NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 15 Harṣha’s signature on the Banskhera copper plate (Fig. 3.5) — LET’S EXPLORE
Book page 64 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
If you know the Devanagari script, with the help of your teacher try to identify some of the letters in Harṣha’s signature (Fig. 3.5).
What Fig. 3.5 shows. A close-up photograph of one line cut into a copper plate found at Banskhera, Uttar Pradesh. The plate is a pale greenish-yellow, mottled with age; the letters are large, deeply incised and almost black against it. There is a single line of about a dozen joined letters written in Nagari — the script that later became Devanagari — so every letter hangs from one continuous horizontal head-line (śhirorekhā) that runs the whole width of the line. Several letters carry tall vowel strokes and curling ornamental flourishes above the head-line, and the last letter ends in a long downward tail. This line is Harṣha’s own signature at the foot of the grant.
Fig. 3.5, page 64 — described here; see the textbook for the photograph of the copper plate itself.
Answer
The line reads svahasto mama mahārājādhirāja śhrī harṣhasya — “By my own hand, the great king of kings, Śhrī Harṣha”. It is written in Nagari, the script that later became Devanagari, so many letters are recognisable if you read Hindi. Take it word by word.
Word in the plate
In Devanagari
Meaning
Letters you can pick out
svahasto
स्वहस्तो
‘by my own hand’
the conjunct स्व at the start, then ह (ha) and स्त (sta)
mama
मम
‘my’
two identical म (ma) shapes side by side — the easiest word to spot
mahārājādhirāja
महाराजाधिराज
‘great king of kings’
म, हा, रा, ज — and notice रा and ज repeat, because ‘rāja’ occurs twice
śhrī
श्री
an honorific, ‘revered’
the familiar श्री you still see at the top of letters and shop boards
harṣhasya
हर्षस्य
‘of Harṣha’
ह again, the r mark above (रेफ), ष and the ending स्य
Why the letters look strange at first: Nagari of the 7th century has the same skeleton as Devanagari, but the top bar (शिरोरेखा) is not yet a single unbroken line, and the letters carry long decorative tails. Cover the flourishes with a pencil and the core shapes of म, ह, र, ज, स appear.
Why this small line matters: most inscriptions were written by a scribe. This one says svahasto mama — the king signed it himself. So Fig. 3.5 is not just writing about Harṣha; it is very probably Harṣha’s own handwriting, and that is why the chapter shows it to you.