Landholding and Rural Society in Early Bengal: An Examination of Four Newly Found Copperplates from Puµæravardhana (Fifth–Sixth Centuries ad )

Abstract

Four recent additions to the pre-existing corpus of twelve Gupta copperplate charters from Bengal, recording the grants of landed property (exempted from revenue) to religious donees, offer fresh insights into Gupta polity. This article explores the changing nature of the Gupta administrative authority by engaging with the questions gleaned from inscriptions. This article attempts to situate the concurrences and deviations reflected in the freshly edited charters vis-à-vis the existing Gupta period land grant charters. Our study of these epigraphic texts will hopefully shed some new light on the socio-economic and administrative scenario of Bengal, especially the sub-region of Puṇḍravardhana, during the last phase of Gupta rule.