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No. 37.)
SAKTIPUR COPPER-PLATE OF LAKSHMANASENA.
213
The inscription furnishes us with the names of some hitherto unknown territorial divisions in Bengal. In the early times, modern Bengal was divided under four geographical units, viz., Varēndrī, Rādha, Vanga, and Samatata. Varēndri represented North Bengal or the modern Rājshāhi Division and Rādha comprised South-west Bengal. Rādha or Rādhã was further divided into Northern and Southern Rādha. The former was bounded by the Ajays in the south, the Bhagirathi in the east and the north, and the Santal Parganas in the west. This comprised the whole of the present Birbhum District, and part of the Murshidabad District.
The highest administrative unit was a bhukti, which was divided between mandalas and vishayas. The exact relation between a mandala and a vishaya cannot be fixed, the evidence on the subject being of a conflicting nature, most of the inscriptions from Bengal, however, refer to mandala as a subdivision of vishaya. The divisions of a mandala were khandalasi and vithis. The Nālanda plate of Dēvapāla states that Kumudasūtra-vīthi was within the Gayā-vishaya. The Naihati plate of Vallālasēna refers to & vithi which was within the jurisdiction of a mandala. This suggests that vithi was a division of a mandala and a subdivision of a vishaya. The relation between khandala and vithi is not known. The division of vithi seems to have been & khātika. The Khalimpur plates of Dharmapāla mentions & khātikā named Vēsanika. The Govindapur plate of Lakshmaņasēna refers to a khātikā. Between khātikā and chaturaka was a unit called vritta. Vritta was divided into chaturaka,' chaturaka into grāmas and grāma into pātaku.
From the records of the early Sēna kings, we know of only two bhuktis in Bengal, vit., Paundravardhana and Vardhamana. During the period of the Guptas and the Palas the Paundravardhana-bhukti comprised only the Rājshāhi Division, 10 but during the Sēna period it included a number of other territories within its jurisdiction such as Vanga (approximately the Dacca Division), and the Presidency Division 11 east of the Bhagirathi. The Vardhamana-bhukti originally comprised parts of the District of Murshidābād west of the Bhagirathi and the whole of the Districts of Birbhum, Burdwan, Bankura, Hughli, and Howrah." The Naihati plate of Vallālasēna, 13 issued in the 11th year of the king's reign (circa 1171 A.D.), states that UttaraRādha formed a mandala within the Vardhamāna-bhukti. But the present grant of Lakshmana, sēna, issued in the 6th year (circa 1183 A.D.) of his reign, refers to Uttara-Rādha as situated within the Karkagrāma-bhukti. This suggests that some territorial re-arrangements must have been effected during the intervening period, probably early during Lakshmanasēna's reign. The Kankagrāma-bhukti which is known for the first time from this inscription, must have been of recent formation and it is probable that the conquests of Lakshmaņasēna in the direction of Bihār must have made this an administrative necessity. It seems to have taken over the Northern Rādha tract from Vardhamāna-bhukti, although we know from the Govindapur gront, that the
1 Ibid., p. 24. : The Devipuräna describes Mathuri as a vithi (Chapt. LXVI, V.73% . Above, Vol. XVII, p. 321. • Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 74, 1. 38.
Above, Vol. IV, p. 253. • Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, p. 96,-1. 84. * Ibid., p. 112, 1. 40; p. 146, 11. 48-49.
Ibid., p. 170-171. . Gauda Lakha mälä, p. 135, V. 29. 10 Above, Vol. XV, p. 140; ibid., vol. IV, p.253. 11 Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. III, pp. 62, 137. 11 Ibid., PP. 74, 07. 11 Ibid., pp. 71 8.
