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XII. Comments on an Inscription upon Marble, at Mabhucarghah ; 

 and three Grants Inscribed on Copper, found at Ujjayani, ly Major 

 James Tod. 



Read June 19, 1824. 



I liave the honour to present to the Society, three copper-plates, and to 

 submit translations of the inscriptions on two of them.* They were 

 obtained by me from the ancient city of Avanti, or Ujain (^Ujjayam), about 

 twelve years ago. 



At the same time I adjoin a translation of a thii'd inscription relative to the 

 same family (of which these plates are records), and which I was so 

 fortunate as to discover in my last tour of Central India, in 1822. 



These will be considered of consequence, as they at once fix the period 

 of a celebrated dynasty, and an important era in the history and literature 

 of India. 



The dynasty, of which they are memorials, is the Prdmdra, vulgarly 

 Ficdr or Powdr, one of the most distinguished of the Rcija-cula, or Royal 

 Races of India. It is one of the four tribes, to which I alluded in a former 

 paper, claiming tlieir origin from the personified clement of fire, in com- 

 mon with the other races of Agni-cula ; tlie Chdhamdna, Parihdra, and 

 S6la7iki. 



I know of no tribe having a more wide range over the historical field of 

 India, than that in question. It enjoyed more extensive dominion than any 

 other of the race of Agni ; and had acquired it at a much earlier period : 

 for, though four existed collaterally, as independent monarchs, yet the 

 glory of the Prdmdras was on the wane, when that of the Sulankis, the 

 famed Balhara {Ballabh-rdi), kings of Narlmdra, was in the zenith ; to 

 which the Chdhamdnas were rapidly approximating ; and, in their success, 

 extinguished the independence cf the fourth, or Parilidra, dynasty of 

 Mand6war. 



* See note A. 



