29/05/2026
The copper charters of Valabhi offer a remarkable glimpse into the political, legal and religious world of early medieval Saurashtra. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Maitraka dynasty ruled from their capital at Valabhi, leaving behind more than 120 surviving copper-plate charters, one of the richest inscriptional archives from the period.
These charters recorded royal grants of villages and land, issued as legally binding documents in Sanskrit. The plates were strung together with copper rings and authenticated with royal seals, many bearing a bull and the inscription śrībhaṭakkaḥ, referring to Bhaṭārka, founder of the Maitraka dynasty.
The bull reflected the dynasty’s strong Shaiva affiliation. Sixteen of the nineteen Maitraka rulers described themselves as paramamāheśvara, devotees of Shiva. Yet the charters also reveal a society shaped by religious diversity, with patronage extending to Vaishnavism, sun worship and Buddhism.
Today, many of these copper charters survive with broken plates, separated rings and weathered inscriptions, preserving traces of a kingdom that disappeared centuries ago but continues to speak through its records.
