Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.248

c8.248

*Karṇasuvarṇa*.—At the time of issuing Nidhanpur plates of Bhāskaravarman, Karṇasuvarṇa, which was once the capital of the Gauḍa king Śaśāṅka, was in the possession of Bhāskara (*E.I.*, XII, pp. 65-79). Jayanāga was an inhabitant of Karṇasuvarṇaka and while he was here, he issued a grant which is supposed to date from the latter half of the 6th century A.D. (*E.I.*, XVIII, p. 63). The Rohtāsgaḍh stone seal-matrix of Mahāsāmanta Śaśāṅkadeva mentions it (*C.I.I.*, Vol. III). Rāṅgāmāṭi in the district of Murshidabad lying on the western coast of the Ganges, is believed to have been the site of Karṇasuvarṇa. It is situated at a distance of 94 miles from Bandel and a mile and a half to the south-east of Chirati railway station. The soil of this place is red and hard, and offers a clue to the name of this place. According to some, the name is derived from Raktamṛtti or Raktabhitti (*lo-to-wei-chi*), the name of an old Buddhist monastery, which the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang found in Karṇasuvarṇa in the 7th century A.D. This kingdom, which was known to the Chinese as *Kie-lo-na-su-fa-la-na*, was about 14 or 15 hundred *li* in circuit. It was thickly populated, and the householders were rich. The land was regularly cultivated, and produced abundance of flowers. The climate was agreeable. The people were honest and amiable in manners. They were fond of learning. Among the people there were believers and heretics. There were some *Saṅghārāmas* and Deva temples (Beal, *Buddhist Records of the Western World*, II, 201). Many coins of the Kuṣāṇa and Gupta ages, a few mounds of brick and clay called Thākura-vāḍiḍāṅga, Rājavāḍiḍāṅga, Sannyāsi-ḍāṅga, etc., and a few tanks are found there. A Hindu deity made up of stone with eight hands called Mahiṣamardinī has been discovered here.