|
The Indian Analyst
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA BANGAON PLATE OF VIGRAHAPALA III ; REGNAL YEAR 17 another Kōlāñcha Brāhmaṇa. That Kōlāñcha, together with Tarkārī, apparently not far from it, was one of the most renowned seats of learned Brāhmaṇas in the early medieval period is definitely suggested by numerous charters of East Indian rulers granted in favour of the Brāhmaṇas hailing from that place.1 The identification of the locality is disputed. Some scholars locate it in the ancient Śrāvastī country, i. e., the district round modern Set-Mahet on the borders of the Gonda and Bahraich Districts of the U. P., while others are inclined to place it on the borders of the Dinajpur and Bogra Districts of North Bengal.2 The suggestion of the former group of scholars appears to be more reasonable. Equally interesting is the fact that the reverential attitude of East Indian Brāhmaṇas towards the Brāhmaṇas of Kōlāñcha, as evidence by the record under review, seems to have been an important factor in the growth of the peculiar social institution, known as Kulilnism, in North Bihār and Bengal.
According to the Kulajīs or Kula-pañjikās3 of Bengal, the Rāḍhīya and Vārēndra Brāhmaṇas, who now form the bulk of the Brāhmaṇa community of Bengal, are descended from five learned Brāhmaṇas who came to Bengal from Kōlāñcha (Kānyakubja according to some versions) at the invitation of a king named Ādiśūra because of the dearth of Brāhmaṇas versed in the Vēdas in that country. Different and mutually conflicting genealogies of Ādiśūra are given in different texts. He is said to have been the ruler of Bengal and Orissa, although some authorities include in his dominions Aṅga, Kaliṅga, Karṇāṭa, Kērala, Kāmarūpa, Saurāshṭra, Magadha, Mālava and Gurjara. His capital is placed by some at Gauḍa in West Bengal and by others at Vikramapura in East Bengal. Six different religious ceremonies are mentioned by different authorities, for the performance of which the Brāhmaṇas are said to have been invited. The date of the advent of the five Brāhmaṇas is also variously put as Śaka 654, 675, 804, 854, 864, 914, 954, 994 and 999, while no less than three sets of names are offered as those of the five Brāhmaṇas. The nature of the traditions points clearly to their unreliable character. The reference to the Śaka era shows beyond doubt that the stories were fabricated after the popularisation of the use of that era in Bengal about the twelfth century A.C.4 There is evidence regarding the rule of a Śūra dynasty in Bengal.5 But no genuine ruler named Ādiśūra is known from the Bengal sources. The only Ādiśūra known to East Indian history is a petty chief who flourished in North Bihār or its neighbourhood in the ninth century A.C. Maithila Vāchaspatimiśra refers to this person in his Nyāyakaṇikā,6 a commentary on Maṇḍanamiśra’s Vidhivivēka, in the passage : nija-bhuja-vīryam=āsthāya śūrān=Ādiśūrō jayati. Vāchaspatimiśra composed his Nyāyasūchi in [Vikrama] Saṁvat 898 (vasv-aṅka-vasu-vatsarē), i.e., in 841 A.C.7 Thus Ādiśūra, contemporary of Vāchaspatimiśra, must also have flourished about the middle of the ninth century. Whether this Ādiśūra was a vassal of the Pāla emperors of Bengal and Bihār cannot be determined ; but most probably he was. In any case, he could not have been a mighty ruler. Since, however, the Pālas were Buddhists, this _________________________________________________
[1] See History of Bengal, op. cit., pp. 479-80. Kōlāñcha or Krōḍāñcha is also called Kōlañcha, Krōḍañchi and
Krōḍañja. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|