Tribes in Ancient India c54.41

c54.41

When Hsüan Tsang visited the country (c. 640 A.D.), Samaṭaṭa was an important kingdom. There were about 30 Buddhist Saṃghārāmas with about 2,000 priests in the country, while the temples of Brahmanical gods were also numerous, and there were also many Jain (Nigaṇṭha) ascetics. During the visits of Hsüan Tsang and Seng-chi, Samaṭaṭa seems to have been under the rule of the Khaḍga dynasty.³ The Asrafpur copperplates of the Khaḍgas (Mem., A.S.B., Vol. I, No. 6) were issued from a place called Karmānta, which has been identified with Baḍ-Māmtā, 12 miles west of Comilla. Karmānta has often been identified as the capital of Samaṭaṭa (Dey, Geog. Dicty., p. 175; Bhaṭṭasāli, op. cit., p. 6). Later on,