1SS2.] R. L. Mitra— Ow a Copper-phfe from CnftacJc. 13 



patent, preceded by sanctification with water,* and intended for enjoyment 

 during the duration of the moon, the stars, the sun, and the earth, and for 

 the enhancement of the virtue and fame of my parents and my own self. 

 Knowing all this you should render all dues, usufructs, shares, rents, gold, 

 &c., and dwell in peace. Taking this gift of mine as that of their own, out 

 of respect for righteousness, future kings should uphold this grant. Thus 

 has it been ordained in the Dharma-sastra — 



" Many kings, like Sagara and others, have enjoyed the earth ; to him 

 accrued the fruit to whom belonged the earth for the time being. 



" Let there be no suspicion, kings, that others' gifts are fruitless, for 

 the preservation of others' gifts is more fruitful than gifts made by one's 

 own self. 



" The donor of land enjoys in heaven for sixty thousand years, while 

 the two, the abrogator and the destroyer of it, repair to hell. 



" The first is the son of fire. He who bestows gold, wealth and land 

 to him in this world — f 



" The fathers are elated, the grandfathers are filled with pride, when 

 a donor of land is born in their family, one who will be to their redemp- 

 tion. 



" Both, he who accepts land and he who bestows it, are performers of 

 virtuous deeds, and are destined to go to heaven. 



*■ Not even the excavation of a thousand tanks, nor even the perfor- 

 mance of the Vajapeya sacrifice a thousand times over, nor even the gift 

 of ten million head of cattle, can redeem the resumer of a land-grant. 



*' Whoever, from wicked motives or delusion, resumes, or causes to be 

 resumed, a land-grant, is bound by the fetters of Varuna, and is born a 

 brute. 



" The robber of a suvarna, J or of land not exceeding even half a finger's 

 breadth in area, dwells in hell until the next entire destruction of the earth. 



" Whoever resumes land, whether given by himself or by another, 

 becoming a maggot, rots in ordure along with his ancestors. 



" Aditya, Varuna, Vishnu, Brahma, Soma, the elaphocephalic god, 

 and the wielder of the trident bepraise the donor of land. 



" This is the common bridge of virtue for kings ; it should be at all 

 times protected by you ; this is the prayer which Rama, the auspicious, 

 repeatedly addresses to all future kings. 



"Knowing prosperity and human life and all and every thing that is 

 here done to be as unsteady as a drop of water on a lotus leaf, no good man 

 should efface the virtuous acts of others." 



* Lit. by the pouring of water. 



t The distich is incomplete, and I cannot fully make out its purport. 



X A sorereign, a gold coin. 



