Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.381

c8.381

Pauṇḍravardhanabhukti (Pundravardhana-bhukti).—The Pauṇḍras or Pauṇḍrakas mentioned several times in the Great Epic are once linked with the Vaṅgas and Kirātas (Sabhāp., XIII, 584), while on another occasion they are mentioned in connection with the Udras, Utkalas, Mekalas, Kaliṅgas and Andhras (Vanap., LI, 1988; Bhīṣmap., IX, 365, Droṇap, IV, 122). They are also mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (VII, 18). According to the *Daśakumāracaritam*, the Puṇḍra country was attacked by the army of Viśālavarmā (p. 111). The major portion of North Bengal, then known as Pundravardhana-bhukti, formed an intregal part of the Gupta empire from A.D. 443 to 543 and was governed by a line of uparika mahārājas as vassals of the Gupta emperor.¹ According to the Dāmodarpur copperplate inscription of the time of Bhānugupta (A.D. 533-34), a noble man (*kulaputra*) belonging to Ayodhyā approached the local government of Koṭivarṣa of which Svayambhudeva was the governor, under the provincial government of Puṇḍravardhana-bhukti, during the reign of Bhānugupta, and prayed that he might be granted, by means of a copperplate document in accordance with the prevailing custom, to transfer some rent-free waste lands. His prayer was granted. Pauṇḍravardhana is identical with the *Pun-na-fa-tan-na* of Yuan Chwang. Pargiter thinks that the Pauṇḍras once occupied the countries that are at present represented by the modern districts of Santal Parganas, Birbhum and northern portion of Hazaribagh. In order to include Puṇḍravardhana the eastern boundary of the Madhyadeśa has been extended still further to the east (cf. *Divyāvadāna*, pp. 21-22). In ancient times Puṇḍravardhana-bhukti included Varendra, roughly identical with North Bengal. The bhukti of Puṇḍravardhana seems to have included the whole of Bengal. A village called Vyāghrataṭi (Bāgḍi) mentioned in the Khalimpur grant of Dharmapāla, the Nālandā inscription of Devapāla and the Anulia copperplate of Lakṣmaṇasena, was one of the divisions of Bengal, according to the interpretation put upon Kālidāsa’s account of Raghu’s exploits. H. P. Shāstrī has identified Balavalabhi with Bāgḍi. The Anulia copperplate refers to the land granted within the jurisdiction of Vyāghrataṭi which belonged to the Pauṇḍravardhanabhukti. S. N. Majumdar has identified Vyāghrataṭi with Bāgḍi (Sir Ashutosh Commemoration Volume, Orientalia, Pt. II, p. 424). The city of Puṇḍravardhana is also referred to in the following Pāla records: The Khalimpur grant of Dharmapāla, the Nālandā grant of Devapāla, the Bāngarh grant of Mahīpāla I, the Āmagachia grant of Vigrahapāla III and the Manhali grant of Madanapāla. Among the Sena records, it is referred to in the Barrackpur grant of Vijayasena, the Anulia, the Tarpaṇḍighi, the Mādhāinagar and the Sunderban copperplates of Lakṣmaṇasena, the Edilpur copperplate of Keśavasena, the Madanapāḍā and the Sāhitya Parishat copperplates of Viśvarūpasena. Pauṇḍrabhukti, a shortened form of Puṇḍravardhana-bhukti, is referred to in the Rāmpāl copperplate of Śrīcandradeva, Belāva copperplate of Bhojavarman and Dhulla plate of Śrīcandra (vide N. G. Majumdar, Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, pp. 2, 15).¹ The Sangli plate of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Govinda IV refers to Pauṇḍravardhana. Varendrī is assigned to Pauṇḍravardhana in the Tarpaṇḍighi grant of Lakṣmaṇasena. The Deoparah inscription of Vijayasena refers to a guild of artists belonging to Varendra which occupies a considerable portion of Puṇḍravardhana. The Kamauli plate of Vaidyadeva, the Viṣṇu image inscription and Deoparah inscription also refer to Varendra.