Early Period of Kamarupa


The Early Period of Kamarupa stretches from early times to the 7th century A.D.

Epigraphic records

The first epigraphic record which mentions Kamarupa is the Allahabad inscription of Samudra Gupta where Kamarupa is mentioned as a frontier kingdom along with Samatata, Davaka, Nepal and Kartripura the kings of which fully gratified the imperious commands of Samudra Gupta "by giving all kinds of taxes and obeying his orders and coming to perform obeisance".
Pushyavarman was succeeded by his son Samudravarman who was perhaps the contemporary of Chandra Gupta II Vikramaditya and the celebrated poet Kalidasa. In the Nidhanpur inscription it is stated that there was no "matsyanyaya" in his kingdom and that Samudravarman was like the fifth ocean. The word "matsyanyaya" has been explained as anarchy due to the absence of a strong ruler when the powerful people oppress the weak just as the larger fish devour the smaller fry. The mention of this word seems to indicate that there was such anarchy during the reigns of his predecessors. It may be that after such anarchy was ended Pushyavarman rose to power or that after the accession of Pushyavarman the anarchy ended.

Kashmir Chronicles

With regard to the next king Balavarman I, the son of Samudravarman by his queen Datta Devi, the Nidhanpur inscription states that "his irresistible troops constituted his armour". It appears therefore that he was a powerful king and a conqueror. There is mention in the Kashmir chronicle Rajatarangini that king Meghavahana of Kashmir married a Pragjyotisha princess named Amritaprabha. It is stated that the king of Pragjyotisha held a svayamvara for the marriage of the princess. Of all the princes assembled Amritaprabha's choice fell upon the Kashmir prince Meghavahana. It is recorded that "there in the presence of the kings Meghavahana received from the princess Amritaprabha the bridegrom's garland while the parasol of Varuna cast its shade upon him. By this the people knew his future greatness as by the west wind the gathering of clouds. Because this parasol, which king Naraka had carried away frown Varuna cast its shade on no one but a sovereign of the whole globe. This parasol or umbrella is mentioned also in the Harsha Charita of Bana wherein it is stated that it was an heirloom of the kings of the dynasty of Naraka.
It is also stated there that King Bhaskaravarman, through his envoy Hangshavega, presented this umbrella to Sri Harshavardhana. It is stated that queen Amritaprabha erected in Kashmir a lofty Vihara for the benefit of the foreign bhiksus and that this Vihara was known as Amritabhavan. It is further stated that Amritaprabha took to Kashmir a Tibetan Buddhist scholar named Stunpa who was a preceptor of her father, the Kamarupa king. This Stunpa erected a stupa in Kashmir known as "Lo-stunpa".
It the above statements are to be believed as true it would appear that Buddhism had spread into Kamarupa long before the visit of Xuanzang, that a remote ancestor of Bhaskaravarman was a Buddhist and that the cultural connection between Kamarupa and Tibet, began as early as fifth century A.D. According to Kahlan, the author of the Rajatarangini, Meghavahana was succeeded by Sresthisena and the latter by Toramana. If this Toramana is identical with the Ephthalic king Toramana, the father of the famous Mihiragula, the king of the white Huns who ruled over the Punjab and possibly also over Kashmir, then he cannot be placed earlier than the third quarter of the fifth century A.D. The identification would probably be correct for, according to Kahlan, Toramana struck coins in his name extensively and such coins have, as a matter of fact, been discovered in large quantities. These bear the name Toramana in characters of the Gupta period.
This being so, Meghavahana may be placed about the second quarter of the fifth century though Kahlan's chronology places him in the first century and he was probably the son in law of the Kamarupa king Balavarman I. This matrimonial alliance and the celebration of the Svayamvara indicates that Pragjyotisha or Kamarupa was then an important kingdom in northern India and that it was no longer a mere frontier kingdom as in the days of Pushyavarman.

