[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [A History of Assam](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906) › c8 # A History of Assam c8: Chapter II. The Period from the Seventh to the Twelfth Centuries A History of Assam c8 - **Language:** English ### Chapter II. The Period from the Seventh to the Twelfth Centuries ### [c8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.2) THE first authentic information regarding ancient Kāmarupa is furnished by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang who visited India in the first half of the seventh century of our era and on his return to China wrote an account of his travels and gave a fairly comprehensive description of the various kingdoms which he visited. Apart from what he has recorded and from one incident mentioned in Bana's \*Harsha-Charita\* and another in the story of a Chinese invasion of Tirhut, our knowledge of Kāmarupa prior to the end of the twelfth century is confined to the information contained in the inscriptions on certain ancient copper-plates and on a rock on the bank of the Brahmaputra, near Tezpur. It was the practice of ancient Indian rulers, when making grants of land to Brāhmans, to record the fact on copper-plates which served as the donees' title deeds. The inscriptions were drawn up by pandits attached to the court, and the language was usually Sanskrit verse. They commenced with a brief narrative of the ruler's ancestry, and usually gave some account of his personal qualities, his capital and the extent of country ruled by him. After this preamble, which to us forms the most interesting part, followed the name and other particulars of the grantee and the specification of the lands granted to him. None of the old Assam grants bear dates other than the regnal year of the ruling monarch. Most of them were recorded on a set of three copper-plates, of which the centre one only was inscribed on both sides. These plates had a hole at one end, and were held together by a ring passed through this hole. To the ring was attached the seal of the ruler, usually heart-shaped, containing in relief his emblem (\*e.g.\*, an elephant \*en face\*) and below it his name and titles. Altogether seven sets of copper-plates have been discovered, the inscriptions on which record grants of land made by the kings of ancient Kāmarupa, viz.:— ### [c8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.3) (i) The Panchakhanda (Sylhet) grant of Bhāskara Varman. This was discovered in 1912 and AN INSCRIBED COPPER-PLATE. ### [c8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.4) AN INSCRIBED COPPER-PLATE. ### [c8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.6) the \*Gesta Romanorum\*, the \*Legenda Aurea\* of Jacobus de Voragine, and the \*Speculum Historiale\* of Vincent of Beauvais. These were the books that fed the imagination of the Middle Ages, and they were the books that the Church, in its wisdom, provided for the instruction and edification of the faithful. ### [c8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.7) But the Church did not merely provide books; it also provided the means of their dissemination. The monastic scriptoria, where monks labored in silence to copy the sacred texts, were the precursors of the printing press. And when the press finally arrived, it was the Church that first harnessed its power, using it to spread the word of God to the corners of the earth. The Gutenberg Bible, the first major book printed in Europe, was a testament to the Church's commitment to the written word. ### [c8.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.8) Yet, even as the Church championed the spread of knowledge, it also sought to control it. The \*Index Librorum Prohibitorum\*, or List of Prohibited Books, was a tool used by the Church to suppress ideas it deemed dangerous or heretical. This tension between the desire to educate and the need to control would define the Church's relationship with literature for centuries to come. ### [c8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.9) It is a complex history, one that is marked by both enlightenment and suppression. But it is a history that cannot be ignored, for it is the history of the very foundation of Western civilization. The Church, in its role as the guardian of knowledge, has shaped the way we think, the way we write, and the way we understand the world around us. ### [c8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.10) has been described by Professor Padmanath Bhattacharya in \*Epigraphia Indica\*, Vol. XII, page 65. ### [c8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.11) (ii) The Tezpur grant of Vana Māla. This was described in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1840, page 