Stoutsanitaryware: cleaned up lead for accuracy for clarity

2025-10-23T21:23:56Z

cleaned up lead for accuracy for clarity

>Joshua Issac: /* Copper plates of Kerala */ restored section that was removed without explanation.

2021-05-29T23:51:17Z

Copper plates of Kerala: restored section that was removed without explanation.

New page

'''Indian copper plate inscriptions''' are historical legal records engraved on copper plates in India.<ref name=":0" />

Donative inscriptions engraved on copper plates, often joined together by a ring with the seal of the donor, was the legal document registering the act of endowment. It was probably necessary to produce them when required to prove ownership/ the claim to the rights.<ref name=":0">Thapar, Romila'', The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.'' Penguin Books, 2002. 295-96 and 339.</ref> The retrievability of the copper plates was perhaps crucial in the newly settled lands.<ref>Thapar, Romila'', The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300.'' Penguin Books, 2002. 409.</ref> Detailed information on land tenures and taxation available from these copper plate grants.<ref name=":0" />

==History==
[[File:Soghaura_inscription.jpg|thumb|The [[Sohgaura copper plate inscription]], the earliest known of its kind, 3rd century BCE]]
[[Image:TaxilaCopperPlate.JPG|thumb|The [[Taxila copper plate]], 1st century BCE ([[British Museum]]).]]

Indian [[intaglio printing|copper plate]] inscriptions (''tamarashasana''), usually record grants of land or lists of royal lineages carrying the royal seal, a profusion of which have been found in South India. Originally inscriptions were recorded on palm leaves, but when the records were legal documents such as title-deeds they were etched on a cave or temple wall, or more commonly, on copper plates which were then secreted in a safe place such as within the walls or foundation of a temple, or hidden in stone caches in fields. Plates could be used more than once, as when a canceled grant was over-struck with a new inscription. These records were probably in use from the first millennium.

Some of the oldest inscribed copper plates to be found in the Indian subcontinent date to the [[Mature Harappan]] era, consisting of up to 34 characters and thought to be used for copper plate printing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shinde |first1=Vasant |last2=Willis |first2=Rick J. |title=A New Type of Inscribed Copper Plate from Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilisation |journal=Ancient Asia |date=8 October 2014 |volume=5 |doi=10.5334/aa.12317|url=https://www.ancient-asia-journal.com/jms/article/download/aa.12317/100 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The so-called Sohgaura copper-plate inscription, inscribed in the [[Brahmi script]], and possibly from the 3rd century BCE [[Maurya Empire]], is a precursor to the later copper-plate inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book |author1=F. R. Allchin |author2=George Erdosy |title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5kI02_zW70C&pg=PA212 |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-37695-2 |pages=212–215}}</ref> However, it is actually written on a small plaque of [[bronze]] (a copper alloy).{{sfn|D. C. Sircar|1996|p=79}} The [[Taxila copper plate|Taxila]] and the Kalawan copper-plate inscriptions (c. 1st century CE or earlier) are among the earliest known instances of copper plates being used for writing in the Indian subcontinent. However, these are not proper [[charter]]s, unlike the later copper-plate inscriptions.{{sfn|D. C. Sircar|1996|p=107}}

The oldest known copper-plate charter from the Indian subcontinent is the Patagandigudem inscription of the 3rd century CE [[Andhra Ikshvaku]] king Ehuvala Chamtamula. The oldest known copper-plate charter from northern India is probably the Kalachala grant of Ishvararata, dated to the late fourth century on palaeographic basis.<ref>{{cite book |author=Emmanuel Francis |chapter=Indian Copper-Plate Grants: Inscriptions or Documents? |editor1=Alessandro Bausi |editor2=Christian Brockmann |editor3=Michael Friedrich |editor4=Sabine Kienitz |title=Manuscripts and Archives: Comparative Views on Record-Keeping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yctNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA389 |year=2018 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-054139-7 |page=389 }}</ref>

Some of the earliest authenticated copper plates were issued by the [[Pallava]] dynasty kings in the 4th century, and are in [[Prakrit]] and [[Sanskrit]]. An example of early Sanskrit inscription in which [[Kannada]] words are used to describe land boundaries, are the Tumbula inscriptions of [[Western Ganga Dynasty]], which have been dated to 444 according to a 2004 Indian newspaper report.<ref name="Tumbula">{{cite news |title=Ancient inscriptions unearthed |url=http://www.hindu.com/2004/01/24/stories/2004012407180300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040218052747/http://www.hindu.com/2004/01/24/stories/2004012407180300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-02-18 |author=N. Havalaiah|access-date=2006-11-25 |location=Chennai, India |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=2004-01-24}}</ref> Rare copper plates from the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] period have been found in North India. The use of copper plate inscriptions increased and for several centuries they remained the primary source of legal records.<ref name="keay">{{cite book
| last =Keay
| first =John
| title =India: A History
| publisher =Grove Press
| year =2000
| location =New York
| pages = 155–157
| isbn = 0-8021-3797-0 }}</ref>

