, the earliest known of its kind, 3rd century BCE , 1st century BCE (
British Museum). Indian
copper plate inscriptions (
tamarashasana), usually record grants of land or lists of royal lineages carrying the royal seal, a profusion of which have been found in South India. Originally, texts were recorded on palm leaves, but when the records were legal documents such as title-deeds they were etched on a cave or temple wall, or more commonly, on copper plates which were then secreted in a safe place such as within the walls or foundation of a temple, or hidden in stone caches in fields. Plates could be used more than once, as when a canceled grant was overstruck with a new inscription. These records were probably in use from the first millennium. A group of nine inscribed copper plates has been identified by Shinde in 2014 as the oldest such objects in the Indian subcontinent. They date to the
Mature Harappan era, and contain inscriptions up to 34 characters long. Their place of origin unknown. They are thought to have been used for copper plate printing. The Sohgaura copper-plate inscription, inscribed in the
Brahmi script, may date to the 3rd century BCE
Maurya Empire and is likely a precursor to the later copper-plate inscriptions. It is written on a small plaque of
bronze (a copper alloy). The
Taxila and the
Kalawan copper-plate inscriptions (c. 1st century CE or earlier) are among the earliest known instances of true copper plates being used for writing in the Indian subcontinent. These plates are not proper
charters, unlike later copper-plate inscriptions. The oldest known copper-plate charter from the Indian subcontinent is the Patagandigudem inscription of the 3rd century CE
Andhra Ikshvaku king Ehuvala Chamtamula. The oldest known copper-plate charter from northern India is probably the Kalachala grant of Ishvararata, dated to the late fourth century on palaeographic basis. Some of the earliest authenticated copper plates were issued by the
Pallava dynasty kings in the 4th century, and are in
Prakrit and
Sanskrit. An example of early Sanskrit inscription in which
Kannada words are used to describe land boundaries, are the Tumbula inscriptions of
Western Ganga Dynasty, which have been dated to 444 according to a 2004 Indian newspaper report. Rare copper plates from the
Gupta period have been found in North India. The use of copper plate inscriptions increased and for several centuries they remained the primary source of legal records. Most copper plate inscriptions record title-deeds of land-grants made to
Charanas and
Brahmanas, individually or collectively. The inscriptions followed a standard formula of identifying the royal donor and his lineage, followed by lengthy honorifics of his history, heroic deeds, and his extraordinary personal traits. After this would follow the details of the grant, including the occasion, the recipient, and the penalties involved if the provisions were disregarded or violated. Although the profusion of complimentary language can be misleading, the discovery of copper plate inscriptions have provided a wealth of material for historians.
Tirumala Venkateswara Temple have a unique collection of about 3000 copper plates on which the
Telugu Sankirtans of
Tallapaka Annamacharya and his descendants are inscribed. ==Tamil copper-plate inscriptions==