Bharatwiki Socrates: Created page with "{{Infobox artifact |image = 250px |name = Sohgaura copper plate inscription |image_caption = The Sohgaura copper plate. |material = Copper plate |writing =Brahmi script |created = 3rd century BCE |period = 3rd Century BCE |place = India |discovered_coords ={{coord|26.57|83.48|display=inline,title}} |location =Sohgaura |map= {{Location map|South Asia |width = |float = center |border = |caption = |alt =..."

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Created page with "{{Infobox artifact |image = 250px |name = Sohgaura copper plate inscription |image_caption = The Sohgaura copper plate. |material = Copper plate |writing =Brahmi script |created = 3rd century BCE |period = 3rd Century BCE |place = India |discovered_coords ={{coord|26.57|83.48|display=inline,title}} |location =Sohgaura |map= {{Location map|South Asia |width = |float = center |border = |caption = |alt =..."

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{{Infobox artifact
|image = [[File:Soghaura inscription.jpg|250px]]
|name = Sohgaura copper plate inscription
|image_caption = The Sohgaura copper plate.
|material = Copper plate
|writing =[[Brahmi script]]
|created = 3rd century BCE
|period = 3rd Century BCE
|place = [[India]]
|discovered_coords ={{coord|26.57|83.48|display=inline,title}}
|location =Sohgaura
|map=
{{Location map|South Asia
|width =
|float = center
|border =
|caption =
|alt =
|relief = yes
|AlternativeMap=
|overlay_image =
|label = Sohgaura
|label_size =
|position =
|background =
|mark =
|marksize =
|link =
|lat_deg = 26
|lat_min = 34
|lat_sec = 12
|lat_dir = N
|lon_deg = 83
|lon_min = 28
|lon_sec = 48
|lon_dir = E
}}
|id =
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}}
The '''Sohgaura copper plate inscription''' is an [[Indian copper plate inscriptions|Indian copper plate inscription]] written in [[Prakrit]] in the [[Brahmi script]]. It was discovered in Sohgaura, a village on the banks of the [[West Rapti River|Rapti]] River, about 20 km south-east of [[Gorakhpur]], in the [[Gorakhpur District]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]].<ref>THE SOHGAURA COPPER-PLATE REGISTRATION BM Barua Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Vol. 11, No. 1 (1930), pp. 32-48 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41688160?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]</ref>

The plate, consisting of a line of symbolic drawings and four lines of text, is the result of a molding.<ref name = "Sircar">Sircar 1942 Select Inscriptions Vol 1 OCR [https://archive.org/stream/SIRCAR1942SelectInscriptionsVol1OCR/SIRCAR%201942%20select%20inscriptions%20vol-1%20OCR#page/n133/mode/2up/search/Soghaura p.85]</ref> The inscription is sometimes presented as pre-[[Ashoka]]n, even pre-[[Maurya Empire|Mauryan]], but the writing of the plate, especially the configuration of [[akshara]] would rather suggest a date after Ashoka.<ref name = "Sircar "/> Archaeologist [[Raymond Allchin]] believes it to be from Ashoka's period, and considers it to be a precursor of the later [[Indian copper plate inscriptions|copper-plate inscriptions]].<ref name = "Allchin">{{cite book |author=F. R. Allchin |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 |page=212 }}</ref>

The text of the plate has been translated as follows. Its mentions the establishment of two grain depots (''Kosthagara'') to fight against famine.<ref name = "MCQ">2000+ MCQs with Explanatory Notes For HISTORY by Disha Experts [https://books.google.en/books?id=O65TDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 p.63]</ref>

{{blockquote |
''Sāvatiyānam Mahāma(ttā)nam sāsane Mānavāsītika-'' 
''ḍasilimate Ussagāme va ete duve koṭṭhāgālāni'' 
''tina-yavāni maṃthulloca-chammā-dāma-bhālakān(i)va'' 
''laṃ kayiyati atiyāyikāya no gahi(ta)vvāya''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barua |first1=B. M. |title=THE SOHGAURA COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=1930 |page=48 |jstor=41688160 }}</ref>

At the junction called Manawasi, these two storehouses are prepared, for the sheltering of loads of commodities, of Tiyavani, Mathura and Chanchu.|Translated by Fleet<ref name="Sircar"/>}}

This is the oldest [[Indian copper plate inscriptions|Indian copper plate inscription]] known.<ref name ="Allchin"/><ref name = "MCQ" />

==See also==
{{Portal|History|India}}
*[[Indian epigraphy]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Epigraphy]]
[[Category:Prakrit literature]]
[[Category:3rd century BC in India]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC inscriptions]]
[[Category:Copper objects]]

Sohgaura copper plate inscription - Revision history