Gayā (Bihar). Copper plate of a grant of Samudragupta

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna, Bahadur Chand Chhabra, and Govind Swamirao Gai, Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings (New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1981): 231.

1) Om! Hail! From the great camp of victory, containing ships, elephants and horses and situated at Ayodhyā.

2-7) The prosperous Samudragupta, the mahārājādhirāja … addresses to the preeminent (officers) attached to the treasury of the village and the Brāhmaṇas in the village of Revatikā belonging to the Gayā district.

8-11) “And be (this) matter known to you! For the sake of augmenting the spiritual merit of (my) parents and of myself, this village has been granted by me, as an agrahāra, to a religious fellow student, the Brāhmaṇa Gopasvāmin, of the Bhāradvāja gotra (and) the Bahvṛca (śākhā).

11-14) You should therefore listen to him; and (his) commands should be obeyed. And all dues in accordance with the customary law of the village should be paid, such as can be measured, gold, and so forth. And, from this time forth, the tax-paying cultivators, artisans etc., of other villages should not be allowed to enter by this agrahārika; (for) otherwise there will be a lapse of the agrahāra.”

14-15) The year 9; the day 10 of Vaiśākha. Drawn up by the order of the dūtaka Gopasvāmin, the akṣapaṭalādhikṛta of Anyagrāma.

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