The charter of Viṣṇuṣeṇa

The charter of king Viṣṇuṣeṇa is a Sanskrit inscription in Brāhmī script on two copper plates dated around 600 CE. Viṣṇuṣeṇa belonged to the Maitraka dynasty in Gujarat. Although the charter is not an endowment record, it shares many features with this kind of record. For example, Viṣṇuṣeṇa favours the merchants and informs future kings about the charter, he signs with his own hand, and he dates the document. The eternity clause is present as well as the pādānudhyāta and the pañcamahāśabda formulae. The charter's main part consists of statutes for a community of merchants providing for their protection against escheat and threshold breaking, restricting confiscation and conscription, setting fines for violence against workers or animals, and regulating liquor production and bordercrossing fees, etc. In 1953-1954, Dines Chandra Sircar has provided a transliteration and detailed remarks approaching a translation. Building on this pathbreaking work and on that of some other authors, this booklet engages in an in-depth philological discussion of the statutes, many of which still prove difficult to understand.