Indian Journal of History of Science, 54.1 (2019) 119-124 DOI: 10.16943/ijhs/2019/v54i1/49606

Project Report

Environmental and Ecological Change: Gleanings from Copperplate Inscriptions of Early

Rajat Sanyal

INTRODUCTION of the Vaga region (6th century CE); Candra and Varman kings (9th–10th century CE) Historically defined, the geographical orbit of Bengal (comprising present Indian state of West • Southeastern Bengal: Copperplate of Bengal and the independent Republic of Vainyagupta from Comilla (5th century CE); ) witnessed the consolidation of human Deva, Rāta and Khaga kings from Comilla settlements of the historical phase from almost the (7th–8th century CE) and Copperplates of Deva middle of the first millennium BCE. It is from the kings of Comilla-Noakhali (13th century CE) third century BCE level that proper archaeological The above classificatory scheme vindicates five and epigraphic evidence from some parts of the geochronological ‘categories’ in the inscriptional region show the growth and expansion of large corpus of Bengal: the Gupta plates of fifth–sixth scale urban settlements. centuries, the post-Gupta plates of sixth century The geographical and chronological distri- hailing from eastern and southwestern Bengal, bution of copperplate inscriptions of early Bengal those of the local lineages of sixth–eight centuries, clearly suggest the four different geographical plates of the Pāla and their contemporaries of sectors from which they were issued. These are: eighth–twelfth centuries and those of the Sena and a. northern Bengal, b. western-southwestern their subordinates of twelfth–thirteenth centuries. Bengal, c. eastern Bengal and d. southeastern The primary methodology followed in this Bengal. A classified account of the plates from research involved i) The collection of epigraphic these sub-regions is summarized below: data from published sources. ii) The identification • Northern Bengal: Copperplates of the Guptas of names of large number of floral, faunal and and one post-Gupta king (5th–7th century CE); topographic terms with scientific aid from Pāla and Sena rulers (8th–12th century CE) published sources coupled with and followed by fieldwork in understanding the patterns of • Western-Southwestern Bengal: Copperplate of continuity and changes in the environmental and Vijayasena (6th c. CE); Śaśāka-Jayanāga (7th ecological configurations of the concerned micro- c. CE); Sena rulers (mid 12th c. CE) and Sena regional landscapes, supplemented with Satellite subordinates (ca. 1196 CE) imageries from such archives as Google Maps and • Eastern Bengal: Copperplates of local rulers Google earth coordinates. iii) Photographic

