Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.385

c8.385

The present ruins of Mahāsthān or Mahāsthāngarh lie seven miles north of the modern town of Bogra. Cunningham identifies this site with the ancient city of Puṇḍravardhana. The river Karatoyā, which still washes the base of the mounds of Mahāsthān, separated Puṇḍravardhanabhukti from the more easterly kingdom of Prāgjyotiṣa or Kāmarūpa in Assam. Puṇḍravardhana was visited by Hiuen Tsang in the 7th century A.D. According to the Chinese pilgrim it was more than 4,000 li in circuit and its capital was more than 30 li. The city lost its importance from the third quarter of the 12th century A.D., for the later Sena kings of Bengal shifted their capital first to Deopārā in the Rajshahi district and later to Gauḍa in the Malda district. Towards the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century A.D. Puṇḍravardhana was occupied by the Mahommedans.