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The Satak Copper Plate Grant of King Rama Simha II, of Jaintia of 1809 A.D.

By K u n ja G ov jn d a G o s w a m i,

In February last, I was informed, at my village home at fiojr^fi'District , that one of our neighbours, Sj. Madan ,sooVM,ii had a copper plate inscription in his possession. I at once hastened to his place and saw the i^late. The plate records the grant of twenty-four keddras of land in two plots to one, Balarama Goswami (here mentioned as Vaisnavadhikarin), by King Rama Simha II, (1789-1832 A.D.) of Jayantlpura (modern Jaintia) in the North Sylhet subdivision of the , for the worship of Radha and Krisna under the name of Vrajesvarl and Vrajesvara. I am told that this Balarama, out of aversion towards the world, renounced it and went to the hill}^ tract of Jaintia for meditation and spiritual advancement. There he founded a temple of god Visnu and himself became a Sevait there. Hence probably, he is called a Vaisnavadhikarin here. Very soon he became famous in the locality for his piety and religious austerities and people began to become his dis­ ciples. In no time, this news reached the ears of the reigning king, Rama Simha II. He being attracted by the virtues of this holy man, made a grant of the land under discussion besides many other valuable donations. We learn also from the Sri- halter Itivrilta (The History of Sylhet, Part II, p. 279) by Mr. Achyuta Charan Choudhury that King Bada Gosayi II (1729­ 1770 A.D.) of Jaintia, invited Rama Govinda Goswami, one of the ancestors of the donee of this plate, to his capital, learnt yogangas (eight constituents or parts of the yoga) from him and gave much wealth in the shape of Ouru daksirM (preceptor’s fee). So we see that there had been a religious influence of the family of Balarama upon the royal family of Jaintia for a long time, and this grant also bears testimony to this fact. The present holder of the grant, SJ. Madam Mohan Ooswami, is a descendant of the original donee through his brother’s line and is still held in high esteem both by the people and the at Jaintia whenever he goe.s there. The temple is maintained even now and worship of the deities is carried on by an appointed Sevait who manages the affairs there from the income of the property of the temple. The plate roughly measures 1" x 4". The inscription opens at the top with the invocatory line “ namo Vrajesvardya" pre- -ceeded by a symbol which seems to be a very late form of the symbol representing om according to Hoemle (Intro. Bower MSS. In. Ant. reprint, page 22) and Fleet (Corp. Ins. Ind., page 46, n 3) but Siddhirastu or Siddham according to N. K. Bhattasali, supported by Sastri {Ep. Ind., Vol. X V II, p. 352). This symbol Is called anji by the older generation in . Curi­ ously enough, this sign precedes also the right hand side line of the inscription under discussion. Just below the invocatory line, is engraved the royal seal representing a jumping lion in the midst of a roughly shaped circle. Similar seals with slight variations were now and then used by the Kings of this place. This statement will find corroboration if we compare some other inscriptions of the Jaintia Kings, edited by Dr. K. M. '‘".pta {vide (i) J.A.S.B., 1922, p. 73 f., (ii) ibid., 1923, pp. 323 , (?ii) ibid., 1923, pp. 331 f.). The plate is in a good state of preservation and every letter is distinct and legible. It contains seventeen lines besides the invocatory top line and two side lines—one to the right-hand side of the plate and the other to the left in the upper margin. The characters are well shaped Bengali with some peculiari­ ties. The language is prose throughout with the excep­ tion of the words Kitavat (derived from Arabic and means writ­ ing of) occurring on the left hand side, and Sahi (probably Perso- Arabic and here perhaps means “ signed by,” ) on the left hand side. • There are a few orthographical inaccuracies due to ignor­ ance and carelessness of the scribe; e.g. (i) in some places a (^) has been used for i (w), viz. saptadasa-sata for sapta-daia-iata (line 8), disi for di&i (line 10) and vimsati for vim&ati (line 17), (ii) datva for datla (line 9), (iii) simdvacchinva for Simdvacchinna (line 16). The use of the word livi (document) (line 17) is peculiar here. Although both the forms livi and lipi are