766. The record is unsatisfactory both with regard to the original text and its translation. ### [c8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.12) (iii) The Nowgong grant of Bala Varman. This was brought to light by me in 1895 and was described by the late Dr. Hœrnle in the Journal of the same Society for 1897, Part I, page 285. On palæographical groups Hœrnle thought that this inscription was prepared about 990 A.D. ### [c8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.13) (iv) and (v) The Suāl Kuchi and Bargāon grants of Ratna Pāla. These were obtained by me in 1896 and 1897 and deciphered in the Journal for 1898, Part I, page 99, by Hœrnle, who attributed them to the first half of the eleventh century. The translation of the Bargāon grant, which is typical of the whole series, is given in Appendix C. ### [c8.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.14) (vi) The Gauhāti grant of Indra Pāla. This was obtained by me in 1893 and deciphered by Hœrnle in the Journal for 1897, Part I, page 29. ### [c8.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.15) (vii) The Benares grant of Vaidya Deb. This was found at Kamauli (Benares) in 1892 and deciphered in \*Epigraphia Indica\* (Vol. II, page 347) by Professor Venis, who calculated that it was prepared in 1142 A.D. ### [c8.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.16) The Tezpur rock inscription was shown to me in 1893 by an Indian gentleman. It was at once photographed, but the result was not satisfactory. Some years afterwards the name of the king and his date were read from a rubbing, but it was not until 1917 that the full inscription was deciphered by Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasad Sastri, in the Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, 1917, page 508. ### [c8.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.17) Hiuen Tsiang was studying "the profound law of Buddha" at the Nālanda monastery in Magadha, or south Bihar, when Kumār Bhāskara Varman, the king of ### [c8.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.18) Hiuen Tsiang's visit to Bhāskara Varman. Kāmarupa, sent messengers to invite him to his capital. He at first declined to go, but was induced to change his mind by Silabhadra, "master of Shāstras," who pointed out that it was his duty to propagate the true law, and that he ought not to neglect the opportunity offered by this invitation from a king who listened to "the teaching of heretics." From Paundra Vardhana "going east 900 \*li\* or so (about 150 miles), crossing the great river Kalotu, we come to the country of Kāmarupa," which Hiuen Tsiang describes as follows:— ### [c8.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.19) The country of Kāmarupa is about 10,000 \*li\* (nearly 1,700 miles) in circuit. The capital town is about 30 \*li\*. The land lies low, but is rich and regularly cultivated. They cultivate the jack fruit and the cocoanut. These trees, though numerous, are nevertheless much valued and esteemed. Water led from the river or from banked-up lakes flows round the towns. The climate is soft and temperate. The manners of the people are simple and honest. The men are of small stature and their complexion a dark yellow. Their language differs a little from that of mid-India. Their nature is very impetuous and wild; their memories are retentive and they are earnest in study. ### [c8.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.20) They adore and sacrifice to the Devas and have no faith in Buddha; hence from the time Buddha appeared in the world, even down to the present day, there never as yet has been built one \*Sanghārāma\* as a place for the priests to assemble. Such disciples as there are, are of a pure faith, say their prayers secretly and that is all. There are abundant Deva temples, and different sectaries to the number of several myriads. The present king belongs to the old line of Nārāyan Deb. He is of the Brāhman caste. His name is Bhāskara Varman, his title, Kumār. From the time that this family seized the land and assumed the Government, there have elapsed a thousand generations. The king is fond of learning and the people are so likewise in imitation of him. Men of high talent from distant regions, seeking after office, visit his dominions. Though he has no faith in Buddha, yet he much respects Sramanas of learning. On the east this country is bounded by a line of hills, so that there is no great city to the kingdom. The frontiers are contiguous to the barbarians of the south-west of China. These tribes are in fact akin to those of the Mān people (i.e., "the south-west barbarians") in their customs. After a two months' journey we reach the south-western frontier of the province of Szechuen. But the mountains and rivers present obstacles, and the pestilential air, the poisonous vapours, the fatal snakes, the destructive vegetation, all these causes of death prevail. ### [c8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.21) On the south-east of this country herds of wild elephants roam about in numbers, therefore in this district they use them principally for war. Going 1,200 or 1,300 \*li\* to the south (about 200 miles) we come to Samatata (East Bengal).