A History of Assam c8.41

c8.41

The dynasty of Pralambha has left three relics in the shape of the Tezpur rock inscription and the Tezpur and Nowgong copper-plates. The first-mentioned record is dated 510 Gupta, corresponding to 829-30 A.D. It announces the settlement effected through the good offices of certain military chiefs and Panchakula Brāhmans of a dispute between boatmen and the local toll collectors. The reigning monarch was Maharajadhiraj Sri Harjjara Varmadeva, a worshipper of Siva. His capital was at Hāruppesvara. Suchitta is mentioned as a great feudatory chief and the commander of his army. The inscription on the Tezpur plates supplies the names of three kings, Pralambha, Harjjara and Vana Māla, in the last of whose reigns it was inscribed, while that on the Nowgong plates omits Pralambha, but adds Jay Māla, Vira Bāhu and Bala Varman, the last-mentioned being the donor of the land therein referred to. We have no means of knowing how much longer the dynasty lasted, but if the assumption that the first of the Pāl kings rose to power about 1000 A.D. be correct, it cannot have been more than a hundred years. The ruler immediately preceding the first Pāl king was named Tyāg Singh, who died without heirs and is described in the Ratna Pāl plates as an "illustrious chief." From the absence of any indication to the contrary we may perhaps assume that he belonged to the family of Pralambha, which would thus have ruled the country for a period of about two hundred years in all.