Sealings from Puṇḍravardhana Arlo Griffiths, Noman Nasir
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Sealings from Puṇḍravardhana Arlo Griffiths, Noman Nasir To cite this version: Arlo Griffiths, Noman Nasir. Sealings from Puṇḍravardhana. Pratna Samiksha: a Journal ofAr- chaeology, Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, 2016, New Series 7 pp.37-41. halshs-01762695 HAL Id: halshs-01762695 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01762695 Submitted on 12 Apr 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Pratna Samiksha A Journal of Archaeology New Series Volume 7 2016 CENTRE FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES & TRAINING EASTERN INDIA •KOLKATA Pratna Samiksha, New Series The responsibility of the facts stated, opinions expressed and conclu- is an annual journal published by the sions reached are entirely those of the author of the respective article. Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India does not Eastern India, Kolkata. accept any responsibility for them. Editorial Address © 2016 Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Pratna Samiksha Eastern India Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, Eastern India, State Archaeological Museum stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any Old Building, First Floor, 1 Satyen Roy Road means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, Behala, Kolkata 700 034 without the prior written permission of the publisher. email: [email protected] ISSN 2229 7979 Editor Sharmi Chakraborty Periodicity: Annual Founding Editor Gautam Sengupta Subscription (per volume): ` 1,000.00 Editorial Assistant Published by the Member Secretary for the Mithu Karmakar Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India (An Autonomous Institution of the Editorial Advisory Board Government of West Bengal) Krishna Bose State Archaeological Museum Old Building, First Floor Chairperson, Centre for Archaeological Studies 1 Satyen Roy Road, Behala & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata Kolkata 700 034 Member Secretary [email protected] Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata Printed in India at Barnana K. Paddayya 6/7 Bijoygarh, Kolkata 700 032 [email protected] Professor Emeritus, Deccan College, Pune B.D. Chattopadhyaya Former Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Pratip Kumar Mitra Former Keeper, State Archaeological Museum, West Bengal Suchandra Ghosh Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Indian History & Culture, University of Calcutta, Kolkata The Director (ex officio) Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of West Bengal EPIGRAPHY Sealings from Pupdravardhana ARLO GRIFFITHS École française d’Extrême-Orient (Paris) UMR 5189 Histoire et Sources des Mondes Antiques (Lyon) Noman Nasir Independent Researcher (Dhaka) ABSTRACT: Despite decades of relatively intensive official excavation, the number of published sigillographic finds from Mahasthangarh, in northwest Bangladesh, corresponding to ancient Pupdravardhana, has remained surprisingly limited for an early-historic/early-medieval site of its importance. A recent overview covers just six items found at the site, only one of which endowed with a seal legend. We publish here two sealings that were issued from ancient Pupdravardhana. The devices and legends on these two specimens give occasion to publish at the same time four further sealing-types. All of these have very likely surfaced during unauthorised digging at Mahasthangarh. KEYWORDS: Seal, sealing, clay, Pupdravardhana, cakra with ribbon, Lakxmi. Last year’s volume of this journal contained the from Pupdravardhana proper, these grants publication by Arlo Griffiths of two copperplate shed light on the complex early history of the inscriptions of substantial significance for the greater Pupdravardhana region, i.e. the northern early history of Pupdravardhana, both intact subregion of ancient Bengal. with their primary seals in bronze, and both of This short contribution builds upon Griffiths’ these primary seals marked by subsidiary seals. previous study by presenting two sealings from The second copperplate published last year, held Noman Nasir’s collection that were issued from in a private collection in Hong Kong, is a sale ancient Pupdravardhana itself. The devices and deed of the village Mastakasvabhra issued in the legends on these two specimens give occasion to fifth year of a king Pradyumnabandhu, ‘when publish at the same time four further sealing-types his appointee as governor, (named) Cellaka, from the same collection. All of these sealings was managing affairs in Sri Pupdravardhana have very likely surfaced during unauthorised province’; its seal legend reads ghopadvipakavixaye digging at the modern