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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA a Kadamba tree in the south-west ; a Vētasa tree standing on the border of a piece of cultivated land in the west ; an Aśvattha tree standing on a stūpa belonging to Niśi in the north-west ; a Jambū tree in the north ; and a Suvarṇadāru tree in the north-east. Among the geographical names mentioned in the inscription, we have Lauhitya-vāridhi, Kāmarūpa, Prāgjyōtishapura, Haḍappēśvara-kaṭaka on the Lauhitya, Vārāsē-pattana-vishaya and Bappadēva-pāṭaka. Lauhitya is another name of the river Brahmaputra. Prāgjyōtishapura, capital of the Kamarūpa country, is supposed by scholars to have been situated near the site of the present town of Gauhati on the Brahmaputra. Kāmarūpa, also called Prāgjyōtisha, was the country around Gauhati. In the seventh century A.D., it extended up to the Karatōyā in the west,[1] although neither the course of the Karatōyā nor the other boundaries of the country in the early medieval period can be determined. The traditions recorded in late medieval works like the Yōginītantra can scarcely be regarded as throwing sufficient light on the point.[2] Verse 25 of our record speaks of king Balavarman’s ancestral kaṭaka (i.e. capital) which is stated to have been situated on the Lauhitya or Brahmaputra. The name of the city is given as Haḍappēśvarakaṭaka in the prose passage immediately following. This city has been identified with Dah Prabatiya near Tezpur, headquarters of the Darrang District of Assam. The gift land was situated in the locality called Bappadēva-pāṭaka which belonged to the district called Vārāsēpattana. The location of these places cannot be determined with any amount of certainty, although the name of Vārāsē-pattana reminds us of that of the Barasai range of hills about 50 miles to the south-west of Silchar.
TEXT[3] [Metres : verses 1-4, 9-10, 14, 17, 21-25 Āryā ; verses 5-6, 12, 15 Upajāti (Indravajrā and Upēndravajrā) ; verse 7 Indravajrā ; verse 11 Aupachchhandasika ; verses 8, 13, 19-20, 30 Gīti ; verses 16, 18 Anushṭubh ; verses 26-28 Vaṁśastha ; verse 29 Upajāti (Vaṁśastha and Indravaṁśā).]
1 Siddham[4] svasti | Bhavatu bhava-timira-bhiduraṁ tējō raudra[ṁ] praśāntayē jagataḥ |
parivarttatē samagraṁ [ka*]lp-ānta-ni-
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[1] Hiuen-tsang entered the Kāmarūpa country from the west after having crossed the Ka-lo-tu or Karatōyā
(cf. Watters, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, Vol. II, pp. 185 ff.).
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