correct according to Sanskrit dictionaries, the former is hardly met with in Sanskrit books. Another point we should note here. There is no distinction in the use of b and v in Bengali, either in writing or in pronunciation. The former is rather frequently used in place of the latter. This observation holds good for the present inscription also. But I have given v in its proper places in my transliteration without giving the Bengali b first and then changing it to the correct form v for the sake of convenience. Early mention of the tract of Jaintia is found in the Paura- nic and Tan trie literature as containing one of the famous shrines sacred to . “ It was known as Narlrajya, mentioned in Jaimini’s ,” says Mr. Achyuta Charan Choudhury in his SriJiatter Itivrilta (History of Sylhet), Part I, Sec. IV, Ch. I. He being supported by MM. Padmanath Vidyavinoda {vide Ind. His. Quarterly, Vol III, No. 4, pp. 848-49) throws a ray of light on a mediaeval king of Jaintia by stating that the famous Kavya, Raghava Pandavlya of Kaviraja was compoBed during the reign of King Kamadeva of Jayantiapura in the 11th century A.D. The book itself does not contain any reference to a definite date and so scholars are not at one with regard to this point. But from the internal evidence we learn that this poetical work was composed by Kaviraja during the reiga of Kama- deva in the city of Jayantiapura (Canto I, verse 25). And Mr. Choudhury and Mahamahopadhyaya Vidyavinoda are inclined to identify this Jayantiapura with modern Jaintia of the Sylhet district. ' According to tradition the ancient rulers of the Jaintia plains were by caste. They ruled the region for several generations, and we do not exactly know how they met with their^fj>,Jl. But this much we learn from Sir E. Gait that a group-jt the Khasi tribes called the Syntengs inhabited and ruled the hilly part, namely, the Jaintia Hills for a long time ; and after the fall of the traditional Hindu Kings of the Jaintia plains, a scion of this tribe, named Parvat Ray took possession of the plains about 1500 A.D. [History oj by Sir E. Gait, New Edition, page 261). After that this small hod to pass through successive invasions of the Kochas, the Kacharis, and the Ahoms. In spite of these repeated attacks the Synteng line could maintain its own independence for more than three centuries till at last the kingdom was annexed to the in 1835 A.D. Gait supposes from the nomenclature of the founder of the dynasty and his successors that from this time forward they began to feel gradually the influence of the Hindu religion and finally identified themselves with it in its Tantric form of worship. The Kings with certain laxity in matter of food and drink became champions of Sakti worship in that part of the country; and the holy shrines at Jaintia as also at Faljur bear sufficient evidence of it. Although the rulers belonged mainly to the Tantric sect, they were patrons of all other branches of the Hindu religion. This statement will be borne out by the fact that MahadevI Kasasali, wife of Bada Gosayi, made grants of land to the gods i^iva, Jaganndtha, Vasudeva, and Bhudhara during the reign of Rama Simha II, who is the donor of the plate under review, in the Saka year 1726 ( = 1803 A.D.) (J.^ .S.B ., 1923, pp. 323-27). That this Rama Simha was also a devotee of Durga and 6iva is set forth in his Dhupi Copper plate grant of the Saka year 1720 ( = 1798 A.D.) {J.A.S.B., 1922, p. 73). The present plate shows that he had reverence for the Vaisnava deities Vrajeswara and Vrajeswarl also. Similarly, instances from Epigraphic and other sources can be multiplied in favour of our assertion. Researches of scholars are now bringing to light many inscriptions which among other things show that the princes of this line have always shown religious toleration. Rama Simha II has been taken by Gait to be the twentieth king in descent from Parbat Ray and his period has been fixed at from 1789 A.D. to 1832 A.D. He was the nephew of his predecessor Vijaya-Narayana. It is also important to note here that though the rulers became Hinduised, society is still matriarchal and the throne passes to the nephew (sister’s aon) and not to his son after the death of the ruling king. The plate was issued on the 23rd day of Magha of the Saka year 1731 ( = which corresponds to February, 1809 A.D.).

