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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXIX Purāṇa, Kāmarupa was one of the four main Sakta Piṭhas where resided the god Kamēśvara and the goddess Kāmēsvari (installed on the Nila-parvata). Another passage of the same Purana speaks of the hill, on which the Pitha was situated, as Kamagiri, no doubt the same as Kamakuṭa. The Pithanirnaya (Mahāpiṭhanirupana), a standard work on the Sakta Pithas, also connects the Yöni-pitha with Kamakhya on the Kamagiri.3
It has been suggested that the capital of the second line of Pragjyōtisha kings, called Haḍapesvara in our record, was probably situated at Daha-Parbatiya in the vicinity of modern Tezpur in the Darrang District, Assam. Although nothing can be said definitely on this point, the find of the present record in that area seems to support the suggestion. Hapōsagrāma, which was the village granted by the charter under discussion, cannot be satisfactorily identified. It was situated in the Svalpa-Mangōka (literally the smaller Mangōka) mandala (district) pertaining to the Uttara-küla division which, as already indicated, is also known from other records of the ancient kings of Pragjyotisha. Interesting in this connection is also the mention of another similar division called Dakshina-küla, no doubt lying on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra, in Balavarman's inscription. The name Svalpa-Mangōka suggests the existence of another mandala called Brihan-Mangōka or the bigger Mangōka; but nothing can be said in regard to the territorial unit with the exception of the fact that it lay to the north of the Brahmaputra. Akshidāhikā and Dirghānga, which are mentioned as boundaries of Hapōsagrāma and appear to have been names of villages, also cannot be located with any amount of certainty. The word hetuka in the name of the god Hotuka-Sulin, a dilapidated temple of whom was rebuilt by Vanamalavarman, may be geographical or personal name referring either to the area where the temple was standing or to the man who was responsible for the original temple and the installation of the god. But it is difficult to be definite on this point, although persons named Hētuka are known from Indian literature.
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Prägjyotisha, famous in ancient literature, was the country, the heart of which lay in the modern Gauhati region of Assam. From the fourth century A. C., sometimes the name of the country is also given as Kamarupa, a designation possibly associated with that of the goddess Kāmā, Kamēśvari or Kamikhya.' According to Chinese sources, the boundary between this country and Pundravardhana or North Bengal was the river Karatoya, and to the east of Kamarupa "the country was a series of hills and hillocks without any principal city and it reached to the south-west barbarians [of China], hence the inhabitants were akin to the Man and the Lao." The territory called Uparipattana in the records of Vanamalavarman is not known from other sources. Since, however, the name seems to indicate literally 'the town above,' the region, which was apparently not far from Pragjyotisha, may have been no other than the hilly eastern land mentioned by the Chinese and referred to above. In line 46, while showing his knowledge in the science of erotics, the author mentions the women of the Karnața country which may be roughly identified with the Kannada-speaking area of South-western India.
We are thankful to Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra who has kindly offered some suggestions for the improvement of the transcript and translation of the inscription.
1 Chapter 64, verse 43: Kamarupam maha-pitham tathā Kāmētvarim bivam | Nilam cha parvatu-breshtham natham Kamisvaram tatha ||
Chapter 18, verse 42: Kamarupe Kamagirau nyapatad-yoni-mandalam.
Cl. The Sakta Pithas, p. 47: Yoni-pitham Kamagirau Kamakhya tatra divatā. Kamarupa-basan-anali, introduction, p. 22n.
Vide ibid., pp. 89, 116, 131.
Ibid., p. 72.
The Sakta Pilhas, p. 15.
See Watters, On Yuan Chuang's Travels in India, Vol. II, pp. 185-87.
