The Charter of Viṣṇuṣeṇa

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The charter of king Viṣṇuṣeṇa is a Sanskrit inscription in Brāhmī script on two copper plates dated around 600 CE. Viṣṇuṣeṇa, from the Maitraka dynasty in Gujarat, created a document that, while not an endowment record, shares many similarities with such records. It highlights his support for merchants, includes his signature and date, and features an eternity clause as well as specific formulae. The core of the charter outlines statutes for a merchant community, safeguarding them against escheat and threshold breaking, limiting confiscation and conscription, imposing fines for violence against workers and animals, and regulating liquor production and border-crossing fees. Dines Chandra Sircar provided a transliteration and remarks on this text in 1953–1954. Building on this foundational work, this booklet offers a philological analysis of the statutes, many of which remain complex. Key findings include the meaningful grouping of statutes and the introduction of several Sanskrit terms, such as paṇaka and ādāna (fees or taxes), dhreṅka (lever), and possibly a new unit of volume, pāda. Additionally, a royal official, rājagraha, oversaw labor conscription, while a prapāpūraka managed cistern filling. Notably, the popular anuṣṭubh metre appears once, and the charter reveals that frontier duties apply only to outgoing goods, with taxes based on potential rather than actual income.