\* ### [c8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.22) The great river which our traveller crossed before entering Kāmarupa was clearly the Karatoya, while, as the eastern boundary was a line of hills adjacent to the tribes on the Chinese frontier, the country evidently extended as far to the east as does the modern province of Assam. As its circumference was nearly 1,700 miles, it must have included the whole of Assam (except perhaps the Naga hills, Lushai hills and Manipur) and also Bhutān, North Bengal as far west as the Karatoya, and the part of Mymensingh which lies to the east of the old course of the Brahmaputra. It was in any case far larger than the adjoining kingdoms of Paundra Vardhana and Samatata, the circumference of which is placed at only 700 and 500 miles, respectively. ### [c8.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.23) There were at this period no large towns, and the capital of the country does not appear to have been a place of much importance. The only indication which is given as to its locality is that it lay 150 miles east of Paundra Vardhana. Cunningham, after identifying the latter place with Pabna, concluded that it was at Kāmatāpur. This place, however, is north rather than east of Pabna, and the identification of Pabna with Paundra Vardhana is open to doubt. The site of this town is more likely to have been at Mahāsthān on the right bank of the Karatoya, or at Pandua near Malda. In either case the distance to Gauhāti would exceed 150 miles, and it would thus seem that at that time the capital was somewhere further west, either in the Goālpāra district or the Koch Bihār State, or in the north-east of Rangpur. ### [c8.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.24) ∗ Beal's Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. II, p. 195. ### [c8.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.25) The short stature and yellow complexion of the inhabitants, and their alleged affinities with the tribes on the south-west of China, may be taken as proving their Mongolian origin. To what extent the common people had come under the influence of Hinduism is uncertain, but it was the religion of the Court. The king is described as a Brāhman, but most probably this merely means that he was a Hindu and not a Buddhist. Varman (\*Varmma\*, armour or defence) was a common Kshatriya title and, as such, was frequently appropriated by aboriginal converts to Hinduism of high rank; it was used, amongst others, by Harjjara, who was ruling in 830 A.D., and, in more recent times, by members of the Kachāri aristocracy. Hiuen Tsiang speaks very positively regarding the absence of Buddhists, both in his own time and at an earlier period. It was formerly thought that Buddhism had at one time great vogue in Assam, but this view seems to have been erroneous. There is no trace of this religion in the old records and inscriptions. The tradition amongst the Tibetans that Buddha died in Assam has been proved to be incorrect. The old rock-carved figure at Gauhāti, which is now worshipped as Janārdan Buddh, is said by Bloch to be an image of Vishnu; and the same authority asserts that the image in the temple at Hājo, which was once thought to have been a Buddha, is really a statue of the Man-Lion incarnation of Vishnu of the ordinary mediæval type. On the other hand, Bhāskara Varman was well disposed towards Buddhist monks, and this religion was firmly established both in Samatata to the south and in Paundra Vardhana to the east, both of which kingdoms boasted of monasteries and of Stupas erected by Asoka. ### [c8.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.26) Bhāskara Varman was the contemporary of Harsha Vardhana, otherwise known as Siladitya, hereditary king of Thanesvar, who ruled from 606 to 648 A.D. and established himself as Lord Paramount of the whole of the Ganges valley. In an account of the early part of his reign by one of his courtiers\* it is said that just at the time when Harsha succeeded his brother on the throne of Thanesvar, an ambassador named Hamsawega arrived from Bhāskara Varman, who also had just succeeded to the throne and was anxious to secure Harsha's friendship. The ambassador brought many valuable presents, including jewels, heirlooms handed down by Bhagadatta and other early kings of Kāmarupa, pieces of silk, leather bucklers, camphor, musk, betel-nuts \*chaunris\* (fly whisks), finely-written books with leaves of bark, and a miracle-working umbrella obtained by Narak from Varuna. Harsha received Hamsawega most cordially, and sent him back with reciprocal presents in charge of envoys of high rank. ### [c8.