Other accounts

mentions that in the year 428 A.D., during the reign of emperor Kumara Gupta, an embassy was sent to China by an Indian king named Yue-ai who was lord of the Ka-pi-Ii country. Lt. Col. Wilson has identified Ka-pi-li with the Kapili river of Assam named in the Kalika purana as Kapila-Ganga, and Vincent Smith has tentatively accepted this identification. The Kapili valley, which is still called Davaka, may be identified with the kingdom of Davaka mentioned in the Allahabad inscription of Sumudra Gupta. The embassy may therefore have been sent by the king of Davaka whose name was either Chandra Priya or Chandra Vallabha. It should however be mentioned that there was a king of Kamarupa named Chandra-mukha who was the great-grandfather of Bhaskaravarman. He cannot, however, be assigned to the second quarter of the fifth century. It seems that in the sixth or the seventh century this kingdom of Davaka was absorbed by Kamarupa, for according to Xuanzang's account the Kapili valley was included in Kamarupa. The kings after Balavarman were Kalyanavarman, Ganapativarman, Mahendravarman and Narayanavarman who do not appear to have been much renowned.

Copper plate seals and inscriptions

According to the Nidhanpur inscription, Ganapativarman was generous in his gifts while Narayanavarman was, like king Janaka, deeply versed in the knowledge of the self. Narayanavarman was succeeded by his son Mahabhutavarman who is named in the Harsha Charita as Bhutivarman. It was he who granted, to a large number of Brahmans, lands in the Chadrapuri vishaya. The copper-plate relating to this grant having been destroyed by fire his great great grand son Bhaskaravarman recorded, what is known as the Nidhanpur grant, to confirm the gift made by his ancestor.
Originally only three plates of this inscription were discovered by Pandit Padmanath Bhattacharya Vidya Vinod who contributed a paper on them in Epigraphia Indica vol XII. Subsequently, two more plates found were described by Pandit Vidya Vindod in XIX of the Epigraphia Indica. The third lost plate was again discussed by him in the same journal. One more plate is still missing. The newly discovered plates mention the names of Chandrapuri vishaya, Kausika River and Mayura-Salmala agrahara. The occurrence of the word "agrahara" seems to indicate the existence of a temple for the maintenance of which and its Shebaits the lands were granted. As the inscription begins with the adoration of ashbesmeared Mahadeva it is clear that these Kamarupa kings were all devotees of Siva. As a matter of fact Siva is invoked in the inscription as the istadevata of the donor. Further in the Harsha Charita it is stated that Bhaskaravarman worshiped only the lotus-feet of Siva. So it may be assumed that the agrahara mentioned in the inscription was no other than a Siva temple. The further discovered plates contain the names of the donees, who number more than 200. From this list it can find such names as Vishnu-Ghosha, Arka-Datta, Rishi-Dama, Dama-Deva, Dhurva-Soma, Vishnu-Palita, Gayatri-Pala, Yajna-Kunda, Padma-Dassa, Tosha-Naga and Gopala-Nandi.
It is curious that the surname Ghosha, Datta, Dama, Deva, Soma, Palita, Pala, Kundu, Dasa, Naga and Nandi are now confided to Kayasthas of Bengal but not to Brahmans. One authority named Dr. Bhandarkar has pointed out that identical surnames were used by the Nagar-Brahmans. It is not known when and how such a colony of Brahmans came to be settled in Kamarupa near the Kosi River as early as the beginning of the sixth century. Pandit Vidya Vinod's surmise that most of the Brahman families in the neighbouring province of modern Bengal are the, descendant; of these Brahmans from Kamarupa seems to rest on good foundation.
The Nidhanpur inscription is an epigraphic record of very great historic value. In the first part of the sixth century during the reign of Narayanavarman or his son Mahabhuta Varmran. Yasodharman king of Malwa, who defeated Mihiragula, the leader of the white Huns, is said to have conquered the whole of northern India from the Brahmaputra to the western ocean. This is recorded in his Mandasor pillar inscription wherein it is emphasized that Yasodharman conquered territories which even the Guptas and the Huns failed to penetrate. It is possible to detect here a reference to Kamarupa which was always outside the Gupta Empire. The invasion of Kamarupa by Yasodharman is here indicated. It is not known how far this invasion was successful. Anyway, the conquest of Eastern India by Yasodharman, in the early part of the sixth century, shows that about that period the Gupta power in Magadha was nearly extinct.

