122 
Dr. Hoernle — Gauhati Copper-plate Grant of Indrapala. [No. 2, 
with the difference in the characters used in the two grants, though 
they belong to two rather different varieties of Nagarl. 
I may here state, that I possess a very excellently written and 
illuminated copy of the Ashta Sahasrika Prajna Paramita.- It is dated 
in the 15th year of the reign of Rama Pala, on the 17th day of the 
dark half of Vai^akha. 11 Unfortunately, as usual in Pala inscriptions, 
there is no reference to any era. The letters are those of the MSS. Nos. 
1464 and 1688, and the numerals those of Nos. 1643 and 1683 (in 
Bendall’s Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit MSS. in the Cambridge Uni¬ 
versity Library), all dating in the 11th century (1015-1065). Occasion¬ 
ally the letters resemble those of No. 1693, dated 1165 A.D. The 
difference between the letters of these two sets is, on the whole, 
infinitesimal. As Mahipala is supposed to have reigned up to 1060 
A.D., Ramapala, third in descent from him, would, on the usual average 
of a 20 years’ reign, have been on the throne, from about 1100 to 1120 
or 1125, and this would well accord with the characters of my manus¬ 
cript of his reign. Kumara Pala might have followed him from about 
1125 to 1145 A.D. 
As to the localities mentioned in the grant I can offer no identi¬ 
fications ; indeed, I am not sure that I have understood all the terms 
correctly. Mr. Gait has been good enough to depute an officer to make 
local enquiries, but they have been unsuccessful. He says, however, that 
“ It has been suggested to me by Babu Bholanath Das, Sub-Deputy 
Collector, that the Hapyoma district may correspond to the Barama Tahsll, 
and the hamlet of KasI may correspond to the three villages Nath Kuci, Nau 
Kuci and Rana Kuci which aggregate some 5 square miles. A river flows to the 
west of these villages which is now known as Timu (Ti or Di is the Kacharl word 
for water or river, and is a common prefix in the names of rivers in Assam and 
E. Bengal) which would perhaps be the Digumma of the inscription. As regards 
the Makhi path on the East, it may be noted that there are two villages rather more 
than a mile to the South of Rana Kuci which are known as Bar. Makhibaha and 
Khudra Makhibaha respectively 1*, and it is possible that a road formerly led to 
them along the eastern boundary of Nau Kuci and Rana Kuci. Adjoining Rana Kuci 
to the S.-W. is the village of Ratanpur which may perhaps have some connection 
with Ratnapala, but this may be only accidental as there are several Ratnapuras in 
the province. There is, however, no trace now of any tank to the North of 
Nau Kuci, nor of any embankment and pond to the North-East and South-West. 
No worship is now performed at Makhibaha, but a Qraddha ceremony is performed 
every year in commemoration of the death of one Gaurl Narayan Chaudharl’s 
father. This is known as the Mdkhlbdhd-sabhd .” 
11 See Dr. R. Mitra’s edition of that work in the Bibliotheca Indica, Introduc¬ 
tion, p. XXIII. 
12 In order, however, to agree with the description in the grant, these two 
villages should lie to the North of Rana Kuci. For the Makhi-path runs north- 