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.27) It is said that while in camp in Bengal Harsha Vardhana met Hiuen Tsiang and was greatly attracted by his discourse. He, therefore, resolved to hold a great assembly at Kanauj in order to give the greatest possible publicity to his teaching. The invitation to attend this assembly reached the pilgrim during his visit to Kāmarupa; and as Bhāskara Varman had himself been invited to attend, the two went together. The pilgrim tells us that Harsha marched to Kanauj in state along the south bank of the Ganges, while Bhāskara Varman, who seems to have been the most important of the attendant Rajas, kept pace with him on the opposite bank: he had with him five hundred elephants clad in armour. Kanauj was reached in the spring of 644 A.D. after a journey of ninety days. Daily processions took place there, at which an image of Buddha was carried; the canopy was borne by Harsha himself, attired as the God Sukra, while Bhāskara, clad as Brahma, waved a white \*chaunri\*. This went on for many days. A second ceremonial followed at Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna rivers. At its close the pilgrim started on his return journey to China. He was offered many valuable presents, but apart from the money needed to defray the cost of the journey, the only thing he accepted was a fur-lined cape, the gift of Bhāskara Varman. ### [c8.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.28) ∗ Bāna's \*Harsha Charita\*, translated by Cowell and Thomas, pp. 211-233. ### [c8.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.29) Bhāskara’s copper-plate land grant. Further information regarding Bhāskara Varman is provided by a copper-plate inscription recording a grant of land made by him which was dug up in 1912 at Nidhanpur in the Panchakhanda pargana of Sylhet. It seems that this grant was recorded on four plates, the two inner ones being inscribed on both sides, but only the first, second and fourth plates were found; the third had somehow got separated from the others. It is stated in the last verse of the inscription that the original plates were damaged by fire and so fresh ones were prepared.\* ### [c8.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.30) The seal on the ring holding the plates together is probably the original seal, as it is badly damaged, the inscription being obliterated and the emblem (an elephant) very indistinct. In this inscription it is said that after kings of the dynasty of Narak, Bhagadatta and Vajradatta had ruled for 3000 years, Pushya Varman ascended the throne. He was succeeded in the direct line in turn by the following kings, the names of their queens being added in brackets:— Samudra Varman (Dattadevi), Bala Varman (Ratnavati), Kalyāna Varman (Gandharvavati), Ganapati (Yagnavati), Mahendra Varman (Suvratā), Nārāyan Varman (Devavati), Mahābhuta Varman (Vijnānavati), Chandra Mukhā (Bhogavati), Sthita Varman (Nāyanadevi), Susthita Varman alias Sri Mrigānka (Syāmadevi). The last-mentioned ruler had two sons, Supratishthita Varman and Bhāskara Varman.† ### [c8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.31) According to this genealogy Bhāskara Varman was the eleventh in descent from Pushya.‡ If so, and if the average duration of each reign be taken at 16 years, the dynasty was founded about the middle of the fifth century A.D. ### [c8.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.32) ∗ Professor Padmanāth Bhāttachārya, whose translation is here followed, is of opinion that the copy was made soon after the original grant, as the characters used are those current in the early part of the seventh century. † The names of the last five kings are given also in the \*Harsha Charita\* with two slight verbal differences which are due doubtless to mistakes by the copyists. ‡ It may be noted that Pushya was also the name of the reputed founders both of the Sunga dynasty and of that of Harsha Vardhana. ### [c8.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.33) The grant in question was made while Bhāskara Varman was encamped in Karna Suvarna. This country, which lay to the south of Kāmarupa, was ruled by Sasānka at the beginning of the seventh century. There were hostilities between him and Harsha Vardhana, whose brother and predecessor he had treacherously killed, and though he was still reigning in 619 A.D. he had disappeared before the date of Hiuen Tsiang's visit. Karna Suvarna may then have become subject to Harsha Vardhana, and on the anarchy which ensued on that monarch's death, it may have been annexed by Bhāskara Varman. The fact that these copper-plates were found in Sylhet suggests that that part of the country may also have formed part of Bhāskara Varman's dominions.