M.S. University Copper Plates Of The Time Of Toramana (An Old And Rare Book)

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The Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of the M. S. University of Baroda carries on a systematic study of the material culture of India by exploring and excavating archaeological sites. It publishes its findings in the M. S. University Archaeology Series.

This-being the 14th Monograph in the series-deals with the extremely important discovery of three copper plates of the time of Toramana. The discovery adds significant new data to the history of Ancient India in general and the history of the Hunas in particular.

I am sure the scholars in the field will find this publication a useful one providing new and interesting data.

P. J. MADAN

Vice-Chancellor

The human curiosity to know old written documents led to the significant discovery of these three plates. One afternoon in December 1974 Kum. Rabab Vasanwala and Smt. Shashiben Naik showed the copper plates to know their contents. In heavily corroded conditions the words Mahäräjädhiraja Shri Storamana were deciphered. Immediately their historical significance was revealed and the plates were secured for the University.

Subsequently they were cleaned, deciphered and interpreted. In this effort we were helped by Dr. H. G. Shastri, Prof. A. N. Jani and Dr. S. G. Kantawala. We are extremely grateful to them. We are indebted to Dr. K.T.M. Hegde for excellent cleaning of the plates. We are grateful to Shri V. H. Sonawane for the help in the field work and Shri R. J. Khatri, D. B. Panchal and R. C. Sutaria for illustrations and Dr. S. N. Chowdhary for his keen interest.

Our work was made easy by Shri Alihusain of Dohad who supplied useful data that helped us in understanding many significant aspects of the plates, as well as his excellent foresight in preventing their inadvertent destruction. The keen interest of Prof. P. J. Madan, the Vice-Chancellor of the M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, helped us in procuring the plates and getting them published. Prof. S. M. Sethana, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor helped us in many ways for the publication and study.

We are grateful to the University Grants Commission for financing the publication.

R. N. MEHTA

A. M. THAKKAL

Ram Navami

V. S. 2034