* The project was carried out under the sponsorship of Indian National Commission for History of Science between the period July, 2014 and June, 2017. **Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta, 1, Reformatory St. (7th Floor), –700027. Corresponding address: 23/13 Bhuban Mohan Roy Road, Flat No. 3, Second Floor, Kolkata–700008. Email: [email protected] 120 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE documentation of material assemblages of Southeastern Bengal environmental details encountered in the field. iv) The earliest southeast Bengal inscription is that A comparative study of the physical environ of of Vinayagupta found from the village of rural settlements on the basis of the inscriptional Gunaighar in the former Comilla (present data primarily from copperplate inscriptions, Barhmanberis) district of Bangladesh, dated to the supplemented by available database recorded in early sixth century (ca 507) CE. The boundary some of the stone inscriptions from the region. clause of the inscription is remarkable in that it The project was executed under the following provides a large number of details of the natural heads: and human environ of seven plots of different I. Introduction categories of land: The detailed boundary specification of the Gunaighar copperplate is II. Beyond Ecology: Boundary Clauses vis-a-vis summarized below as a case: Patterning of Rural Settlements Boundary of Plot 1: to the east, the border of III. Concluding Remarks Guikāgrahāra village and the field (ketra) of IV. Appendix I Classified Geographical Details carpenter (vardhaki) Viu; to the south, the field in Copperplate Inscriptions of Early Bengal of Miduvilāla (?) and the field belonging to the V. Appendix II Floral and Faunal Species royal monastery (rājavihāra); to the west, the Sūrī- Nāśī-Rampuraeka-Ketram; to the north, the tank (pukariī) in the enjoyment (bhoga) of DISCUSSION Doī…and the boundaries of the fields of Piyāka The first Chapter of the report concentrates on and Ādityabandhu. the history of research on inscriptional sources of Bengal and their potential for the study of the Boundary of Plot 2: to the east, border of history of environment in the Bengal delta. The Guikāgrahāra village; to the south, the field of nature of geographical-environmental data Pakkavilāla; to the west, the field of royal recovered from the copperplate charters of Bengal monastery; to the north, the field of Vaidya. suggests, as shown below with select examples, Boundary of Plot 3: to the east, the field of …; to that boundary markers in the copperplates of the south, the boundary limit of the field of Bengal had a highly varying pattern of delineation Makhadvāracharika; to the west, the field of Jolārī; on the basis of their geographical and to the north, the field of Nāgī Joāka. chronological characteristics. Further, the precise Boundary of Plot 4: to the east, the boundary limit nature of the ‘locality’ within which land transfers of the field of Buddhāka; to the south, the field of occurs is also a major determinant of the nature Kālāka; to the west, the boundary limit of the field of boundary specifications. However, a of Sūryya; to the north, the field of Mahīpāla. domineering role of different categories of water bodies and certain categories of floral vegetation Boundary of Plot 5: to the east, the is apparent from the available database. However, kaaviuggurika-ketra; to the south, the field a clearer picture is expected to be yielded after of Maibhadra; to the west, the boundary limit of the crucially significant set of copperplates from the field of Yajñarāta; to the north, the boundary eastern and southeastern Bengal is examined. limit of the village Nāda-udaka. The classified details of boundary clauses of Boundary of Plot 6 (talabhūmi, i.e. lowland the select copperplates from different sub-regions belonging to the ): to the east, the ditch of Bengal are presented below: (jolā) between the (two) landing places of boats PROJECT REPORT: COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTIONS OF EARLY BENGAL 121 at Cuāmai and Nagaraśrī (cuāmai-nagaraśrī- Eastern Bengal nauyogāyormadhye); to the south, the channel The most detailed data of a given human open to boats connected to the tank of Gaeśvara- environ is supplied in the Satya Parishat or vilāla; to the west, the end of the field belonging Madhyapada copperplate of the time of to the temple of Pradyumneśvara; to the north, the Viśvarūpasena, dated to the early thirteenth channel leading to the landing place of boats at century, found from the Dhaka district of Praāmāra (praāmāranauyogakhāta). Bangladesh. The land granted through this Boundary of Plot 7 (hijjaka-khilabhūmi at the copperplate consisted of eleven plots. Two plots entrance of the vihāra): to the east, the boundary in the