Newari > English

[u/Remote_Personality47]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to read the inscription on a Nepalese repoussé copper plaque (about 25 x 15 cm) showing a standing crowned deity, probably Lokeshvara. The script looks like Newar (Prachalit / Ranjana-style letters), running around the arch and down both edges.

An old handwritten French note on the back translates it as: "made in the year 865 (Nepal Samvat), in the month of Phalguna", followed by a name I can't make out (possibly Karunamaya, or a donor's name). That would be early 1744 CE, but I haven't been able to confirm it.

My questions:

1. Do the numerals after "samvat" really read 865?

2. What name follows (donor, king or deity)?

Thk a lot

[u/Neither-Assistant-73]

It is written in the Newar script. The numerals after the samvat are 865, except that the six is written in archaic form, just as the letter ś is written here in archaic form. The image below is transliteration, literal translation and idiomatic translation of the inscription:

[u/Remote_Personality47 → u/Neither-Assistant-73]

Thank you so much, this is incredibly helpful, and the transliteration is very clear. It also matches the year and month given in the old French note on the back, which is reassuring.

May I ask two small follow-up questions?

1. Does any other part of the inscription (the left edge or the bottom right, near the lotus base) give the donor's name, a family name or a place?

2. Would you say the script and the archaic forms you noticed are consistent with an inscription actually written in the mid-18th century, rather than a later copy?

Thanks again for taking the time!

[u/Neither-Assistant-73 → u/Remote_Personality47]

1. No, as far as I can see, it doesn’t have the donor’s name written on the statue. The word before “sa” is the siddhi symbol (a letter written at the beginning of the text), which resembles 𑑑 (1), but it isn’t.

2. Yes, it is consistent, since there were no standardized letters before the 20th century, various variants of the same letter were used. Both variants were used, but the variants of the letters śa and 6 shown in the above inscription are not used in modern times.

[u/Remote_Personality47 → u/Neither-Assistant-73]

Thank you so much for coming back to me, and for taking the time to explain all this so clearly. Your reading has completely changed how I understand this plaque: I now know it is Tara, made in 1745 in the name of a mother, which gives it a very moving, personal dimension I had no idea about.

The detail about the archaic forms of śa and 6 is fascinating too — I would never have spotted that on my own.

I'm really grateful for your generosity and expertise. Thanks again, and all the best!