ID: 700009492 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700009492	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Tamrashasana (Copper Grant) (tamrashasana; unknown Indian; ca. Late 6th - 7th century; Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, Philadelphia count...; 2003-186-1)

Note: Made in India, possibly made in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, or Telangana. In ancient India, texts were written on cloth, bark, or palm leaves. When a more permanent record was required, writing was carved into stone or metal. From at least the fourth century, permanent records of royal gifts and property transactions were inscribed on flat sheets of copper called a tamrashasana (literally copper grant or edict). A tamrashasana can be a single sheet or multiple sheets held together with a ring to which a cast royal seal is often affixed. Especially in southern India, the pages of these copper "books" were long and narrow, imitating the horizontal, palm leaf pages of a pothi. Like the covers of a pothi, the front and back pages of the tamrashasana were free of text. These permanent copper records were usually given to the grantee and buried at a relevant spot, such as on the boundary of the granted land. The original impermanent record, from which the copper sheets were copied, was kept in the royal archive.

Titles:

Tamrashasana (Copper Grant) (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

tamrashasana [300417952] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), document genres, <documents by function>, records (documents), <records by form or function>, property records)

Classifications:

metalworks (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. Late 6th - 7th century

Creator Display:

unknown Indian [preferred]

unknown Indian (Indian cultural designation) [500125241]

Locations:

Current: Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, United States) [500214534] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2003-186-1

Credit Line: Purchased with the Stella Kramrisch Fund, 2003

Display Materials: copper alloy

	copper alloy [300010942]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, metal, <metal by composition or origin>, nonferrous metal, <copper and copper alloy>)

Dimensions: 4 × 4 × 10 1/2 inches (10.2 × 10.2 × 26.7 cm)

General Subject:

text (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	land grant [300027253]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), document genres, <documents by function>, records (documents), <records by form or function>, property records) (AAT)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Tamrashasana (Copper Grant)	........ [VP]
	........ Philadelphia Museum of Art online (2000-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Philadelphia Museum of Art online (2000-) accessed 1 July 2018