site of Mahasthangarh. °adhikarapasya, meaning ‘of the council in Despite decades of relatively intensive official Ghopadvipaka district’. The first plate, salvaged excavation, notably in the context of Franco- from a scrap metal shop in Dhaka and said to have Bangladeshi archaeological collaboration,2 the been found in Bogra district, is now preserved in number of published sigillographic finds from the collection of Noman Nasir.1 Its seal legend this site has been surprisingly limited. The recent reads maddhyamaxapdikavithyayuktakadhikarapasya, overview of ‘sealings’ and ‘tokens’ by Sandrine meaning ‘of the council of appointees of Gill, Jean-Yves Breuil and Md Shafiqul Alam the territory of Madhyamaxapdika’, and the (in Salles 2015: 135–7, with notes) covers just complex series of transactions it records starts six items found at Mahasthangarh, only one with a purchase of land by the mahamatra of of which includes a seal legend,3 and mentions Pupdravardhana named Suvarcasadatta. While less than a handful of references to publications neither of the two copperplates were issued of finds from other sites in West Bengal and Pratna Samiksha, New Series 7, 2016. © Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India, Kolkata, pp. 37–41. 38 ARLO GRIFFITHS AND NOMAN NASIR Bangladesh.4 The dimensions and weights of the The device on the main seal resembles that on clay artefacts to be discussed below are shown in plate XXXII, no. 11 in Thaplyal 1972, where it is Table 1. described (p. 433) as ‘a peculiar standard coming out of a pot’. The sealing in question was part TABLE 1: Dimension and weight of the artefacts of the rich sigillographic corpus unearthed at Artefact Outer Inner Weight Bhita, and the device was described by Marshall inv. nr. dimensions dimensions (gr) (1915: 60, no. 116) as follows: ‘Symbol resem- (mm) (mm) bling monogram on copper coins of Azes, which 1.1 88 × 85 25 × 20 93.7 General Cunningham interpreted as meaning 1.2 95 × 90 40 × 26 73.8 Kaspapura or Multan’.8 The validity of the latter 2.1 40 × 40 34 × 27 16.0 interpretation aside, it is clearly not applicable to 2.2 40 × 40 35 × 25 15.4 Pupdravardhana. In any case, the Bhita sealing 2.3 40 × 40 35 × 27 15.6 does not show exactly the same device as found 3.1 50 × 50 58.6 on this Pupdravardhana seal type, which in the present state of our knowledge is unique.9 4.1 23 × 19 5.6 Sealing 1.1 bears a subsidiary seal (Pl. 1c) that 5.1 80 × 72 165.5 appears to comprise only a legend—presumably The clay sealings 1.1 and 1.2 are shown in a name—in four akxaras, each of which is set off Pls 1–2. The main legend, identical on both in a separate square box. We have tentatively read specimens, reads pupdravarddhanadhixthanadikara- these akxaras as ma/ca/ra/ta, but their meaning pam, meaning ‘council of the capital (or city) of remains uncertain. A cross-shaped sign (perhaps a ma?) stands above the second box. This legend Pupdravardhana’. The script indicates a date in is enclosed in a double-lined frame, placed within the fifth or sixth century CE. Compared to other an oval plane. This oval plane is encircled by an seals of the same region and period, it is note- inner and an outer string of raised pearls or beads. worthy that, in this instance, we apparently do The subsidiary seal on 1.2 (Pl. 2c) shows the not find the expected genitive case ending; rather, combination of a device with a legend. It is very the nominative,5 with a final -m*, written by the fortunate—and, in the light of their presumed special sign discussed briefly last year (Griffiths common provenance, also very likely not coin- 2015: 19, with n. 10, p. 34). This sign is quite cidental—that three independent impressions of clear on Pl. 1a. what seems to have been the same seal matrix are The adhixthanadhikarapa of Pupdravardhana held in Noman Nasir’s collection, two of them is referred to in several copperplate grants of shown here (2.1 and 2.2, Pl. 3). With the help of this period, as an important decision-making these extra specimens, we can read the legend 6 body in land transactions. Similar seals, as vimaladasasya, meaning ‘of Vimaladasa’.10 This generally formulated in the genitive, of the Vimaladasa was probably a local dignitary, who adhixthanadhikarapa of other North Indian cities stamped his seal on separate lumps of red clay, have been listed by Thaplyal (1972: 132–3), while also using it to counterseal a decision of the who observes that ‘the term adhishthana means Pupdravardhana council. a ‘city’ where the headquarters of the local It seems that a round object, perhaps a lotus administration were located’ and hence that bud, fills what would otherwise have been an ‘these sealings would indicate the functioning empty space at the bottom of this seal. The of some sort of civic boards’.