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Indian copper plate inscriptions
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Indian copper plate inscriptions
Indian copper plate inscriptions are legal records engraved on copper plates. The practice was widespread and long-running in the Indian subcontinent; it may date back to as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, however the vast majority of recovered plates were produced in the 1st millennium CE. The plates were legal documents which registered and recorded an act of endowment, i.e. a grant or donation, typically of land or concessions. The plate contained bureaucratic information on land tenure and taxation essential to the operation of the state.
The copper plates can survive intact indefinitely: copper, being a non-ferrous metal, does not rust or otherwise deteriorate when exposed to oxygen the way iron does, but rather develops a protective patina.
As primary historical documents and archaeological artifacts, the copper plates are invaluable tools for scholarly research in the general history and society of the Indian subcontinent in the 1st millennium CE, and in particular to the early history of Christianity in Asia and the subcontinent. For instance, between the 8th and 10th centuries CE, authorities on the Malabar Coast granted special rights and concessions to the community known as Nasrani (Saint Thomas Christians) which were recorded on copper plates referred to as Cheppeds or Sasanam ("Royal Grants").
As legal documents, historians liken Indian copper plate engravings to a modern-day license or property deed, and suggest that the party claiming ownership of or rights to donated resources would be obligated to show their plates to the state authorities if challenged. As an additional indicator of the legitimacy of the endowment, it was not uncommon for donors to clasp the plates together with a ring bearing the donor's personal seal. As instruments of state expansion, the durability and easy retrievability of the copper plates was crucial to consolidating newly settled lands.
Indian copper plate inscriptions (tamarashasana), usually record grants of land or lists of royal lineages carrying the royal seal, a profusion of which have been found in South India. Originally, texts were recorded on palm leaves, but when the records were legal documents such as title-deeds they were etched on a cave or temple wall, or more commonly, on copper plates which were then secreted in a safe place such as within the walls or foundation of a temple, or hidden in stone caches in fields. Plates could be used more than once, as when a canceled grant was overstruck with a new inscription. These records were probably in use from the first millennium.
A group of nine inscribed copper plates has been identified by Shinde in 2014 as the oldest such objects in the Indian subcontinent. They date to the Mature Harappan era, and contain inscriptions up to 34 characters long. Their place of origin unknown. They are thought to have been used for copper plate printing.
The Sohgaura copper-plate inscription, inscribed in the Brahmi script, may date to the 3rd century BCE Maurya Empire and is likely a precursor to the later copper-plate inscriptions. It is written on a small plaque of bronze (a copper alloy).
The Taxila and the Kalawan copper-plate inscriptions (c. 1st century CE or earlier) are among the earliest known instances of true copper plates being used for writing in the Indian subcontinent. These plates are not proper charters, unlike later copper-plate inscriptions.
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Indian copper plate inscriptions
Indian copper plate inscriptions are legal records engraved on copper plates. The practice was widespread and long-running in the Indian subcontinent; it may date back to as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, however the vast majority of recovered plates were produced in the 1st millennium CE. The plates were legal documents which registered and recorded an act of endowment, i.e. a grant or donation, typically of land or concessions. The plate contained bureaucratic information on land tenure and taxation essential to the operation of the state.
The copper plates can survive intact indefinitely: copper, being a non-ferrous metal, does not rust or otherwise deteriorate when exposed to oxygen the way iron does, but rather develops a protective patina.
As primary historical documents and archaeological artifacts, the copper plates are invaluable tools for scholarly research in the general history and society of the Indian subcontinent in the 1st millennium CE, and in particular to the early history of Christianity in Asia and the subcontinent. For instance, between the 8th and 10th centuries CE, authorities on the Malabar Coast granted special rights and concessions to the community known as Nasrani (Saint Thomas Christians) which were recorded on copper plates referred to as Cheppeds or Sasanam ("Royal Grants").
As legal documents, historians liken Indian copper plate engravings to a modern-day license or property deed, and suggest that the party claiming ownership of or rights to donated resources would be obligated to show their plates to the state authorities if challenged. As an additional indicator of the legitimacy of the endowment, it was not uncommon for donors to clasp the plates together with a ring bearing the donor's personal seal. As instruments of state expansion, the durability and easy retrievability of the copper plates was crucial to consolidating newly settled lands.
Indian copper plate inscriptions (tamarashasana), usually record grants of land or lists of royal lineages carrying the royal seal, a profusion of which have been found in South India. Originally, texts were recorded on palm leaves, but when the records were legal documents such as title-deeds they were etched on a cave or temple wall, or more commonly, on copper plates which were then secreted in a safe place such as within the walls or foundation of a temple, or hidden in stone caches in fields. Plates could be used more than once, as when a canceled grant was overstruck with a new inscription. These records were probably in use from the first millennium.
A group of nine inscribed copper plates has been identified by Shinde in 2014 as the oldest such objects in the Indian subcontinent. They date to the Mature Harappan era, and contain inscriptions up to 34 characters long. Their place of origin unknown. They are thought to have been used for copper plate printing.
The Sohgaura copper-plate inscription, inscribed in the Brahmi script, may date to the 3rd century BCE Maurya Empire and is likely a precursor to the later copper-plate inscriptions. It is written on a small plaque of bronze (a copper alloy).
The Taxila and the Kalawan copper-plate inscriptions (c. 1st century CE or earlier) are among the earliest known instances of true copper plates being used for writing in the Indian subcontinent. These plates are not proper charters, unlike later copper-plate inscriptions.