A new copper-plate grant of Harsavardhana from the Punjab, year 8

Abstract

In this paper a newly discovered copper-plate grant, dated year 8 of the Harsa era (A.D. 614–15), along with the seal, of mahārājādhirāja Harsavardhana of the Pusyabhūti dynasty, has been deciphered, edited and studied for the first time. Discovered in a village in the Nabha district, Punjab, the inscription is the earliest of the three known epigraphs of this ruler and the only one from Punjab. The other two—the Banskhera copper-plate (year 22) and the Madhuban copper-plate (year 25) are from Uttar Pradesh. This is the only one of Harsa's inscriptions that has been discovered along with the seal that was attached to it. The grant refers to the donation of a village named Pannarāngaka in the Darikkāni visaya of the Jayarata bhukti to a Brahmin named Ulūkhasvāmin of Bhārgava gotra for the increase of merit and fame of Harsa's parents and elder brother Rājyavardhana.