460 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [December, 1909. 
Sohgaura plate is unique in nature. Hitherto the: earliest 
known copper-plate grant was the Indorkhera grant of Skanda 
gupta of the Gupta year 146.! 
The proper left vertical lines of 
ga, ta, bha and éa are unusually long, and the right-hand portions 
of pa, sa and sa show acute angles. 
The wording of the record is rather difficult to interpret, and 
the corrosion has tended to make the meaning more obscure. 
Two Brahmanas, Sivasarmman and Nagasarmman, inhabitants, 
of a place called Ksudraka, are mentioned in 1. 3. Two more 
proper names are to be found in 1. 5.—Visy 
(Visvadevatfarmman) and Visyabhadra (Visvabhadra). The 
phrase Nividharmmaksayam =alabhya in 1. 8 is very significant. 
= 
® 
m2 
co 
3 
4 
Ps) 
| 
® 
or 
= 
3 
~ 
R 
w 
a 
= 
a 
= 
a 
the process known as Niviedharmna 7.e., destroying the perman- 
ency of the grant. The other names mentioned in 1. 5, are 
most probably names of countries. Upaka may also be read as 
Rumaka, and may be taken to refer to the Roman Empire. It 
is very tempting to take the other name to be Khasaka and 
identify it with the country of the Khasas, i.e., modern Kumaun 
and Garhwal, but the w mark is too clear to be ignored. e 
donee was Varahasvamin, a chandaga (chandasa, €.g., Samvedin) 
brahmana, |. 12. The object of the grant was situated. in the 
Mahakhusipara visaya (district). A local officer (Kuladhikarana), 
6. 
who exercised authority over eight villages, is mentioned in lI. 
é , No con- 
tinued translation is possible of the text, and I edit it from the 
original :— 
C6 Oe 6 ee we eee 
Bee e es SR ee UL Gay le, [asya]n =divasa purvva- 
i: 
sa|mbatsara® Sata- trayodasutta[ra ]+ 
2. 
yam parama-daivata para[ma].:...... 
: Ibid., p. 68. * Biihler’s Indian Paleography (ed. Fleet), p. 47. 
The use of ba for va is common among North-eastern Inscriptions. 
+ Read daéottara. 
