JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL 
New Series. 
Vol. 1.—1905. 
<= fe~— 
Four new Copper-Plate Charters of the Somavamsi Kings of Kosala 
(and Kataka ?) —By Ganca Mowan Laskar, M.A, 
These four charters, each consisting of three copper-plates, 
were sent a few months ago from the Patna State in the Central 
Provinces to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and the task of deci- 
phering them was entrusted tome. They form an addition to the 
series of six charters of the Somavamsi Kings edited or re-edited 
by Mr. Fleet in the Hpigraphia Indica (Volume III, pages 323 to 
359). Four of the published charters were granted by Maha- 
Bhayagupta I, one by Maha-Sivagupta and the last by Maha- 
Bhayagupta IJ. Of the four new charters one belongs to the first 
and the remaining three to the second of these kings. Thus we 
now possess five land-grant charters of Mahaé-Bhavagupta I, four 
of his son Maha-Sivagupta and one of the latter’s son Maha-Bhava- 
gupta Il. <A copper-plate charter granted by Puiija, a feudatory 
chief under Maha-Bhavagupta II, in the 13th year of the latter’s 
reign, has been edited by Dr. Kielhorn in Hpi. Indica, Volume IV. 
(page 254, &e.). Bus C 
The language and forms of expressions of the new charters 
are much the same with those employed in the old ones. The 
characters in which they are inscribed are the same. They do not 
bring out any new important facts about the history or the identifica- 
tion of the grantors, except the names of the villages granted and. 
‘ afew other minor details scarcely worthy of notice. The his- 
torical and paleographical remarks made by Mr. Fleet on the 
old ‘records apply equally to the new ones. Yet a few words may 
not be unnecessary to serve as an introduction to the account of the 
newly-discovered copper-plates given in the following pages. 
Mr. Fleet calls his charters as A, B, C, D, Hand F; the new 
ones may be named G, H, I and J respectively. These ten 
charters, together with the one granted by Puhja, are the 
only records that we possess of this dynasty. They disclose 
