482 Notice of a Grant engraved on Copper. [\Ji>ne, 



Ajaya Singh Deva, Vijaya Singh, as heir apparent, by order of 

 his mother Ga'sala makes the grant to the Brahmin Sitha Sarma, 

 in the year Sambut 932, or a. d. 876, It is more ancient by 87 years 

 than the Rajgarh inscription communicated by Captain Burt. 



This grant does not give us any important information. We obtain 

 from it however for eight generations a line of Rajas who ruled in those 

 parts, and it will be observed that a remote ancestor of the grantor 

 married a Hun. Unless this be a poetic fiction, it may imply that 

 Hindu princes in remote times assumed some latitude in the selection 

 of wives, — more perhaps than is allowed by the strict law. We presume 

 that the Huns were not true Hindus. We have also the designation of 

 the highest officers of Church and State. The high priest, — the chief 

 Confessor — the Prime Minister — the Chief Councillor — the Principal 

 Secretary for foreign affairs — the Chief Justice — the incorruptible Super- 

 intendent of Police — and the Chamberlain. The titles given to the 

 ruling prince are most elaborate. Amongst his dependent chieftains are 

 enumerated the Gaja-pati, Aswa-pati, and Nara-pati — titles peculiar 

 probably to particular chieftains. The grant, for redundancy, might be 

 envied by an English conveyancer. The quaintness of some of the old 

 Hindu names may be also observed from this grant. Several of the 

 names are quite obsolete. 



The initial verses of the grant are not devoid of merit, but are not 

 so elaborate as the poem on the Rajgarh slab.* The perorations of 

 grants of this class have always many verses in common, of which some 

 seem to be puranik quotations. These deprecatory and imprecatory 

 verses occur with various readings. We have copied, with alterations 

 suitable to our text, Mr. Colebrooke's versions of a few ; one, — the 

 forty second verse — is of peculiar beauty and dignity, and in the 

 translation the classical pen of that distinguished orientalist may be 

 recognized. The imprecations against the resumer are terrific : perhaps 

 they were prophetic. " That rascal who by delusion of avarice, &c." 



The inscription was composed by Batsa Ram Dasa-Mulika, or 

 Dasa-MuLi, the chief Justice who witnessed the gift. We have 

 been much puzzled by this unusual term. It seems to be a title de- 

 noting the capacity of the dignitary for business. There are a few ortho- 

 graphical errors in the plate, whicli we have noticed. They seem due 

 to the ignorance of the engraver, the " smith Lema." 



* See our March No. Art. I. 



