Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.260

c8.260

Kāmarūpa in the north-east seems to have been independent, and it remained outside the sphere of Aśoka’s religious propaganda. The enumeration of the frontier kingdoms and republics whose rulers did homage and paid tribute to Samudragupta, enables us to define the boundaries of his dominions with accuracy and to realize the nature of the political divisions of India in the 4th century A.D. Kāmarūpa was one of the tributary kingdoms on the eastern side of India (V. A. Smith, Aśoka, 3rd ed., p. 81; Early History of India, 1924, p. 302). It retained the Brahmanical supremacy for a long time. Although it paid taxes to the great Gupta kings, yet it retained its autonomy in internal administration. Harṣa, the successor of Rājyavardhana, concluded an alliance with Bhāskaravarman, king of Kāmarūpa, whose father Susthitavarman Mṛgāṅka fought against Mahāsenagupta. That Susthitavarman was associated with the river Lohitya (Lauhitya) or Brahmaputra clearly shows that he was a king of Kāmarūpa. Kāmarūpa was conquered by Devapāla, the son and successor of Dharmapāla of the Pāla dynasty. According to the Rāmacarita Rāmapāla also conquered it. It was also conquered repeatedly by the kings of Gauḍa. The kingdom of Kāmarūpa was included in the dominion of some of the Pāla kings of Bengal. The Candra king Balacandra's son Vimalacandra ruled Kāmarūpa. Early in the 13th century A.D. the Ahom chiefs made themselves masters of this country.