Karitalai Copper-plate Inscription of the Maharaja Jayanatha (493-494 CE)

         m! Hail! From (the city or hill of) Uchchakalpa;   (There was) the Mah r ja  ghad va. His son, who meditated on his feet, (was) the Mah r ja Kum rad va, begotten on the Mah d vi Kum rad vi. His son, who meditated on his feet, (was) the Ma r ja Jayasv min, begotten on the Mah d vi Jayasv mini. His son, who meditated on his feet, (was) the Mah r ja Vy ghra, begotten on the Mah d vi R mad vi.

        (Line 4.)  His son, who meditates on his feet, the Mah r ja Jayan tha,  begotten on the Mah d vi Ajjhitad vi,   being in good health, issues a command to the cultivators, beginning with the Br hmans, and to the artisans, at (the village of) Chhand pallik  in the N gad ya santaka:  

        (L. 6.)  "Be it known to you that, for the purpose of increasing my own religious merit, this village is granted by me,  with the udranga and the uparikara, (and with the privilege that it is) not to be entered by the irregular or the regular troops, (but) with the exception of (the right to fines imposed on) thieves,  to the Br hman Mitrasv min, of the K nva g tra and the V jasan ya-M dhyamdina (sh kh ).

        (L. 9.)  "You yourselves shall render to him the offering of the tribute of the customary royalties and taxes, and shall be obedient to (his) commands.

        (L. 10.)  "And those kings who shall be born in Our lineage,  by them this grant should not be confiscated, (but) should be assented to; (and) the tribute of the taxes which by custom should not belong to the king, should not be taken.

        (L. 12.)  "And whosoever may confiscate this grant,  he shall become invested with (the guilt of) the five great sins and the minor sins."

        (L. 13.)  And it has been said in the Mah bh rata by the venerable Vy sa,  "O Yudhishthira, best of kings, carefully preserve land that has been given, whether by thyself or by another; (verily) the preservation (of a grant) (is) more meritorious than making a grant! The earth has been enjoyed by many kings, commencing with Sagara; whosoever at any time possesses the earth, to him belongs, at that time, the reward (of this grant that is now made, if he continue it)! As a rule, indeed, no inauspicious condition is experienced by kings; but they are purified for ever, when they bestow land! The giver of land enjoys happiness in heaven for sixty thousand years; (but) the confiscator (of a grant), and he who assents (to an act of confiscation), shall dwell for the same number of years in hell! Fathers (in the world of the dead) clap their hands upon their arms, (and) grandfathers leap (from joy), (saying)   A giver of land has been born in our family; he shall become our deliverer ! He who confiscates land, rich in all (kinds of) grains, (that has been granted),  he becomes a worm in the ordure of a dog, and sinks (into hell), together with (his) ancestors!"

        (L. 21.)  In a century of years, together with the seventy-fourth (year), on the fourteenth day of the month  sh dha,  on this (lunar day), (specified) as above by the day (&c.),  (this charter) has been written by me, the Bh gika Gu jakirtti, the grandson of the Bh gika, the Am tya R jyila, and the son of the Bh gika Dhruvadatta. The D taka (is) the Uparika, D kshita, householder, and chief of architects, Sharvadatta.

        (L. 24.)   The year 100 (and) 70 (and) 4; (the month)  sh dha; the day 10 (and) 4.

From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 119-120.