24. The Evidence of the Faridpur Grants. 
By Raxwat Das Banersi, M.A. 
In July last Mr. F. E. Pargiter, late of the Indian Civil 
Service, published three copperplate grants found in East 
Bengal in the ‘‘Indian Antiquary.’’ The earliest of these 
plates was discovered twenty years ago and the discovery 
announced in 1892. Dr. Hoernle promised an edition of this 
copperplate eighteen years ago.! It appears from Mr. 
Pargiter’s article that the plates, now three in number, were 
sent to the late Prof. Kielhorn in March 1905, but his sudden 
removal from this world prevented him from dealing with 
them. This indeed was unfortunate, as Dr. Kielhorn’s unerrin 
judgment would have saved all controversy on the subject. 
Mr. Pargiter has published these plates at the request of Dr. 
Hoernle from whom he obtained them in October 1908. In the 
second paragraph of his article Mr. Pargiter refers to a fourth 
plate, which was brought to Dr. Hoernle’s notice by the late 
Dr. T. Bloch, then Superintendent of the Archzological Survey, 
Eastern Circle. Mr. Pargiter had a photograph of the fourth 
plate before him when he edited the three other plates I had 
the honour of editing this fourth plate in the Journal of the 
Society, and as the publication of the three other plates 
throws further light on the history of this period, I am forced 
to make some remarks on the conjoint evidence of these four 
copperplate grants. The fourth plate belongs to Mr. H. E. 
Stapleton, B.A., B.Sc., of the Indian Educational Service. 
Further particulars about the provenance of this plate have 
already been recorded by the owner in a prefatory note to my 
article. The Bengalee gentleman referred to by Dr. Bloch in 
his letter to Dr. Hoernle is Prof. Nilmani Chakravartti of the 
Presidency College, to whom the plate was submitted for 
decipherment. I am rather surprised to learn that these three 
copperplates were purchased by Dr. Hoernle on behalf of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, as there is no record in the Society 
to show that they belong toit. So also inthe case of the Grant 
of Vidyadhara Bhafija, Dr. Kielhorn’s statement about the 
ownership of these plates was a revelation to us. 
The following conclusions are derived from a comparative 
study of these four copperplate grants :— 
(1) From an examination of the characters of these 
inscriptions it appears that they were written in mixed alpha- 
' Ind. Ant., vol. xxi, p. 29. 