R eading o f t h e P la te. Om* Namo Vrajesvaraya. 1 ekatrimsadadhika-saptadasa-sata^'-sakabde ^rl- 2 majjayantlpura-purandara-^rila 6ri Rama ^ 3 Simha nrpavarena Gosainapurakhya grama- 4 ntargata sutaragramantagatayos-catur-vimsa- 5 ti kedara parimifca bhumih khandadvayena 6 l^rlmad Vrajesvarl-Vraje^varayor-arcanartham 7 VanI vaisnava santataye l§rl Balarama Vaisnava- 8 dhikarine datva.® Tat prathama khandasya pu- 9 rvva disi‘ mahiharananftkhya bhiih, tat pasca- 10 t gocarahpanthah taduttare amira-ghara- 11 nakhya vatikayah panthah taddaksine gu- 12 ISkhya bhUryyavat tadvitlya^-khandasya purvva- 13 disi® bhogakharakhya bhuh, tata^ psiscgt 14 naktinanakhya bhiih taduttare mahlharana 15 nakhya bhuh daksinepyevam ittham catuh 16 simavachinva ® bhumih maghasya trayavirn- 17 ® divaslya libir-iti. On the left hand side :— Kitavat Sri Rama Majundhara. On the right hand side:— Sahi Sri Vijaya Sim Senapati.

E n g lish translation . Oni (expressed by a symbol)! Salutation to Vrajeswara. la the Saka year seventeen hundred increased by thirty-one, — land, measuring Iweniy-iour Kedaras in two plots (included)

' Expressed by a symbol. 2 Read ekatrimSadadhika-saptadaia ^ata. 3 Read datta. < Read di^i. ^ Read taddvitiya. 6 P^ead di^i. ^ Read tatah. 8 Read SimSvacohinna. B Read—vimSati.

N o t e s t o t h e translation . 10 In Jaintia as in other parts of the Sylhet district the following land* maasurement is in vogue:— in the villages of Qosainpur^ a,nd Sulara^ has been granted the great King Ram Simha (who flourished) like Purandara* (Indra) in the oity of Jayanli (mod. Jaintia) to Balarama Vaisnavadhikarin, a descendant of Vani (who is) the devotee of god Visnu, for the worship of the deities, Vrajeswan and Vrajeswara. Now the land is bounded on four sides as follows; to the east of the first plot lies the land, called the Mahlharanana; ^ to the west the path used by the cattle ; to the north the path which leads to the house, called Amiragharana; to the south as far as the land called the gula.“ Now to the east of the second plot lies the land called the bhogakhSra, to the west the land called the Naktinana, to the north the land called the Mahi- harana, to the south the same. The document is written on the twenty-third day of the month ol Magha. .

3 krSntis=l ketda 4 kadas =1 ganda 20 gandas =1 pana 4 pan as - = 1 rekha 4 rekhaa =1 yaati or jaati 7 yasti =1 poS , 4 poas =1 kedflra, kera, keyara, kiyara • 12 kedaras=l hala or hala = 10J = ab o u t 3i acres. 1 and 2 these villages are still existing and are still known by their former respective names. 3 The Kings of Jaintia used the title, Jayantipura purandara in their coins and inscriptions, (i) cf. Jaintinpur Copper Plato Inscription of Bada Gosayi, line 3. J.A.S.B., 1923, p. 332. (it) A coin from Jainti- pur, ibid., p. 335. (in). * Mahihara, I am told by an educated gentleman of Jaintia, means a surveyor. But I camiot understand what the portion nana in Mahiha- rananakhya, and Naktinanakhya actually means. My authority also could not throw any light on that point. s Gula, in some parts of Sylhet, stands for a plain which is surround­ ed almost on all sides by hillocks.