The Taxila copper-plate, also called the Moga inscription or the Patika copper-plate is a notable archaeological artifact found in the area of Taxila

Taxila

Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...

, Gandhara

Gandhara

Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...

, in modern Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It is presently in the collection of the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

.

Description

The copper plate is dated to a period between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. It bears an imprecise date: the 5th day of the Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ian month of Panemos

Ancient Macedonian calendar

The Ancient Macedonian calendar is a lunisolar calendar that was in use in ancient Macedon in the 1st millennium BC. It consisted of 12 synodic lunar months , which needed intercalary months to stay in step with the seasons...

, in the year 78 of king Moga

Maues

Maues was an Indo-Scythian king who invaded the Indo-Greek territories.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...

. It is thought it may be related to the establishment of a Maues era, which would give a date around 6 CE

6

Year 6 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Arruntius...

.

The copper plate is written in the Kharoshthi script (a script derived from Aramaic). It relates the dedication of a relic of the Buddha Shakyamuni (Pali

Páli

- External links :* *...

: śakamuni, literally "Master of the Shakas") to a Buddhist monastery by the Indo-Scythian (Pali

Páli

- External links :* *...

: "śaka") ruler Patika Kusulaka

Patika Kusulaka

Patika Kusulaka was an Indo-Scythian satrap in the northwestern South Asia during the 1st century BCE.He is mentioned in the Mathura lion capital. He is also mentioned in the Taxila copper plate inscription , dated between 90 and 6 BCE...

, son of Liaka Kusulaka

Liaka Kusulaka

Liaka Kusulaka was an Indo-Scythian satrap of the area of Chukhsa in the northwestern South Asia during the 1st century BCE....

, satrap of Chukhsa

Chukhsa

Chukhsa was an ancient area of Pakistan, probably modern Chachh, west of the city of Taxila.The area is mentioned in various epigraphic material, such as the Taxila copper plate inscription, where it is described as a territory of the Indo-Scythian ruler Liaka Kusulaka....

, near Taxila.

The inscription is significant in that it documents the fact that Indo-Scythians practiced the Buddhist faith. It is also famous for mentioning Patika Kusulaka, who also appears as a "Great Satrap" in the Mathura lion capital

Mathura lion capital

The Mathura lion capital is an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital from Mathura in Central India, dated to the 1st century CE.The capital is covered with Prakrit inscriptions in the kharoshthi script of northwestern India...

 inscription.

Text of the inscription