Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.449

c8.449

*Saptagrāma*.—It formerly implied seven villages: Bansberia, Kṛṣṇapura, Bāsudevapura, Nityānandapura, Śivapura, Samvacorā and Baladghāṭī. The remains of ancient Saptagrāma are found near the present railway station Ādisaptagrāma, about 27 miles from Calcutta. It was an important city and a port of Rāḍha, situated on the Ganges. It is so called because the seven sons of king Priyavrata became sages after practising penances here. It lost its importance as a port owing to the silting of the river bed of the Sarasvatī. In the 9th century A.D. Saptagrāma was ruled by a powerful Buddhist king named Śrī-Śrī Rūpanārāyaṇa Simha. It was visited by the Egyptian traveller Ibn Batuta in the 13th century A.D. It was later conquered by Jafar Khan whose tomb is still found at Triveṇī. Many coins of Muslim rulers have been found here. During the reign of Alauddin Husen Shah of Gauḍa it was the seat of an imperial mint. In the 16th century A.D., a Hindu king named Rājivalocana conquered it from Sulaiman, the then Sultan of Gauḍa. It is the birthplace of the author of the *Caṇḍī*. From Bankimcandras’s *Kapāl-kuṇḍala* and Haraprasād Śāstrī’s *Bener Meye* we get a glimpse of its prosperity. It is a sacred place of the Vaiṣṇavas being the home of Uddhāraṇa Datta, a follower of Śrīcaitanya. Nityānanda, the right-hand man of Śrīcaitanya, spent many years in this place. For further particulars see Law, *Holy Places of India*; *J.A.S.B.*, 1810; *Periplus*, 26; *Introducing India*, Pt. I, p. 75.