Boundaries

As a matter of fact the Imperial Guptas ceased to rule after the close of the fifth century and, as remarked by Vincent Smith, that line passed by an obscure transition into what is known as the dynasty of the "Later Guptas of Magadha". This dynasty did not exercise sovereignty even over the whole of Magadha, part of which came under the sway of the Varmans of Maukhari.
Taking advantage of the decline of the Gupta power the Kamarupa kings appear to have extended their kingdom towards the west. Down to the end of the fifth century the tract of country between the Teesta and the Kosi formed the Pundravardhana Bhukti of the Gupta Empire. In the first quarter of the sixth century it can find this tract within the Kamarupa kingdom. Mahabhutavarman's grant referred to above may be dated about 525 A.D. This grant consisted of lands in the Chandrapuri Vishaya within the present district of Purnea for, according to the Nidhanpur inscription, the lands granted were on the banks of the old channel of the Kausika or Kosi. Rennell's map of Bengal shows the position of the old channel of the Kosi. It appears that this river originally took an easterly course and flowing to the west of Purnea fell into the Ganges at Rajmahal or nearly forty miles below its present confluence with the Ganges.
It appears from the Nidhanpur inscription that the river had already abandoned its old channel by the time Bhaskaravarman confirmed his ancestor's grant. That the Kausika, mentioned in the inscription, is the Kosi River in modern Bihar admits of no doubt, but certain writers have attempted to identity Kausika with the Kusiara river in Sylhet. These writers conveniently forget that in the ninth century another Kamarupa king, named Vanamala, granted lands adjoining the Chandrapuri Vishaya and, in order to localize the lands more definitely. He stated in his inscription that the lands lay to the west of the Teesta. After this, any attempt to locate the Chandrapuri Vishava anywhere in the Sylhet district cannot but be regarded as childish.

Confrontation with Guptas

Towards the close of the sixth century the dynasty of the Later Guptas produced a powerful king named Mahasena Gupta. By checking the Maukharis in mid-India he re-established the Gupta power to some extent. After this he turned his attention towards the east where the Kamarupa kings had appropriated to themselves the whole of the Pundravardhana bhukti.
He was therefore compelled to declare war against the then Kamarupa king Susthitavarman, the father of Bhaskaravarman. It appears that Susthitavarman sustained a crushing defeat and Mahasena Gupta earned a Treat victory which was glorified by his grandson in the Aphshad inscription. It is stated in this inscription that Susthitavarman was defeated by Mahasena Gupta "whose mighty fame, marked in honour of victory over the illustrious Susthitavarman as a full-blown Jasmine flower or water-lily, or as a pair of necklace of pearls pounded into little bits, is still constantly sung on the banks of the Brahmaputra, the surfaces of which are cool, by the Siddhas in pairs, when they wake up after sleeping in the shade of the betel plants that are in full bloom".
This panegyric was justified for the victory had really important political consequences. Mahasena Gupta recovered the whole of the Pundravardhana bhukti and the Kamarupa boundary was pushed back to the Teesta- Karatoya. The result was that the territories which included the lands donated by Mahabhutavarman in the previous century were lost to Kamarupa. When in the early part of the seventh century Sasanka was overthrown, Bhaskaravarman re-acquired the lost tracts and confirmed the grant of his ancestor. This explains why the confirmation was issued immediately after the overthrow of Sasanka and from the victorious camp itself where Bhaskaravarman was "accompanied by a fleet of war-boats, war-elephants, cavalry and infantrv." Susthitavarman, though defeated, was a great king and therefore in the Aphshad inscription he is described as "illustrious". The victory over him and the recovery of the territories were therefore regarded as a great triumph as the text of the inscription indicates. Susthitavarman could not retaliate for the defeat during his lifetime. He left this duty to his worthy son Bhaskaravarman.