Most copper plate inscriptions record title-deeds of land-grants made to Brahmanas, individually or collectively. The inscriptions followed a standard formula of identifying the royal donor and his lineage, followed by lengthy honorifics of his history, heroic deeds, and his extraordinary personal traits. After this would follow the details of the grant, including the occasion, the recipient, and the penalties involved if the provisions were disregarded or violated. Although the profusion of complimentary language can be misleading, the discovery of copper plate inscriptions have provided a wealth of material for historians<ref name="keay"/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/iie/six.htm
|title=Nature and Importance of Indian Epigraphy
|access-date=2007-03-16
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092929/http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/iie/six.htm
|archive-date=2007-09-28
}}</ref>

[[Tirumala Venkateswara Temple]] have a unique collection of about 3000 copper plates on which the [[Telugu language|Telugu]] [[Sankirtan]]s of [[Tallapaka Annamacharya]] and his descendants are inscribed.<ref>[http://www.tirumala.org/sapthagiri/122002/epic.htm Epigraphical lore of Tirupati published in Saptagiri magazine.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030216164212/http://www.tirumala.org/sapthagiri/122002/epic.htm |date=2003-02-16 }}</ref>

==Tamil copper-plate inscriptions==
{{main|Tamil copper-plate inscriptions}}
'''Tamil copper-plate inscriptions''' are [[Engraving|engraved]] copper-plate records of [[Land grant|grants]] of villages, plots of cultivable lands or other privileges to private individuals or public institutions by the members of the various South Indian royal dynasties.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/iie/six.htm
|title=Nature and Importance of Indian Epigraphy - Chapter IV
|access-date=2007-03-14
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092929/http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/iie/six.htm
|archive-date=2007-09-28
}}</ref> The study of these inscriptions has been especially important in reconstructing the history of [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref name="tamil">{{cite web
|url=https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no48436.htm
|title=History and Culture of Tamil Nadu : As Gleaned from the Sanskrit Inscriptions
|access-date=2007-03-14
}}</ref> The grants range in date from the 10th century C.E. to the mid 19th century C.E. A large number of them belong to the [[Chalukyas]], the [[Cholas]] and the [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagar]] kings. These plates are valuable [[epigraphy|epigraphically]] as they give us an insight into the social conditions of medieval South India; they also help us fill chronological gaps in the connected history of the ruling dynasties. For example, the Leyden grant (so called as they are preserved in the Museum of [[Leyden]] in [[Holland]]) of Parantaka Chola and those of [[Uttama Chola|Parakesari Uttama Chola]] are among the most important, although the most useful part, i.e., the genealogical section, of the latter's plates seems to have been lost.

<gallery class="center" caption="[[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijaynagar]] Tamil Copper Plate Inscriptions at the Dharmeshwara Temple, Kondarahalli, [[Hoskote]]" mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Dharmeshwara Temple Plates.jpg|Plate 1 and Back
File:Dharmeshwara Temple Plates HT-34.jpg|Plate 2<ref name=RiceIX>{{cite book|last1=Rice|first1=Benjamin Lewis|title=Epigraphia Carnatica: Volume IX: Inscriptions in the Bangalore District|date=1894|publisher=Mysore Department of Archaeology|location=Mysore State, British India|url=https://archive.org/details/epigraphiacarnat09myso|access-date=5 August 2015}}</ref>
</gallery>

Unlike the neighbouring states where early inscriptions were written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, the early inscriptions in Tamil Nadu used Tamil <ref name="caldwell1">{{cite book
|last=Caldwell
|first= Robert
|title= A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages
|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.459581
|year=1875
|publisher= Trübner & co
|pages = [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.459581/page/n129 88]
|quote = In southern states, every inscription of an early date and majority even of modern-day inscriptions were written in Sanskrit...In the Tamil country, on the contrary, all the inscriptions belonging to an early period are written in Tamil with some Prakrit}}</ref> along with some Prakrit. Tamil has the extant literature amongst the [[Dravidian languages]], but dating the language and the literature precisely is difficult. Literary works in India were preserved either in [[palm leaf manuscript]]s (implying repeated copying and recopying) or through oral transmission, making direct dating impossible.<ref>Dating of Indian literature is largely based on relative dating relying on internal evidences with a few anchors. I. Mahadevan’s dating of Pukalur inscription proves some of the Sangam verses. See George L. Hart, "Poems of Ancient Tamil, University of Berkeley Press, 1975, p.7-8</ref> External chronological records and internal linguistic evidence, however, indicate that extant works were probably compiled sometime between the 4th century BCE and the 3rd{{Clarify|date=July 2013|reason=Should this be 3rd or something else?}} century CE.<ref name=hart1974>George Hart, "Some Related Literary Conventions in Tamil and Indo-Aryan and Their Significance" ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', 94:2 (Apr-Jun 1974), pp. 157-167.</ref><ref name=zvelebil1955>Kamil Veith Zvelebil, ''Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature'', pp12</ref><ref name=sastry1955>Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002)</ref>
Epigraphic attestation of Tamil begins with rock inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE, written in [[Tamil-Brahmi]], an adapted form of the [[Brahmi script]].<ref name="ucla200bc">{{cite web
| url = http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=99&menu=004
| title = Tamil
| access-date = 2007-03-25
| work = The Language Materials Project
| publisher = UCLA International Institute, [[UCLA]]
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071011215831/http://lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=99&menu=004
| archive-date = 2007-10-11
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref>Iravatham Mahadevan (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.</ref> The earliest extant literary text is the [[Tolkāppiyam]], a work on poetics and grammar which describes the language of the classical period, [[Date of the Tolkappiyam|dated variously]] between the 5th century BCE and the 2nd century CE.

