri Shivajirao Mahadik of Raksha, Rajim, in the Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh. It was originally part of a three-sheet copper plate charter discovered near Pokhra, though the other two sheets and the ring were melted down by the diggers before the author could acquire them. The inscription, written in excellent Box-headed characters dating to about the 5th century A.D., consists of six lines on each side. The main argument is that this fragmentary inscription was issued by Mahasudeva-raja of the Sarabhapura dynasty. The extant text records a grant to Ananta Svamin, a Diksita brahmin of the Bharadvija gotra and the Vijasaneyi branch of the Yajurveda, for the merit of one Danda-cakra. The name of the donor and the details of the granted property are lost from the missing outer sheets. The author supports this attribution by noting that the tenor of the inscription is identical to the Raipur, Arang, Khariac, Sarang-garh, and Sirpur (damaged) plates of Mahasudeva-raja. Furthermore, the find-spot of Pokhra is only about twenty miles from Raipur, a region known to have been under the control of the Sarabhapura rulers in the 6th century A.D. The text is edited directly from the original plate without correction.
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Conclusion
This study presents the first edition of a fragmentary 5th-century copper plate grant from Chhattisgarh, the only surviving central sheet of a complete three-plate charter. The inscription records a land grant to Ananta Svamin, a Diksita brahmin of the Bharadvija gotra, issued for the spiritual merit of Danda-cakra. Although the donor's identity and the specific property details are lost, the text's stylistic and geographical parallels strongly suggest it was issued by Mahasudeva-raja of the Sarabhapura dynasty. The plate's excellent preservation and its discovery near Pokhra, close to the Sarabhapura capital, significantly enrich the epigraphic record of this regional power. Ultimately, this fragment provides crucial historical and cultural insights into the administration and patronage practices of the Sarabhapura rulers in 5th-century central India.