1898.] Dr. Hoernle —Two Copper-plate Grants of Batnapala. 
99 
Two Copper-plate Grants of Batnaptila of Pragjyotisa in Asfim.—By 
Dr. A. F. Rudolf Hoernle, C.I.E. 
(With Plates VIII-XIII). 
[Read January, 1898.] 
These two grants were also sent to me by Mr. E. A. Gait, I.C.S., 
one in May 1896, the other in April 1897. 1 The former was found in 
Sualkuci. About the find-place of the latter, nothing is known. It 
is now in the possession of a cultivator of Nahorhabi village, Mauza 
Bargao, District Darrang, Subdivision Tejpur, who says that it was 
discovered by his grandfather. As it is convenient to give it a name, 
and as Tejpur is already appropriated by another Asam grant, pub¬ 
lished in this Journal , Vol. IX, it may be called the Bargaou copper¬ 
plate. 
The Sualkuni grant unfortunately is in a very bad condition 
as will be described hereafter. Without the Bargaou grant, with 
.which most of its contents are identical, it would have been impossible 
to make any thing satisfactory of it. The Bargaon grant is in an 
almost perfect condition, and hence I will describe it first. 
I. The Bargaon Grant. 
This grant and its seal are just like the Gauhati grant of Indra- 
pala. This will be seen from the photograph (Plates YIII-X), so that I 
need not repeat their description. The plates, of which there are three, 
measure I Of by 6f inches. The seal measures 4| by 3f inches. The 
two outside plates are only inscribed on their inner sides. The interior 
plate has 20 lines on each side; the other two inscribed sides have 
17 and 15 lines respectively. 
The language of the grant is Sanskrit. It differs from other 
grants, in giving a portion of the genealogy of the donor in prose. 
The earlier part of the genealogy, referring to Ratnapala’s ancestry, 
is in poetry, viz., from the beginning down to line 28. From here the 
1 See my papers on the previous Gauhati and Nowgoug Grants, in this 
Journal, Vol. LX.Vi, pp. 113, 285. 