\* ### [c8.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.34) The last mention of Bhāskara Varman occurs in the story of Wang-hiuen-t'se's invasion of Tirhut about 648 A.D. He captured and carried off to China Arjun, Harsha's minister, who had usurped the throne after his death, and subdued 580 walled towns. "Kumāra, the king of Eastern India," who was evidently Bhāskara Varman, "sent in abundant supplies of cattle, horses and accoutrements for the victorious army."† It may be concluded from this and from the fact that Karna Suvarna did not come into his possession until after Hiuen Tsiang's departure, that Bhāskara Varman lived until at least 650 A.D. ### [c8.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.35) † M. Sylvain Lévi's article 'Les Missions de Wang-huien-t'se dans l'Inde' in \*Journal Asiatique\*, 1900. ### [c8.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.36) All the subsequent copper-plate inscriptions commence with a reference to Narak "of the Asur race" who conquered Kāmarupa and took up his abode in Prāgjyotisha, "the best of towns." He was followed by his son Bhagadatta, and the latter by others of his line for several generations. Then, "by an adverse turn of fate," the kingdom was taken possession of by Sāla Stambha, "a great chief of the Mlechchhas," who was followed by Vigraha Stambha, Pālaka Stambha, Vijaya Stambha and others of the same race ending with Sri Harisha. From the names of these Mlechchha kings it may be concluded that they, like so many of their successors, were converted to Hinduism as soon as they became worthy of the notice of the local Brāhman priests. ### [c8.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.37) ∗ Copper-plates are most likely to be found in the neighbourhood of the land to which they relate, but this is not always the case. Vaidya Deb's copper-plates, for instance, were found at Benares. ### [c8.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.38) The only clue as to the period when they ruled is furnished by the statement in the copper-plate inscriptions of Ratna Pāl that twenty kings intervened between Sāla Stambha and Brahma Pāl. The inscriptions in question appear, from the form of the letters, to have been prepared between 1010 and 1050 A.D., and as the grants recorded in them were executed in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth years of Ratna Pāl's reign, we may perhaps take 1000 A.D. as the date when his father, the founder of the dynasty, ascended the throne. Allowing an average of sixteen years for each of the previous twenty-one kings, we get 664 A.D., as the approximate date of Sāla Stambha's accession to power. It would thus appear that he subverted the dynasty of Bhāskara Varman not many years after Hiuen Tsiang's visit to the country. It must, however, be remembered that the date assumed for Ratna Pāl's plates depends solely on palæographical considerations, and that there may be an error of fifty years, or even more, in the figure thus obtained. ### [c8.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.39) The next line mentioned in the copper-plates is that of Pralambha, the father of Harjjara, who may be assumed to have risen to power about 800 A.D., \*i.e.\*, thirty years before the time of Harjjara's inscription on the rock near Tezpur. The same date may perhaps be taken as that of the extinction of Sāla Stambha's dynasty, but this is somewhat uncertain. It might be inferred from the Tezpur plates that Pralambha came immediately after Sri Harisha, but the reading of this inscription is not very trustworthy, and it is possible that the latter is identical with Harsha Deb, the father of Jay Deb, king of Nepal, who is referred to in a copper-plate of that monarch prepared in 759 A.D.\* The said Harsha Deb is described as the descendant of Bhagadatta, and, although he is said to have ruled over Gaur, Orissa and other countries this may be merely an instance of the poetic exaggeration which was so frequently indulged in by the scribes and panegyrists of early Hindu kings. ### [c8.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.40) ∗ This plate has been translated in the Nabya Bharat, Part XIII. 1302 B.E. ### [c8.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.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. ### [c8.