Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 255

DECEMBER, 1932]
TO THE EAST OF SAMATATA
229
called Dvârâvati, lying on the eastern bank of the Karnaphuli, and evidently towards the north, was in existence down to seventeenth century A.D. Again, its position, as being conterminous with the Tipperah region, is clearly indicated by a couplet occurring in a MS. of the so-called Parâgali Mahabharata, composed probably between 1522-25 A.D.,15 which purports to say that Hussain Shah of Bengal, styled 'the lord of the five Gaudas,' bestowed (the governorship of) Tripurâ and Dvârikâ (i.e., Dvârâvatî) upon Parâgala Khân, 16 his general, whose patronage the poet of the work enjoyed. It further seems likely that the city served as a 'door land' to Hill Tipperah from the south or south-east, for in another MS., viz., that of a Bengali translation of the Mahabharata by Jaimini, a verse of a similar nature reads that a king of Gauda, whose name is given as Sultan Alpalêñcana, conferred the governorship of the door-land (drâra) of Tipperah17 upon one of his officers.
Hiuen Tsang's information was that the kingdom of Dvârâvatî was to the east of Kamalanka, precisely what we find in respect of this Dvârâvatî, and we may without any great risk of error suppose that this is the kingdom referred to by the pilgrim. It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Bhattâcârya's' conclusion, though not his arguments, makes a near approach to truth.
Still to the east of Dvârâvatî was I-shang-na-pu-lo, restored as Îsânapura, which cannot be located with precision, but a kingdom having had Dvârâvati and Mahâ-campâ (Mo-hachan-p'o) to its west and east respectively must needs be supposed to have covered a more or less extensive part of Upper Burma or North Indo-China, or of both, of the modern atlas. It requires, however, to be noted that I-tsing in his Nan-hae-khi-kwai-niu-fa-chu'en makos no mention of Îśânapura; according to him, eastward of Dvârâvatî, on the extreme frontier, is the country of Lin-i18 (Campâ, or, more correctly, the southern portion thereof).
It is generally believed that isânapura is Cambodia, and the fact that " Isânavarman was reigning there probably at that very time or a few years before it,"19 lends colour to the belief; but the belief itself does not accord with reality. Even accepting it to be true, we would be constrained to regard Yen-mo-na chou as identical with Yavadvipa or Java, or as a fabulous island in the Vayu-purâna,20 both being equally absurd.
Modern researches have made it irrefragably certain that Mahâcampâ (I-tsing's Chanp'o), although its extent varied at different periods, corresponds roughly to the southern portion of Annam, comprising the provinces of Quang-nam in the north and Binh-Thuan in the south with the intervening country.21 A very important part was played by Campâ in the political and religious history of Further India from the third to the fifteenth century A.D., when its power was crushed by the aggressive Annamites, and it still holds the distinction of being the country possessing the earliest Sanskrit inscription in Further India, viz., that of Vo-can, which dates from the second century A.D. The foundation of the first Hindu dynasty of Campå, probably sometime between 190 and 193 A.D., is associated with the name of Srimara, identified with Kiu-lien (G. Maspero, La Royaume de Champa).
The position of Campå being definitely established, it becomes easy to affirm that Yenmo-na-chau (Yavana-dvipa, the island of the Yavanas) to its south-west, represents Cambodia, the ancient Kamboja, and the Funan (Poh-nan) of I-tsing and other Chinese accounts. Girt by the sea on three sides, why it has been called a dvipa, or island, may be explained
15 Vangiya Sahitya Parisad Patrikd, 1334 (B.S.), pp. 166-168.
16 Descriptive Catalogue of Bengali MSS. in the Vangiya Sahitya Parisad, by Munsi Abdul Karim, vol. I, No. II, p. 26.
17 Vangiya Sahitya Parisad Patrika, 1313 (B.S.), p. 182.
18 Ind. Ant., X, p. 197.
19 Indian Cultural Influence in Cambodia, by Bijan Raj Chatterjee, Cal. Univ., 1928, pp. 257-258.
20 Beal, Records, II, p. 200 and notes.
21 Sir Charles Eliot's Hinduism and Buddhism, 1921, vol. III, p. 137.
22 Ind. Ant., vol. X, p. 197.