North Indian Inscriptions

SOCIAL HISTORY

       When therefore we speak of Kāyastha surnames being traceable in the names of the officers mentioned in the charters, it does not at all mean that the officers were Kāyastha by caste.

       It is thus clear that whereas the Kāyastha surnames are traceable in Gujarāt and Kāṭhiāwāḍ as early as the time of the Valabhī princes, they are found in Bengal even two centuries earlier, that is, in the time of the Gupta kings. But in Gujarāt and Kāṭhiāwāḍ these surnames were traceable among the Brāhmaṇas. Were they similarly borne by the Brāhmaṇas of Bengal and Orissa at that early period? There records are known, bearing upon this point, but we shall take here the earliest. This was the celebrated copper-plate charter discovered at Nidhanpur in Pañchakhaṇḍa, Sylhet, and published in two instalments¹ by Mm. Padmanatha Bhattacharyya Vidyavinoda. The plates are of extreme importance, because they enumerate not only many Brāhmaṇa grantees, but also their gōtras and surnames. In fact, a list of these donees with these details accompanies the article of the Mahāmhōpādhyāya, and we notice that such Kāyastha surnames as Dāsa, Datta, Dēva, Ghōsha, Pāla, Pālita, Sēna, Basu and so forth, were borne by the Brāhmaṇa grantees. There was thus a time when even the Brāhmaṇas in Bengal had name-endings which are now thought to be the conspicuous feature of the Kāyastha community. Now, the question that we have to consider is: to what period are these donees to be assigned? The Nidhanpur charter was no doubt issued by Bhāskaravaraman of Prāgjyōtisha, who was a contemporary and ally of Harsha of Kanauj. It does not, however, register the original grant, which was made, not by him, but by Bhūtivarman (=Mahābhūtivarman), his great-great-grandfather. Owing to some mishap, we are told, the plates were burnt, and the grant was renewed by Bhāskaravaraman in favour of those to whom it was originally issued. The Brāhmaṇa donees specified in this epigraph belong therefore to the time, not Bhāskaravarman but of Bhūtivarman, not to the first half of the seventh century A.D., but to at least the beginning of the sixth.

       Now, the first point that we have to discuss here is about the race or extraction of the Brāhmaṇas, settled in the easternmost part of Bengal with name-endings peculiar to the Bengal Kāyastha community. The same thing was noticeable about the Nāgar Brāhmaṇas of Gujarāt and Kāṭhiāwāḍ who, about 700 years ago, bore similar Śarmans or clan-names, namely, Datta, Ghōsha, Varman, Nāga and Mitra. Is it possible that these Pañchakhaṇḍa (Sylhet) Brāhmaṇas also could be Nāgar Brāhmaṇas. It is well-known that the tutelary deity of the Nāgar caste is Hāṭakēśvara.² In fact, it may be laid down as a general rule that wherever there is Hāṭakēśvara, there must be some sort of settlement of the Nāgar Brāhmaṇas or Nāgar Banias. Now, there is a liṅga of this name actually existing in the Pañchakhaṇḍa.³ In fact, it has been known ever since the time of Vanamāla, who belonged to the Bhauma dynasty of Haruppēśvara and who flourished about the middle of the ninth century A.D. His Tējpur plates⁴ represent him to have renovated the temple of Hāṭakēśulin (Hāṭakēśvara) and made endowments to it. The temple must thus have been in existence at least one century prior to circa 830-65 A.D. when he ruled. We thus find not only that there was a settlement of Brāhmaṇas at Pañchakhaṇḍa, who, like the Nāgar Brāhmaṇas of the Valabhī charters, assumed surnames corresponding to those of the Bengal Kāyasthas, but also that they were, like the latter, worshippers of Hāṭakēśvara. Further, the attention of scholars may be drawn to a passage which occurs in the Pāradārika section of Vātsyāyana’s Kāmasūtra. The section is concerned with ȥenana women and their protection. It tells us how in different provinces palace ladies came in contact with male outsiders. It speaks of how promiscuous intercourse takes place among the Aparāntas, Vaidarbhakas, Gauḍas and so forth. But in regard to Aṅga, Vaṅga and Kaliṅga,
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¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. XII, pp. 65 ff.; Vol. XIX, pp. 115 ff. and 245 ff.
² B.G., Vol. IX, pt. i, pp. 14 and 73.
³ Assam District Gaȥetteers, Vol. II, p. 87.
⁴ Kāmarūpa-śāsanāvalī, p. 62, verse 24.