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.42) It is claimed by the scribes of this dynasty that they were descended from Narak and Bhagadatta, but in the copper-plate inscriptions of the Pāl kings, who in their turn put forward the same claim, they are referred to as Mlechchhas, or non-Hindus. The explanation doubtless is that both dynasties were of aboriginal origin and that, when they rose to power, they were converted to Hinduism and fitted out with a noble ancestry by the Brāhmans, who have always been adepts in procuring for themselves protection, favour and power by inducing the aboriginal chiefs to enter the fold of Hinduism on the fiction that they are descended from some god of the Hindu pantheon or some potentate in Hindu Mythology. In more recent times the Rajas of Rāni and Dimarua have in this way been connected with the dynasty of Bhagadatta,\* and the Koch, Kachāri and Manipuri Rajas have also been provided by their priests with a divine or a heroic lineage.† ### [c8.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.43) It may be mentioned here that the people in whose favour these land grants were executed were all of them Yajurvedi Brāhmans. Both Pralambha's dynasty and that of Brahma Pāl used on their seals the same emblem, viz., the full face figure of an elephant.‡ ### [c8.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.44) Pralambha killed or banished all the members of the former ruling family. His wife was named Jivādā. He was succeeded by his son Harjjara, who, by his wife Tārā, had a son Vana Māla. The latter, who became king in his turn, is described as having a broad chest, a thick-set neck and club-like arms, a noble disposition and a dignified and serious demeanour. Like his father, he was an ardent worshipper of Siva. He enjoyed an unusually long reign. This may have been an invention of the panegyrist, but it should be noted that a passage in a copper-plate of the Bengal king Deb Pāl, who reigned soon afterwards, has been interpreted as meaning that that monarch assisted the king of Kāmarupa in an expedition against the king of Orissa.\* ### [c8.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.45) Vana Māla excelled in the arts of peace as well as in war, and erected a great palace "which, though having no equal in the world stood equal (i.e., level) on the ground, though not limited in room, possessed many rooms, and though gay with general ornamentation, was also furnished with true pictures." ### [c8.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.46) ∗ Even the usurper Bharath Singh who was set up by the Moāmarias at Rangpur during Gaurināth Singh's disastrous reign called himself a descendant of Bhagadatta. † There are many western instances of the same kind. Romulus and Remus were said to be descended from Mars, and Alexander the Great from Zeus Ammon. ‡ Ind. Ant., Vol. XV, page 308. It may be noted that the assertions made in the copper-plates as to the wide extent of the territories ruled by the kings of Kāmarupa have their counterpart in the claims of other rulers to the conquest or overlordship of Kāmarupa. See, for instance, the Allahabad inscription of Samudra-gupta. (Fleet, Corpus, Inscrip. Ind., Vol. III, page 14.) ### [c8.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.47) Vana Māla was followed by his son Jay Māla who preferred religious exercises to his kingly duties, and, as soon as his son Vira Bāhu was old enough to rule, he “made over to him the (royal) umbrella, of moon-like whiteness, together with the two (royal) chaunris (or fly whisks) and then, bravely enduring the rite of religious suicide through starvation, became absorbed into the light of the Divine Being.” Vira Bāhu married a princess named Amba, of rank equal to his own and of great beauty. He won many victories over his enemies and then, being attacked by an incurable disease, made over his throne and crown to his son Bala Varman who was “tall of body, in appearance like a lion cub,” victorious in battle, harsh to his enemies, gentle towards religious preceptors, truthful and generous. ### [c8.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.48) Bala Varman dated the grant recorded in the Nowgong copper-plate from Hāruppesvara. He rightly called this place his ancestral camp, for it was, as noted above, already the capital in the time of his great great grandfather Harjjara. There is now no trace of any place of this name, but from the Tezpur rock inscription and the locality where the copper-plates of Vana Māla and Bala Varman were found we may conjecture that it was east of Gauhāti and, possibly, at Tezpur.\* ### [c8.