The Nidhanpur copperplate inscription of the 7th-century Kamarupa king Bhaskaravarman is a renewal of a land grant to Brahmins in the Chandrapuri vishaya somewhere in the Sylhet district of present-day Bangladesh originally settled by the king's great-great-grandfather Bhutivarman."To take one example, the Nidhanpur plates refer to a renewal of the land-grant made by Bhutivarman, the great-great-grandfather of Bhaskaravarman, in Candrapuri vishaya (district) located in somewhere of present Sylhet district in Bangladesh" It records land grants to more than two hundred vaidika brahmanas belonging to 56 gotras."(I)t mentions that a marshy land tract adjacent to an existing settlement was given to more than 208 vaidika brahmanas (brahmanas versed in the Vedas) belonging to 56 gotras and different Vedic schools." The copper plates were found in Panchakhanda pargana (now in Bangladesh) where, according to historians, the actual granted lands were located. This kamrupi inscription contains the names of donees which are more than two hundred in numbers.
The inscriptions recorded by Bhaskaravarman in different parts of India provide a detailed account of his rule and associate events. It was customary among the kings of Kamarupa to issue seals for every major event related to the kingdom be they giving land grants to Brahmins or winning a war.
Discovery The copper plates (7 plates and 1 seal) were discovered by one Sheikh Musharraf, a cultivator, on 29 December 1912, in the village of Nidhanpur (near Supatala village) in the Panchakhanda pargana (currently Beanibazar) in the eastern fringes of Sylhet in present-day Bangladesh. The cultivator then sold the plates to different persons. Thinking that they were a clue to the location of a hidden treasure, he took the plates to a local landholder who recognised them for what they were and brought them to the attention of authorities in Silchar in present-day Assam, India.
Translation The following is the translation of the inscription by Padmanath Bhattacharya Vidya Vinod:
Since after the burning of the plates, these newly written letters are (obviously) different in form (from the letters of the earlier grant) they are not (to be respected as) forged.' (v. 28) Epigraphia Indica Vol XII and XIX
See also Kamarupa of Bhaskaravarman Pal family of Panchakhanda
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