Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c20.s3.59

c20.s3.59

The victorious career of Samudra Gupta must have produced a deep impression on the **Pratyanta**² *nṛipatis* or frontier kings of North-East India and the Himālayan region, and the tribal states of the Pañjāb, Western India, Mālwa and the Central Provinces, who are said to have gratified his imperious command (*prachaṇḍa śāsana*) "by giving all kinds of taxes, obeying his orders and coming to perform obeisance." The most important among the eastern kingdoms which submitted to the mighty Gupta Emperor were **Samaṭaṭa** (part of Eastern Bengal bordering on the sea, having its capital probably at Karmmānta or Baḍ-Kamta near Comilla),³ **Ḍavāka** (not yet satisfactorily identified)⁴ and **Kāmāarūpa** (in Lower Assam). We learn from the Dāmodarpur plates that the major portion of Northern Bengal, then known as Puṇḍravardhana-bhukti, formed an integral part of the Gupta Empire from A.D. 443 to A.D. 543, and was governed by a line of *Uparikas* as vassals of the Gupta Emperor. The identification of Davāka with certain districts of North Bengal is, therefore, probably wrong. The Northern *Pratyantas* were Nepāl and Kartṛipura. The latter principality comprised probably Katārpur in the Jālandhar district, and the territory of the Katuria or Katyur *rāj* of Kumaun, Garhwāl and Rohilkhand.¹