Manuscripts: Endowments (legal property)
MAHS-MDV-COL-001-O-0026
The plates are inscribed in Dhivehi using the old Eveyla script. The text of this copper plate inscription is incomplete, with the surviving plates are now somewhat irregular in size due to damage over time: 1; 7.5x27.5, 2; 7.5x40, 3; 7.5x39.5, 4; 7.5x39.5, 5; 7.5x40, 6; 7.5x29, 7; 7.5x18.5, 8; 7.5x18, 9; 7.5x19.5, 10; 7.5x29.5, 11; 7.5x8.5, 12; 7.5x12 (All measurements in cm). H.C.P. Bell identified this text as 'Hadhumathee Loamafaanuu I (H.C.P. Bell, The Maldive Islands: Monograph on the History, Archaeology, and Epigraphy. Colombo: Ceylon Government Press, 1940, pp. 180-181.) It has more recently been discussed by Jost Gippert in: “Early New Persian as A Medium of Spreading Islam,” in: Ludwig Paul (ed.), Persian Origins – Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian: Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999. This paper is open-access available from the Virtual Library of the Maldives Heritage Survey website. This set of inscribed copper plates is currently held in the collections of the National Museum in Malé (M 002 / RN 1894).