Indian copper-plate grants: Inscriptions or documents?

Abstract

Indian copper-plate grants, initially issued by ruling kings from the third century CE onwards and increasingly by private individuals as time passed, are very specific documents, as they are kept by the grant beneficiaries as title-deeds. They are usually treated as inscriptions due to them being made of such hard material. However if the main character of an inscription is its being publicly displayed, copperplate grants are not inscriptions, as they were often found buried for safety's sake. Based on South Indian materials, it is argued here that Indian copper-plate grants are neither inscriptions (i.e. publicly displayed writings on temple walls, steles, rocks, etc.) nor documents or archival records (i.e. private or state records on palm leaf), but are situated at the 'hinge' between these two categories, as revealed by their format, content and purpose.