The unfinished Durg copper plate, discovered at Mohalla in the Durg district, Chhattisgarh, represents an incomplete Vākāṭaka charter. Engraved on a remarkably thin single plate in the box-headed Brāhmī script and Sanskrit language, the text halts abruptly after just five lines. The record was to be issued from Padmapurā. Paleographic and historical evidence suggests it dates to a period following Pravarasena II, likely during the reign of Narendrasena. Due to its unfinished state, the surviving text merely provides the standard initial genealogical formula characteristic of Vākāṭaka copper-plate charters. It lacks the customary authorising mark of "dṛṣṭam."
1. padmapurāt | agniṣṭomāptoryyāmokthyaṣoḍaśyatirātravājapeyabṛhaspatisava- sādyaskracaturaśva-
2. medhayājinaḥ viṣṇuvṛddhasagotrasamrājaḥ vākāṭakānāmmahārājaśrīpravarasenasya sūnoḥ sūnoḥ
3. atyantasvāmimahābhairavabhaktasya amsabhārasanniveśitaśivaliṅgodvahanaśivasupari-
4. tuṣṭasamutpāditarājavaṃśānām parākkramādhigatabhāgī ratthyamalajalamūrddhā bhiṣiktānām
5. daśāśvamedhāvabhṛtha snātānāmbhāraśivānāmmahārājaśrībhavanāgadauhitrasya
From Padmapura:
...[who was] the grandson of the illustrious Pravarasena I, the mahārāja of the Vākāṭakas, the Samrāṭa (Universal Monarch), who performed the Agniṣṭoma, Āptoryāma, Ukthya, Ṣoḍaśin, Atirātra, Vājapeya, Bṛhaspatisava, Sādyaskra, and four Aśvamedha sacrifices, and who belonged to the Viṣṇuvṛddha gotra;...[and who was] the daughter’s son of the illustrious Bhavanāga, the mahārāja of the Bhāraśivas—whose royal family was created by Śiva, who was greatly pleased by their carrying the Śiva liṅga like a load placed upon their shoulders, who were besprinkled on their heads with the pure water of the river Bhāgīrathī obtained by their valour, and who performed the ritual ablutions upon the completion of ten Aśvamedha sacrifices...
| Dynasty: | Vākāṭaka |
| Date: | c. 5th century CE |
| Place: | Nagpur Central Museum |
| Language: | Sanskrit |
| Provenance of inscription: | Mohalla, Durg District, Chattisgarh |
| Type of Inscription: | Copperplate grant |
| Source: |
