siddham
The South Asia Inscriptions Database

Balaghat Single Plate of Pravarasena II

A single plate (probably the third of an original set of four or five), inscribed on both faces.  All other components of the set are lost. The shorter edges bulge, so the longer dimension is 19 cm in the centre, but only 18.4 cm at the edges. The plate has no rims. The hole (0.9 cm in diameter) for the connecting ring is on the left-hand side, vertically at the centre, and perhaps about 2.5 cm from the edge (Mirashi reports the hole as being 1" from the centre, which is clearly not the case).

Object URI
OB00159
Extent
17.5cm width x 10.2cm height.
Notes and provenance
The inscription, of which only one plate is now known, records the donation of the village of Śrīparṇakā by Pravarasena II to three beneficiaries: Gaṅgārya, Vasurārya and Rudrārya. The charter was issued to replace an earlier grant of the village Māṇapallikā. (Shastri, p.35). The donation was made to augment the religious merit of Pravarasena II’s mother, Prabhāvatī Guptā, indicating that she is still alive at the time of issue. However, as only one of the plates of this grant is known, the date and place of issue is not known. (Shastri, p. 36). The charter consists of five plates, but only three bear inscription and the attached seal is also without inscription. According to Shastri this indicates that the charter was left unfinished. (p. 70) Mirashi also states that the charter was left incomplete as it does not specify the charters donation (p. 79). It does however record the planned place of issue, Pṛthivīṣeṇa II’s temporary residence at Vembāra which Mirashi has identified with the modern village of Bembāl, 28 mile east of Chandrapur and 2 miles west of the Waingaṅhā river. (p. 80) Although incomplete, the importance of the inscription lies in its mention of Pṛthivīṣeṇa II and his father Narendrasena II. Prior to the discovery of this charter, neither ruler was known as only grants of Pravarasena II were known before 1893. Because of this, the description of both Narendrasena II, Pravarasena II’s son (?) and Pṛthivīṣeṇa II were new contributions to the known Vākāṭaka history. (#Shastri, pp.70-79).

History details
Found "somewhere in the Central Provinces" according to #Altekar_1928 (@no page reference), and in Jabalpur according to #Jayaswal_1933:74. #Mirashi_1963:69 says Hiralal believed that this plate belonged to a set discovered in Mānsar near Rāmṭek, divided among the miners who found them and lost to scholarship. This was apparently Hiralal's personal communication, as Mirashi only cites #Hiralal_1916:5 for this, which is a description of the Mānsar plate (%OB00160). #Mirashi_1936:49-50 and #Mirashi_1963:69-70 convincingly argues against this hypothesis and reports that his inquiries indicate that the plate was discovered around 1919 while digging a house foundation in Balāghāṭ (21.812799,80.18457), near where he also identifies several localities mentioned in the plate. Eventually it was deposited in Paṭnā museum (which Mirashi consistently spells Pāṭnā, but in all probability this is the capital of Bihar, not a different town).
Stored
Place
Patna Museum

Balaghat Charter Fragment of Pravarasena II

Inscription URI
IN00172
Extent
18.8 cm width x 10.5 cm height
Decoration
None.
Edition
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<p>A single plate (probably the third of an original set of four or five), inscribed on both faces. All other components of the set are lost. The shorter edges bulge, so the longer dimension is 19 cm in the centre, but only 18.4 cm at the edges. The plate has no rims. The hole (0.9 cm in diameter) for the connecting ring is on the left-hand side, vertically at the centre, and perhaps about 2.5 cm from the edge (Mirashi reports the hole as being 1" from the centre, which is clearly not the case).</p>
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<p>Found "somewhere in the Central Provinces" according to #Altekar_1928 (@no page reference), and in Jabalpur according to #Jayaswal_1933:74. #Mirashi_1963:69 says Hiralal believed that this plate belonged to a set discovered in Mānsar near Rāmṭek, divided among the miners who found them and lost to scholarship. This was apparently Hiralal's personal communication, as Mirashi only cites #Hiralal_1916:5 for this, which is a description of the Mānsar plate (%OB00160). #Mirashi_1936:49-50 and #Mirashi_1963:69-70 convincingly argues against this hypothesis and reports that his inquiries indicate that the plate was discovered around 1919 while digging a house foundation in Balāghāṭ (21.812799,80.18457), near where he also identifies several localities mentioned in the plate. Eventually it was deposited in Paṭnā museum (which Mirashi consistently spells Pāṭnā, but in all probability this is the capital of Bihar, not a different town).</p>
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