Angul: A team of historians recovered a 10th century copper plate from Talamula village under Banarpal block in this district Wednesday.
The matter came to fore when a team led by historian Dr Rama Manjari Sahu, researchers Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik and Brajendra Kumar Samal visited the village and collected details about ancient relics and the 10th pillars of royals from Bhanja dynasty Wednesday.
The copper plate is of 10-inch in length, 8-inch in width and weighs about 2.800 kg. It has inscriptions on both sides in Devnagari script and is clutched to a ring of 3-inch radius with the royal seal on it.
The plate describes about the then royal Dhrubananda Dev, who ascended the throne after the death of his brother second Devanand Dev.
The upper part of the royal seal has a crescent and star while the writing of ‘Sri Dhrubananda Devasya’ is inscribed on the middle while two straight lines separate the images of two lotuses on the bottom.
The plate carries inscriptions of 43 (22-21) lines on both sides. They said if the plate could be deciphered by cryptologist then it could shed much light on the ancient history of the state and Talamula village.
The team members after their arrival discussed with retired teacher Debaraj Dash and retired MCL official Gangadhar Dash about the ancient history of the village.
According to available information, they recovered the copper plate from the village committee president Naresh Chandra Nath. He had inherited the plate from the past president as a community property.
Villagers Pradip Kumar Dwivedi, Ruchir Kumar Dash, Bairagi Charan Mohapatra, Akshaya Kumar Mohapatra and Roshan Kumar Nath said they take pride in the copper plate which is a matter of self-esteem for the village.
The historians praised the villagers for keeping the ancient relic of 1,100 years undamaged even after so many years.
According to the writing on the plate, Dhrubananda was a contemporary of Bhouma queen Bakul Devi. Dhrubananda mentioning himself as ‘Param Sougat’ showed his inclination towards Buddhism.
The archeological and geographical conditions of Talamula village point towards the existence of a king’s palace in the village. PNN