Ramasiddhipāaka in Nāvya in vaga, limit of the field belonging to the temple of included within the Paurabardhana bhukti. The Pradyumneśvara; to the south, the boundary of the land having its four boundaries are: on the east filed belonging to the vihāra of the Buddhist monk devahāradeva-bhoga; on the south-west, Ācārya Jitasena; to the west, the stream (gaga) varāhakua; on the south bāgālavaā; and on Hacāta; to the north, the tank (pukariī) of the west and the north, the river. This plot given th Daa. away on the Uttarāyaa-sakrānti day of the 13 regnal year, 25 udānas yielding 60, in the village The best example of a narrative of an of Binayatilaka in the nāvya region with extraneous landscape and its ecology is found also boundaries as follows: on the east, the sea; on the in one of the copperplates of tenth century south, pranullī land, on the west, the embankment; belonging to the reign of the Candra king and on the north, the village. 165 udānas yielding Śrīcandra, found from the village of Paschimbhag 140, which lay in Navasagraha-caturaka in southeast Bengal, in the present district of included in Madhukīraka-āvitti; 25 udānas, Maulavibazar (former Comilla). Apart from the yielding 50 in Deūlahastī in Lāuhaā-caturaka regular boundary description of the granted plot, in Bikramapura; to the east and west of the the inscription furnishes an unprecedented detail river…Land including homestead plot; four plots of the landscape of Assam (Kāmarūpa): in the same village of Deūlahastī; 12 ¾ udānas Śrīcadra’s forces, in the course of their conquest of yielding 50, in Ghāgharakāī-pāaka in Urā- the Kāmrūpa country, entered the woodlands near caturaka which lay in Candradvīpa; 24 udānas the Lohitya which were covered by the clouds that yielding 50 in Pātilādivīka which lay in were the flying sea-pigeons, had Banana groves that Candradvīpa—given away by king on the were tawny owing to the ripening of the leaves or Utth nadv da day in the 14th regnal year. fruits and in which monkeys were roaming, had many ā ā śī plains on which drowsy yaks were ruminating leisurely, and were dark owing to the black aloe trees Northern Bengal (Aloe aloe barberae). Citraśilā river covered with The Jagjivanpur or Tulabhita copperplate of beautiful Storax (Styrax balsam) plants and river ninth century, found from the district of Malda Pucpabhadrā marked by valleys full of the rustling sound of the Palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) leaves. and datable to the mid-ninth century, is again a specimen of epigraphic source providing precise The boundary clause of the inscription further environmental data of a given micro-region. The specifies that the granted plot was: boundary specification of the plate suggests that bounded in the east by the embankment at granted plot of land was bounded by the following Bhatkomma , in the south by the Mai-nadī, in the landmarks: west by the canals called Jujju and Kāhaparī and the river called Vetraghaghī, and in the north by There the half stream of the river Tagila marks the Kosiyāra river (nadī). the boundary on the east and (partly) on the south 122 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE too, which is (further) demarcated by the half discernable continuity in the pattern of natural stream of Kubja-ghaikā, Kāśiggaa-bandhāka, vegetation. in the middle, stretching up to the eastern boundary A number of early medieval sites were also of Nārāyaa-vāsa. The western boundary is reported on the basis of case studies on a set of marked by Golayi nirjjhara, the low land twelfth century copperplates from the site of (avakhāta) of Ajagara-vāsaka (python habitat), Shibbati (or ‘Rajibpur’) dated in the reign of the termite mound, aśvattha tree (the holy fig tree, Ficus religiosa), the western bank (paścima pāa) Pāla king Madanapāla (Fig. 1). of Svalpanandādhāra, the vilva tree (Aegle marmelos) west of Bijjaga-bandh, the āmalaki tree Western-Southwestern Bengal (Emblic myrobalam) six reeds away (aal- A small set of copperplates dating either to the āntara). Next, the northern boundary consists of sixth century or to the twelfth century are found the east-facing northern water-holes, and (the area) from the lager western-southwestern tracts of from Nandasurāli on the south up to the half stream present . Of these, the results of of (the river) Tagila. fieldwork around Malla Sarul, one of the Fieldwork in the region resulted in the epigraphic find-spots, has already been published. discovery of a number of early medieval sites in The second major inscription, used here to and around the identifiable waterbodies. The illustrate the nature of database on local natural environ also suggests that the landscape environment, is the Sitahati (or Naihati) surrounding the identified localities show copperplate of the time of Lakmaasena.

