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Tribes in Ancient India c57: Chapter LIV. The Puṇḍras

Tribes in Ancient India c57

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Chapter LIV. The Puṇḍras

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The Puṇḍras seem to have been a very ancient people. They are mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VII, 18), where they are described as outcaste descendants of Viśvāmitra. Viśvāmitra, so the story goes, had many sons; but he adopted the Bhārgava Sunaḥśepa, calling him Devarāta, and made him the chief of all his sons. But the other sons did not all accept Devarāta’s headship; and it is said that Viśvāmitra cursed those who repudiated it to become *mlecchas* or dog-eaters¹ such as Āndhras, Puṇḍras and Śabaras.²

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¹ *Mahābhārata*, XIII, Chap. 3.

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² Cf. also *Sāṅkhyāyana Śr. Sūtra*, XV, 26; vide Pargiter, *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition*, p. 235.

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The Puṇḍras are mentioned in the *Sūtras* as well (cf. *Baudhāyana*, I, 2, 14), and in Manu’s *Dharmaśāstra* (10, 43-4)—here in the form Pauṇḍraka. But they are most frequently mentioned in the Purāṇas and Epics by the name of their originator, Puṇḍra, one of the eponymous ‘Bāleya Kṣatras’³ (see Vaṅga Chap.). It is said that Vāsudeva defeated the Puṇḍras along with the Aṅgas, Vaṅgas, Kaliṅgas, Kāśis, Kośalas, Karūṣas and others (*Mbh.*, *Droṇaparvan*, XI). Jarāsandha, king of Magadha, is referred to in the *Harivaṃśa* (Chap. 116) as having once held sway over the Puṇḍras as well as over the Aṅgas, Vaṅgas and Kaliṅgas. In the *Rāmāyaṇa* (*Kiṣkindhyā Kāṇḍa*, XLI, 12), Puṇḍra is referred to as a southern country, but, according to the Purāṇas and the *Mahābhārata*, the realm of the Puṇḍras seems to have been situated in the eastern division, as they are always associated with the Vaṅgas, Aṅgas and Kaliṅgas, as also with the Suhmas. This is also supported by Rājaśekhara’s *Kāvyamīmāṃsā*, which places the Puṇḍra country in the east along with Prāgjyotiṣa and Tāmralipta.⁴ This determines the correctness of the usually accepted identification of the ancient Puṇḍra country with what later came to be known as Puṇḍravardhana.

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³ *Brahma P.*, Chap. 13, 30-1; *Agni P.*, Chap. 278; *Matsya P.*, Chap. 48, 19; *Viṣṇu P.*, IV, Chap. 18, 1-2; *Mbh.*, *Ādiparvan*, Chap. 104; *Garuḍa P.*, Chap. 143, v. 71.

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⁴ Chap. 17.

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The Puṇḍras are sometimes referred to as Pauṇḍras, Pauṇḍrakas (cf. *Manusaṃhitā*), or even Pauṇḍrikas. In the *Mahābhārata*, these names are sometimes used as equivalents, but sometimes a distinction is made between the Pauṇḍras and Puṇḍras.¹ Pargiter² holds that they were two different tribes occupying two different countries. According to this theory, the Puṇḍras, linked as they were with the Vaṅgas and Kirātas (*Sabhāparvan*, XIV) and with the Aṅgas and Vaṅgas (*Sabhāparvan*, IV), occupied some intermediate position between the Aṅgas, the Vaṅgas, and the hilly countries of the Himalayas. Accordingly, the Puṇḍra country should be identified with Maldah, portions of Purnea, east of the Kosi, and parts of Dinajpur and Rajshahi. The Pauṇḍras, however, linked as they were with the Udras, Utkalas, Mekalas, Kaliṅgas and Āndhras (*Bhīṣmaparvan*, IX; *Droṇaparvan*, IV), occupied the modern district of Santal Parganas and Birbhum and northern portion of Hazaribagh.³ But as the enumeration of the countries and peoples in the Epics and Purāṇas is often loose, the distinction cannot be pushed very far, and in fact it is hardly ever accepted. In later literary and epigraphic records the distinction between Puṇḍra and Pauṇḍra is never maintained.

