Epigraphia Indica Vol 27

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 45

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXVII
Nārāyana image inscription in the district of Tippera, and mentioning the village of Bilakinda modern Bilkenduāi close by, 'as included in Samatata', finally settles the question. With this point inside Samatata we can clearly see that the region north of the sea-shore in Noakhāli District, bounded by the Lauhitya or the Brahmaputra river on the west and the hills of Tippera and Sylhet on the east was the ancient pralyanta kingdom of Samatata. Hiuen Tsang gives the circuit of the country as 3000 li, equivalent to about 600 miles. If the Chinese traveller was even approximately correct in his measurements, we can easily visualise the extent of the kingdom of Samatata. A look at the map will show that the strip of land between the Brahmaputra and the hills of Tippera is nowhere more than about 40 miles broad. But we have to accommodate here a kingdom 600 miles in circuit. If the sum-total of the sides of a rectangle is 600 miles, and one of the sides is only 40 miles, the other side must be about 250 miles. We thus see that to accommodate a kingdom of the circuit of about 600 miles, we have to include within it the entire plain area, bounded by the Garo, the Khasi and the Jaintiä Hills on the north, the hills of Kachar and Tippera on the east, the sca on the south, and the mighty river Brahmaputra on the west. That is to say, the ancient kingdom of Samatata comprised the modern districts of Sylhet, Tippera and Noākhāli, as well as the eastern half of the Mymensingh District, and a narrow strip from the easteru side of the present Dacca District,--an area, the circuit of which is approximately 600 miles.
The kingdom of Samatata thus marked off, we can easily locate Davāka on the other side of the hills bordering Samatata on the north, in the Kapili, the Yamunā and the Kullong valleys, i.e., the present Nowgong District. Beyond this region, to its north-west, lay the kingdom of Kamarūpa.
The western boundary of the kingdom of Kamarūpa is marked by the river Karatöya from time immemorial. Not only is this boundary recognised in the Kālikāpurana and the Yöginitantra, but the more authentic Chinese sources also confirm it, where the river Ka-lo-tu, i.e., Karatoya, is placed as boundary between Pundravardhana and Kämarupa'. In the cast, the boundary of Kamarūpa reached the frontiers of China, but was never very well defined. What separated Davāka from Kamarupa is also not very clear
As already stated, the separate naming of these three kingdoms as pratyunta kingdoms, whose kings paid Samudragupta all manner of tributes and sought his pleasure by obedience, obeisance and personal attendance (-ūdi-pratyanta-ngi patibhir=........ sarven-karadūn-ījñākarana-praņāmāgamana-paritoshita) would indicate the separate existence of these three kingdoms during this period, i.e., towards the end of the reign of Samudragupta by about 380 A. D.3 In 428 A. D., king named 'Moon-loved' (Chandragupta ?), king of the Kapili country, sent an embassy to China. The capital of the country is described as situated by the side of a lake to the east of a river and surrounded on all sides by dark purplish rocks. This Kapili country has been sought to be identified with the kingdom of Davāka of the Kapili valley, though it is difficult to understand why the proper name ol the country should not be mentioned, and the couutry should be made knowu by the name of the river.
It should le noted, however, that the Dabokā region is to the east of the river Kapili, and is practically surrounded on all sides by dark hills, and as such, corresponds rery closely to the Chinese description of the country of Kapili. The hills of Kachar are to the sonth of this regior, while the south and the south-west are covered by the Khasi and the Jaintia Hills. To the east and the north-east are the hills of Dabokā (the Mabāmāyā Hills) and the Mikir Hills. The direct
1 Alove, Vol. XVII, p. 355. • Watars' Yuan Chwang, Vol. II, page 186. * Abovo, Vol. XXI, page 3. "J.R.A. 8., 1898, page 540. Barua : Early History of Kamarupa, pago 47.