Fig. 1. Map showing distribution of archaeological sites around the village mentioned in the Rajibpur copperplate inscription. PROJECT REPORT: COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTIONS OF EARLY BENGAL 123

Of these, the Naihati/Sitahati copperplate was bewildering varieties of waterbodies like tank taken up for a case study. The plate was found (puskariī), ditch (jolā), dried river (gaginī) and from the twin village of Naihati-Sitahati in the stream (gaga); different types of land (ketra) Ketugram PS of the Bardhaman district. The like lowland (talabhūmi), homestead land content of this inscription are like the other early (vāstubhūmi) and fallow land (khilaketra); some medieval copperplates. The boundary clause of highly interesting expressions in relation to the plate reads: maritime activities are found in some of the ...śrīvarddhanamānabhukty antapātiny inscriptions. For example, one of the boundaries uttrarāhāmaale svalpadakiavīthyā represented in the Gunaighar plate refers to a khaayillāśāsan ottarasthita sigaiānady uttarata nauyoga or ‘landing place of boats’. Besides, the nāīcāśāsan ottarastha sigaiānadīpaścim boundary clauses are witness to the regular ottarata amvayillāśāsanapaścimasthita vegetation patterns of several sub-regional sigaiāpaścimata kuumvamādakiasīm ālidakiata| kuumvamāpaścima paścimagatisīm landscapes, by way of regular references to ālidakiata| āūhāgaiādakiagopathadaki- numerous economically and medicinally useful ata tathā āūhāgaiy ottaragopathanista- plant species. paścimagati surakoāgaiakīy ottar āliparyyanta- gatasīm ālidakiata naināśāsanapūrvvasīm A fresh fieldwork at two of the epigraphic sites ālipūrvvata jalasothīśāsanapūrvvasthagopath of western Bengal resulted in the preparation of ārdhapūrvvata molāandīśāsanapūrvvasthita digitized maps of localities identifiable as modern sigaiāparyyanta gopathārtdhapūrvvata| eva counterparts of early medieval rural settlement. It catusīmāvicchinna vāllahihāgrāma... may be reiterated that the inherent geo- The complicated and at time puzzling boundary chronological disparity in the nature of occurrence clause represented above shows that rural of copperplates in different sub-regions of Bengal settlements were often recognized in terms of not is a major predicament in reconstructing a proper only natural floral and faunal landmarks, but also environmental history of the Delta in totality, the in that of human settlements contiguous to it. It nature of evidence, if supplemented with available further demonstrated that a whole cluster of rural literary accounts from the region, may result in a habitations as marked, on an apparently fairly comprehensive picture of the layers of undifferentiated landscape, in terms of their environmental changes that Bengal underwent in proximity to a single waterbody, the Sigaiā river, the early medieval period. the present counterpart of which could also be traced in the region. BIBLIOGRAPHY The first appendix is devoted to preparing Chattopadhyaya, Brajadulal. Aspects of Rural Settlements exhaustive classified database on the geographical and Rural Society in Early Medieval , K P Bagchi details found in the copperplate inscriptions of & Co., Calcutta, 1990. Bengal. The second one, on the other hand, Chattopadhyaya, Brajadulal. Studying Early India: concentrates on a thorough listing of the Archaeology, Texts and Historical Issues, Permanent distribution pattern floral and faunal landmarks Black, New Delhi 2003. that find mention in these charters. Chowdhary, Abhay Kant. Early Medieval Village in North- Eastern India (A.D. 600-1200): A Socio-economic Study, Punthi Pustak, Calcutta, 1971. CONCLUSION Ghosh, Suchandra. Understanding Boundary Represent- The major elements that find frequent reference ations in the Copper-plate Charters of Early Kāmarūpa, in the boundary clauses of the inscriptions are the Indian Historical Quarterly 41.2 (2014): 207–222. 124 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Morrison, Barrie M. Political Centers and Cultural Regions Sanyal, Rajat. ‘Archaeology of Early Medieval Rural in Early Bengal, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Settlements in Western Bengal: The Case of the Malla 1970. Sarul Copperplate’. Early Indian History and Beyond: Essays in Honour of B.D. Chattopadhyaya, pp. 175– Ray, Niharranjan. The History of the Bengali People: Ancient 211, (eds. Osmund Bopearachchi and Suchandra Period (Tr. with Intro. by John W. Hood), Orient Ghosh), Primus Books, New Delhi, 2019. Longman, Calcutta, 1994. Sen, Binay Chandra. Some Historical Aspects of Inscriptions Sanyal, Rajat. Beyond Explorations: A Case Study on Early of Bengal, University of Calcutta, 1942. Medieval Archaeology from Epigraphic Perspective, Sircar, Dinesh Chandra. Select Inscriptions Bearing on Pratna Samiksha (A Journal of Archaeology), New Indian History and Civilization. vol. 2, Motilal Series, 4 (2013): 33–51. Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Delhi.