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¹ *Bhīṣmaparvan*, IX; *Sabhāparvan*, I,II.

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² *J.A.S.B.*, 1897, p. 85.

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³ Cunningham, *Ancient Geography of India*, Majumdar, Notes, pp. 723-4.

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According to the *Divyāvadāna* (pp. 21-2), Puṇḍravardhana was the eastern boundary (of the Middle Country). In the Sumāghadhāvadāna of the *Avadāna Kalpalatā* (Chap. 93, v. 10), Puṇḍravardhana is described as being situated 160 yojanas (or 640 miles) to the east of Śrāvastī.

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It is not improbable that Puṇḍravardhana formed a part of the Magadhan empire during the time of the Mauryas. This is suggested by the testimony of Hsüan Tsang, who saw stūpas of Aśoka near Tāmralipta and Karṇasuvarṇa in Samaṭaṭa, as well as in Pun-na-fa-tan-na (Puṇḍravardhana). Travelling east, Hsüan Tsang ‘crossed the Ganges, and after a journey of above 600 li reached the Pun-na-fa-tan-na country. This country was above 4,000 li in circuit and its capital was more than 30 li in circuit. Twenty li to the west of the capital was a magnificent Buddhist establishment, the name of which is given in some texts as Po-shih-po. Near it was an Aśoka tope at the place where the Buddha had preached for three months’. (Watters, *On Yuan Chwang*, II, 184-5.)

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On the authority of Hsüan Tsang’s description of the Po-shih-po monastery in Puṇḍravardhana, Cunningham identified the capital of Puṇḍravardhana with Mahāsthān, saying that the Buddhist remains of Bhāsu Vihāra, 4 miles to the west of Mahāsthān, corresponded with those noted by Hsüan Tsang at the Po-shih-po monastery, situated just 4 miles to the west of the capital city of Puṇḍravardhana.¹ This conclusion is confirmed by the mention of ‘Puṇḍanagala’ (= Puṇḍranagara, the city of the Puṇḍras) in a fragmentary Maurya Brāhmī Inscription paleographically dated in the second century B.C., which has been discovered at Mahāsthān, 7 miles north of the modern town of Bogra.²

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¹ A.S.R., XV, p. 110.

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² This inscription has been edited by D. R. Bhandarkar for the *Ep. Ind.* Cf. also ‘Mahāsthān and its environs’ (monograph No. 2); and also D. R. Bhandarkar’s ‘Important Fragmentary Inscription found at Mahāsthān (Bogra district) belonging to the Varendra Research Society’, published in the *Indian Antiquary*, September, 1933.

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About the second century B.C., then, the Puṇḍras had their chief city at Puṇḍranagara. Not long after, they had spread over a wider area, which came to be known as Puṇavadhana (= Puṇḍravardhana), for the name Puṇavadhana occurs in at least two inscriptions (Nos. 102 and 217, *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, pp. 108 and 380) of the Sāñchi stūpa. Its inhabitants, Dhamatā (Dharmadattā) and Isinadana (Ṛṣinandana), made gifts of architectural pieces that went to the building up of the Sāñchi stūpa and its walls and *toraṇas*. The Mahāsthān fragmentary inscription proves that the district of Bogra was certainly included in what later came to be known as Puṇḍravardhana. That it also included the district of Rajshahi, or at least portions of it, is proved by the recently discovered Pāhārpur copperplate (478-9 A.D.) which purports to have been issued from Puṇḍravardhana city itself.³ But contemporaneously the term appears as the name of a *bhukti* or provincial division. Thus, in the Damodarpur (a village in the Dinajpur district) Copperplate Inscriptions (*Ep. Ind.*, XV, pp. 113ff.) of Kumāragupta I (443 and 448 A.D.) and of Budhagupta, the Puṇḍravardhanabhukti is referred to as being governed successively by Cirātadatta, Brahmadatta and Yayadatta, all provincial governors. In all these records, Koṭivarṣaviṣaya is recorded as a subdivision of the Puṇḍravardhanabhukti. But naturally enough it is in the epigraphic records of the Pālas and Senas of Bengal that the name most frequently occurs. Puṇḍravardhana continued as in the days of the Guptas to be a provincial division of Bengal. Among the Pāla records, it is referred to in the Khalimpur grant of Dharmapāla, the Nālandā grant of Devapāla, the Bāngarh grant of Mahīpāla I, the Amgachi grant of Vigrahapāla III and the Manhali grant of Madanapāla.¹ Among the Sena grants it is referred to in the Barrackpur grant of Vijayasena, the Anulia, the Tarpanadighi, the Madhainagar and the Sunderban copper-plates, all of Lakṣmaṇasena, the Edilpur copperplate of Keśavasena, the Madanapāḍā and the Sāhitya Pariṣad copperplates of Viśvarūpasena (for Sena records, see *Inscriptions of Bengal*, Vol. III, Varendra Research Society).

