ASHRAFPUR COPPER-PLATE GRANTS OF DEVAKHADGA. 87 



drona and dronavapa are the same area, we get the following' equation from Plate B by 

 an addition of the areas mentioned, and taking Vatsandgapdtaka as one pataka, viz., 5 

 pdtakas-\- 60 dronavapas = 6 pdtakas -\- 10 dronas or dronavapas. According to this equa- 

 tion, 50 dronavapas or dronas make one pataka. The word pataka means in Sanskrit ' a part 

 of a village,' and is probably the original from which the Bengali word pddd is derived. 

 In this very sense it forms parts of the proper names of a few villages or hamlets used in 

 these inscriptions, such as Talapataka, Darapdtaka and Mar katdsipdtaka , etc. It is also 

 used in the plates under notice as a measure of area larger than a drona. The portions 

 of the inscriptions in which the particulars of the lands granted are described are very 

 irregular in construction ; hence it has become difficult to know the relative values of the 

 measures called pataka, drona and dronavapa. 



The language of both the inscriptions is Sanskrit, but it is very incorrect in some 

 places, especially in the portions where the measures, situations and other particulars of 

 the lands granted are described. Lines 1-3 and 15-17 of Plate A, and 1-7 and 17-22 

 of Plate B contain verses ; the remaining parts of the inscription are in prose. The 

 characters belong to the early Kutila variety of the Northern Alphabets. The matras or 

 horizontal top- strokes are not well developed ; the tops of such letters as/, m, y, s, s, &c, 

 have their tops almost quite open. The avagraha does not occur, although there are two 

 or three places where it might be used correctly. The virdma does not occur. The final 

 form of t occurs in the word sanivat. In the last line of Plate B, the number 25 is ex- 

 pressed by the numerical symbols for 20 and 5 respectively; while the number 13, which 

 occurs twice in Plate A and once in Plate B, is expressed by the numerical symbol for 

 10 and decimal figure for 3. The script employed in these inscriptions looks generally 

 older than those used in the inscriptions of the Pala and Sena Kings of Bengal. 



Abstract of the Contents of Plate A. 



(Lines 1-2.) Svasti ! Victorious is the Lord, the chief of the sages, who is the cause 

 of the destruction of ignorance (avidyd) and who has crossed over the great ocean of 

 samsdra (or the cycle of births and deaths). 



(Lines 2-3.) Victorious is King S'ri-Devakhadga, whose footstool is illuminated by 

 the jewels over the multitudes of the heads of numberless rulers of the earth, . . . 

 . . and who has conquered his enemies. 



[Lines 3-10 give the measures and other particulars of the pieces of land granted; 

 but owing to the damage sustained by the plate, no connected meaning can be made out 

 from this portion of the inscription. A translation is attemped, but its correctness can- 

 not be vouched for.] 



(Lines 3-10.) [At ?] [A ?] talyodyanikatarala, two pdtakas now enjoyed by the Queen- 



Consort Sn-Prabhavati ; \_\ (?) pataka (?)] enjoyed by lady (?) S'ubhamsuka (?) ; at Koda- 



racoraka one-and-a-half pataka of S'n-Mitravali, enjoyed by Samanta Vantiyoka ; at [Re ?] 



latalaka, one-and-a-half pataka enjoyed by Sn-Netrabhata, at (?) Paranatananada Varmi 



. . . at Palasata, ten dronavapas ; at S'ivahradikasoggavargga, nartaki (?), half a 



