Berhampur: A rare copper plate inscription dating back to the early 19th century has been discovered in Gunupur region of southern Odisha, which was earlier in undivided Koraput district. The discovery throws new light on the political, administrative, and land grant practices of the Nandapura kings.
The plate, currently in private possession, was brought to the attention of scholars by local resident Satyabrata Panigrahi. The inscription was successfully deciphered by noted young epigraphist Bishnu Mohan Adhikari, a rising authority in the field of Odisha and north Andhra inscriptions.
The inscription, engraved on a single copper plate written on both sides, consists of fifteen lines in 19th-century Odia language and script, with a customary Sanskrit verse embedded in lines 12–13. It shows Wednesday, 17th August 1803 CE of Gregorian Calendar, corresponding to the Indian cyclic year Rudhirodgāri, the record was issued during a solar eclipse on the third day of the solar month of Simha and the fifteenth day of Bhadrapada.
The grant documents the regranting (punardana) of the village Bhaleri, presently associated with the Radhakanta Temple in Gunupur, by Maharaja Ramachandradeva of Nandapura. The land was bestowed upon Ramakrsna Behera Mahapatra, with extensive rights over its junctions, boundaries, woods, fisheries, lands (both fallow and muddy), water bodies, treasure troves, deposits, and all natural resources including timber and stone. The grant assured perpetual ownership to the beneficiary’s lineage (putra-pautradi paryante), so long as the sun and moon endure. In a traditional gesture, the king is recorded as seeking the blessings of the donee thrice daily.
“This is a significant addition to our understanding of the Nandapura royal family’s later administrative history and their continued religious patronage into the colonial period,” said Bishnu Mohan Adhikari, who has deciphered and published over 75 inscriptions from Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh and published his jouranls in many national and international conference. A student of Dr. Sitakanta Rajaguru, son of the legendary epigraphist of India Dr Padma-Shri Satyanarayana Rajaguru, Adhikari is known for his dynamic work in historical epigraphy and heritage preservation.
The newly deciphered copper plate will be proposed for documentation under national inscription databases and digitization efforts, potentially leading to further exploration of temple archives in the Gunupur region of Rayagada district.