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.49) About the year 1000 A.D., the ruling prince Tyāg Singh died childless and, it is said, the people, thinking it well that one of Narak’s race should be appointed as their ruler, chose Brahma Pāl from among his descendants to be their king, as he appeared best fitted to undertake the government of the country. Brahma Pāl married a lady who was named Kula Debi, by reason of her devotion to the people. This king was of a mild and peaceable disposition and, when his son Ratna Pāl grew up, he abdicated in his favour, and having done so, “went to Heaven; for noble minded men who know the good and evil of the world, know to do that which is suitable to the occasion.” His son, of whom we have two copper-plate inscriptions (those of Bargaon and Suālkuchi), was a man of a very different stamp, being a strong and warlike ruler. In the land-grant of his grandson Indra Pāl he is described as "the mighty crusher of his enemies who studded the earth with white-washed temples, the skies with the smoke of his burnt offerings, and all the quarters of the earth with the pillar monuments of his victories." It is said that he came into hostile contact with the kings of Gurjara, Gaur, Kerala and the Dekkan, but this is probably mere bombast. He built his capital on the bank of the Brahmaputra and surrounded it with a rampart and strong palisade, whence he named it Durjaya, or "Impregnable." Many wealthy merchants lived there in safety, and it boasted of many plastered turrets. Learned men, religious preceptors and poets, encouraged by the king, made it a place of resort. He is said to have derived much wealth from his copper mines, but no indication is given as to the part of the country in which these mines were situated; possibly they lay in Bhutān which, as stated elsewhere, was probably at one time subject to the kings of Kāmarupa ### [c8.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.50) ∗ Many ancient sculptured stones exist at Tezpur, but no inscriptions have been found, except the one on a rock of which mention has already been made. ### [c8.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.51) Ratna Pāl must have enjoyed a fairly long reign, as he had already ruled twenty-six years when the second of his copper-plate inscriptions was drawn up. His son Purandar Pāl was "a ruler of wide renown, liberal, jovial, pious and accomplished in all arts, a hero as well as a poet," and passionately fond of the chase. He obtained as wife a princess of Kshatriya stock, named Durlabhā, by whom he had a son, named Indra Pāl. Owing to a small portion of the inscription being illegible, the question is not free from doubt, but it would seem that Purandar Pāl died before his father, and that the latter was succeeded by his grandson Indra Pāl. This prince was addicted more to study than to war; and during his reign the country enjoyed peace and prosperity. So says his copper-plate inscription, which was prepared in the eighth year of his reign, but if the chronology be correct, it was apparently this prince who, according to an inscription found at Rajshahi, was subjugated by Bijay Sen,\[\*\] the king of Bengal. ### [c8.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.52) ∗ J. A. S. B., 1878, page 401. ### [c8.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8.53) When the next and last copper-plates (those found at Benares) were inscribed, between fifty and a hundred years later, we find the kings of Prāgjyotisha feudatory to the Bengal line of Pāl kings, who had by this time driven back the Sen dynasty and regained their former position as the paramount power in North Bengal. The inscription records that Tishya Deb, king of Prāgjyotisha, had rebelled against his Suzerain, Kumār Pāl, and the latter sent an army against him under his minister, a Brāhman named Vaidya Deb. Vaidya Deb defeated and killed Tishya Deb and succeeded him as king of Prāgjyotisha. The land-grant which bears his name was issued in the ninth year of his reign, from his "victorious camp" at Hamsa Konchi, a place which has not yet been identified. He appears to have remained feudatory to the Pāl kings, but, from his assumption of the title Mahārājādhirāj, his vassalage seems to have sat very lightly on him. Professor Venis, who deciphered the inscription came to the conclusion that it was made in 1142 A.D. ## Linked texts (3) - [Harṣacarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.harsacarita) — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit - [Nammūru grant of Amma II](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.deccan.eastern-calukya.nammuru-grant-of-amma-ii) — Sanskrit - [Dudhpani rock inscription of Udayamana](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.east.varia.dudhpani-rock-inscription-of-udayamana) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.gait-1906.c8) · Pramāṇa