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³ In the Sangli copperplates (Śaka year 855) of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Govinda Suvarṇa-varṣa, Pauṇḍravardhananagara is mentioned as the place from which the donee, Keśava Dīkṣita, is said to have come (*Ind. Ant.*, XII, pp. 251ff.).

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¹ For Pāla Inscriptions see *Gauḍalekhamālā* (in Bengali), Varendra Research Society.

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During the rule of the Guptas, the Puṇḍravardhanabhukti included as we have seen Koṭivarṣaviṣaya, which must have included the whole or a part of Dinajpur. It is certain that by that time (c. 535–720 A.D.) Puṇḍravardhana stood for the greater part of North Bengal, including at least the modern districts of Rajshahi, Bogra, Dinajpur, and portions probably of Maldah and Rungpur. But in the time of the Pālas (c. 730–1060 A.D.), the Puṇḍravardhanabhukti must have comprised a larger area, while the Senas must have ruled over a still larger division. We are led to this conclusion by the fact that the records of these two dynasties refer to the following subdivisions as included in the larger division of Puṇḍravardhanabhukti: The Koṭivarṣaviṣaya (Dinajpur), the Vyāghrataṭi maṇḍala (Maldah), the Khāḍiviṣaya (identical with the Sunderbans and the 24-Parganas), Varendri (roughly identical with Rajshahi, Bogra, Rungpur and Dinajpur), and Vaṅga (Eastern Bengal, more particularly the Dacca division). That Puṇḍravardhana included Varendri as well as Gauḍa (Maldah and Dinajpur) is also proved by a reference in Purusottama’s lexicon (eleventh century A.D.), where we have ‘Puṇḍrāḥ syur Varendri-Gauḍa-nivṛti’, i.e. ‘the Puṇḍras include the Varendri and Gauḍa (countries)’.

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The capital city of the Puṇḍravardhanabhukti is referred to in the *Rāmacaritam* of Sandhyākara Nandi (eleventh century A.D.), as well as in the *Karatoyā Māhātmyam* (sixteenth century A.D.) as Śrī Puṇḍravardhanapura, and also as Puṇḍranagara. According to the *Rāmacaritam* (Kavipraśasti, v. 1), Śrī Puṇḍravardhanapura seems to have been situated in Varendri, for it is there stated that Varendri was the foremost place of the east, and Puṇḍravardhanapura was its ‘crest jewel’, or the most beautiful ornament.

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Puṇḍravardhana is also referred to in a picture label of a manuscript of the Pāla period now in the Cambridge University Library²; and the name occurs in the *Devī-bhāgavata*, *Padma*, *Matsya*, *Brahmāṇḍa* and *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇas*, as well as in the *Jñānārṇava Tantra*. According to the *Rājatarangiṇī*, Pauṇḍravardhana was the seat of government of Jayanta, a vassal chief of the kingdom of Gauḍa, when Jayāpīḍa, king of Kāśmīr, is said to have visited it in the eighth century A.D.; but Jayanta is not recognised as historical by present-day scholars.¹ Pauṇḍrabhukti, a shortened form of Puṇḍra-vardhana-bhukti, is referred to in the Rāmpāl copperplate of Śrīcandradeva, Belava copperplate of Bhojavarman, and Dhulla plate of Śrīcandra (for these records see *Inscriptions of Bengal*, Vol. III).

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² Foucher, *Iconographie Bouddhique de l’Inde*, p. 190.

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¹ See *Gauḍa* chapter; *Chronicles of the Kings of Kāśmīr*, pp. 93-4.

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