1894.] U. C. Batavyal— Copper-plate Grant of Dharmapala. 
39 
On a neiv Copper-plate Grant of Dharmapala.—By Umes Chandra 
Batavyal, I. C. S.* 
(With Plate III.) 
[ Read, April, 1894. ] 
The copper-plate inscription, recording a grant of four villages 
by king Dharma Pala to Bhatta Narayana, of which a transcript and 
an English translation are annexed, was discovered by me in the month 
of November, 1893, at Khalimpur, near Gaur, in the District of Malda. 
An illiterate Muhammadan cultivator found it in a paddy field, at the 
northern extremity of the village, while employed in ploughing it, about 
two years ago. He is since dead. The Plate was with his widow, Mori 
Bewa. I have purchased it from her. 
The importance of this copper-plate to all students of Indian History, 
and particularly to Brahmans and Kayasthas in Bengal, who trace their 
descent from the five Brahmans and the five Kayasthas of Kannauj invit¬ 
ed to this country by king Adigura, cannot be over-estimated ; while to 
those among the Bengal Brahmans, who claim their descent from 
Bhatta Narayana himself, the interest attaching to the record is that of 
a piece of family history. 
It is, so far as I know, the oldest copper-plate grant of the Pfila 
dynasty yet discovered. Unfortunately it only gives the date of the 
grant, In the year of the king’s reign,” and leaves the date of the 
reign itself in uncertainty. The latter is yet more or less conjectural. 
General Cunningham assigned to Gopala, father of Dharma Pala, 
the latter part of the 8th century of the Christian Era; while Dr. 
Rajendra Lala Mitra placed him nearly a century later. I think the 
former estimate to be the more correct. The Lahiris, among the Baren- 
dra Brahmans, who claim their descent from Bhatta Narayana, have pre¬ 
served a genealogical record which shows that Pltambar Lahiri, the 
contemporary of Ballala Sena, was 14th in descent from Bhatta Nara¬ 
yana. Taking Pltambar as alive in 1150 A. D., and giving 25 years to 
* [Owing to the importance of the copper-plate grant it has been thought 
advisable to publish Mr. Batavyal’s paper as it stands, without delay. Ed.] 