==Copper plates of Kerala==
Between the eighth and tenth centuries, rulers on the [[Malabar Coast]] awarded various rights and privileges to Nazranies ([[Saint Thomas Christians]]) on copper plates, known as Cheppeds, or Royal Grants or Sasanam.<ref>SG Pothen. ''Syrian Christians of Kerala'' (1970). p. 32-33.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
Quilon Syrian copper plates (849 CE) plate 1.jpg | [[Tharisapalli plates]] of 849 CE
Jewish copper plate (c. 1000 CE).png | The inscription from the [[Jewish Copper Plate|Sasanam]]
</gallery>

* Iravikorthan Sassanam, awarded by Shri Veera Raghava Perumal (in c. 774 CE)
* [[Thomas of Cana copper plates]], a lost set of copper plates awarded to Knai Thoma and his followers ([[Knanaya]]) sometime between the 4th and 9th century.
* [[Tharisapalli plates|Tharissapalli Chepped]], awarded in 849 CE by the King of [[Venad|Venadu (Quilon)]], Ayyan Atikal Tiruvatikal, to [[Mar Sabor and Mar Proth|Sapir Isho]], the leader of [[Saint Thomas Christians|Syrian Christians]] in [[Malabar Coast]] in the 5th regnal year of the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]] ruler [[Sthanu Ravi Varma]]. It is the first important inscription of [[Kerala]], the date of which has been determined with accuracy.<ref>A. Sreedhara Menon. ''Kerala History'' (1999). p.54.</ref><ref>N.M. Mathew ''History of the Marthoma Church'' (Malayalam), Volume I. p. 105-109.</ref><ref>Cheriyan, Dr. C.V. ''Orthodox Christianity in India''. p. 85, 126, 127, 444-447.</ref> It is engraved on copper plates in [[vatteluttu]] and signed by 25 witnesses. Names of fifteen of them are in [[Kufic]], ten in [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], and four i [[Hebrew]].
* [[Jewish Copper Plate]], awarded by Bhaskara Ravi Varman I Perumal (962-1019 A.D.), is a Sasanam outlining the grant of rights of the [[Anjuvannam]] and 72 other properietary rights to [[Cochin Jews|local Jewish]] Chief [[Joseph Rabban|Ousepp Irabban]]

==Grants==
[[File:Siyak harsola1005ga.jpg|thumb|[[Paramara]] ruler [[Siyaka]]'s [[Harsola copperplate]] copper plate of 949 CE]]
One of the most important sources of history in the [[Indian subcontinent]] are the royal records of grants engraved on copper-plates (''tamra-shasan'' or ''tamra-patra''; ''tamra'' means copper in [[Sanskrit]] and several other Indian languages). Because copper does not rust or decay, they can survive virtually indefinitely.

Collections of archaeological texts from the copper-plates and rock-inscriptions have been compiled and published by the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] during the past century.

Approximate dimensions of copper plate is 9{{fraction|3|4}} inch long × 3{{fraction|1|4}} inch high × 1/10 (to 1/16) inch thick.

The earliest known copper-plate, known as the Sohgaura copper-plate, is a [[Maurya]] record that mentions famine relief efforts. It is one of the very few pre-[[Ashoka]] [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]] inscriptions in India.<ref>Thapar, Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas,2014, pp. 10</ref>

==See also==

* [[Early Indian epigraphy]]
* [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]]
*[[Jewish copper plates of Cochin]]
*[[Quilon Syrian copper plates]]
*[[Thiruvalla copper plates]]
* [[History of metallurgy in South Asia]]
* [[South Indian Inscriptions]]
* [[Stambha]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{ref begin}}
* {{cite book |author=D. C. Sircar |title=Indian Epigraphy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXMB3649biQC&pg=PA471 |year=1996 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1166-9 }}
{{ref end}}

==External links==
*[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=7F367F5357B8DDB9608BA8D65FB7B3EA.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=174109 A new copper-plate grant of Harsavardhana from the Punjab, year 8]
*[http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/02-07/features575.htm Vaisnavism in Upper Mahanadi Valley]

[[Category:Indian inscriptions]]
[[Category:Asian archaeology]]
[[Category:Archaeological artefact types]]
[[Category:Historiography of India]]
[[Category:Copper objects]]

Indian copper plate inscriptions - Revision history

Stoutsanitaryware: cleaned up lead for accuracy for clarity

>Joshua Issac: /* Copper plates of Kerala */ restored section that was removed without explanation.