A History of Assam c9.3

c9.3

FOR sixty years after the copper-plate inscription of Vaidya Deb, we are left without any knowledge of the condition of Kāmarupa. About 1198 A.D., Muhammad Bakhtyār Khilji overthrew Lakshmaniya, the last Sen king of Bengal, and a few years later he set out on a filibustering expedition to the north.* At this time the ruler of Kāmarupa bore the title Kāmesvar, and his western boundary was the Karatoya river. Guided by a Mech Chief, Muhammad Bakhtyār marched northwards along the right bank of this river for ten days, through a country inhabited by the Koch, Mech and Thāru tribes. He crossed the river by a bridge of twenty-nine arches of hewn stone, and soon afterwards entered the hills. He wended his way through defiles and passes among lofty mountains until, on the sixteenth day, he again emerged in an open country, studded with large villages. He plundered the inhabitants, but was at last checked by an army of Mongol horsemen and compelled to retrace his steps. The return journey was disastrous. The people had removed from the line of march and had burnt everything, and for fifteen days the troops endured great privations. On reaching the plains of Kāmarupa he found that the Raja had destroyed the bridge and was preparing to attack him with an overwhelming force.