VARENDRA 97 I avail myself of this opportunity for a correction of my remarks on the participle nipista, " written'', in the Shahbazgarhi text of A£olca's rock-edicts (above, 1913, p. 654). It must not be derived from the Sanskrit nish- pishta, " ground ", but rather from nipishta, " written ", whicli occurs repeatedly in the inscriptions of the Achse- menidan kings of Persia; see Professor Tolman's Ancient Persian Lexicon, New York, 1908, p. 111. The word is still living in the modern Persian {J^>y, " to write". As the Shahbazgarhi version is the only one in which the Indian likhita, " written ", is replaced by nipista, would it be too hazardous to assume that the latter is a foreign word which was imported from Iran along with the KharoshthI alphabet ? And may pustaka, " a book ",— a word for which no satisfactory etymology is found in Sanskrit—be connected with it ? E. HULTZSCH. VARENDRA The Varendra Anusandhana Samiti (Research Society) was started in the year 1910, in the district of Rajshahi in Northern Bengal, chiefly through the exertions of Kumar Sarat Kumar Roy, M.A., of Dighapatiya in that district, with the object of carrying on antiquarian research in the tract of country called in Sanskrit literature Varendra, and in modern colloquial language " the Barind ". This is a tract of comparatively high land, which includes portions of the Malda, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, and Bogra Districts in the Rajshahi Division, with a stiff soil of reddish clayey loam, distinguishing it from the remainder of those districts, the soil of which is sandy alluvium of recent formation. In its general direction this belt of land runs east and west, comprising Western Bogra, South-Western Rangpur, Southern Dinajpur, and Northern Rajshahi, but on the JRAS. 1914. 7 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 25 May 2018 at 13:37:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00046001 98 VARENDRA west the belt takes a turn southward, and extends almost to the Ganges at Godagari, embracing the eastern portion of Malda and part of Western Rajshahi. The tract in question contains many remains of ancient towns, forts, temples, and palaces, and it appears probable that the capital cities of rulers, who at different times extended their sway over wide territories in Bengal and adjacent provinces, were situated within its limits. There is evidence that the tract was once densely populated— it probably was so at a time when the adjacent stretches of more recent alluvium had not risen high enough to be fit for habitation. In later times, owing to causes not ascertained, the Barind became depopulated, overgrown with forest, and unhealthy, while population flocked into the lower alluvial areas adjoining, as these rose higher, and became cultivable and habitable. Owing to the jungle with which they were covered or surrounded, the archaeological remains of the Barind were for a long time difficult of access to explorers, but some of them have been examined and described by different investigators, among whom Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, General Sir Alexander Cunningham, Messrs. Westmacott and Ravenshaw, and Dr. Blochmann, may be mentioned. In recent years, a great part of the Barind has again been opened up and brought under cultivation, largely through the agency of Santali immigrants, and the work of investigation has thereby been greatly facilitated. The traditional boundaries of Varendra are the Mahananda River on the west and the Karatoya on the east, the latter river marking the western boundary of Kamrup, while the Mahananda was the eastern limit of Mithila or Tirhut. Karatoya was the name borne in ancient times by the lower course of the great Tista River, from the point where it issues from the Himalayas. This part of the course of the Tista has, like so many other Indian rivers, frequently shifted. In Rennell's map of Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 25 May 2018 at 13:37:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00046001 VAEENDRA 99 1770 the Tista is shown as flowing from the hills almost due south, and ultimately joining the Ganges, whereas now it takes a south-easterly course, and joins the Brahmaputra near Chilmari in Rangpur District. It is known that in the year 1787 a change in the course of the Tista occurred, the river swinging eastward to join the Brahmaputra at Chilmari, and then combining with the Brahmaputra to force a new channel southward, Before that great change, the mighty river, which now sweeps down from Chilmari to join the Ganges at Goalanda, and is known locally as the Jamuna, but is shown on maps as forming the lower course of the Brahmaputra, did not exist,—the Brahmaputra from Chilmari flowing eastward through what is now the Maiinansing District, where an attenuated stream bearing its name is at present found. Portions of rivers, or abandoned river beds, bearing locally the name of Karatoya, are found in different places in the Jalpaiguri, Rangpur, and Bogra Districts, and probably mark some ancient course of the Tista or Karatoya. One such river, a narrow, sluggish stream, flows through the Bogra District, immediately to the east of Bogra town and of the site of an ancient city now known as Mahasthan, or " the great place ", which has been identified by some as the city of Pundravardhana, described by the Chinese pilgrim, Yuan Chwang. This Karatoya marks the eastern limit of the Barind, as it is now known, the land to the west of the river being a stiff, reddish clay, while the land to the east of it is composed of loose, friable, sandy loam. The River Mahananda issues from the Himalayas, a few miles to the west of the Tista, and takes a westerly course for some distance before it turns south to join the Ganges at Godagari. In the lower part of its course the Mahananda still marks the western limit of the Barind, the land to the east of it being comparatively high and of Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 25 May 2018 at 13:37:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00046001 100 VARENDRA a stiff soil, while to the west is alluvial land of lower level and more recent formation. The name Gauda appears to have been used in ancient times, in its narrower sense, as a synonym for Varendra, but, when the rulers of that region extended their sway to adjacent countries, the former name was employed in a wider sense, including countries subject to them besides Varendra proper. In later times the name came to be applied to the city 8 miles west of the Mahananda, which became the Muhammadan capital of Bengal. That city, known before the Muhammadan conquest as Lakhnaoti (Lakshmanavati) was first chosen as the capital of his kingdom by Lakshmana Sena, the last Hindu ruler of Gauda, and probably acquired the name of Gauda from the country of which it was the capital. Before the Muhammadan conquest, the name Gauda seems to have been always applied to a country, kingdom, or empire, not to a city. In the seventh century, at the time of Yuan Chwang's pilgrimage, Pundravardhana was the name of a kingdom subordinate to Harshavardhana's empire, and of the kingdom's capital, the site of which was probably at the place now known as Mahasthan in Bogra, at the extreme eastern limit of Varendra proper. In copper-plate grants of the Pala kings of Gauda, Dharmapala, Mahipala I, Vigrahapala III, and Madanapala, Pundravardhanabhukti is mentioned as a province or division of the kingdom. The names Pundra and Paundra, with which Pundra- vardhana is obviously connected, also appear in different ancient writings as appellations of states, or provinces, or tracts of country. The special interest of Varendra as a field of antiquarian research lies in its having been the home of the great Pala dynasty, which ruled for some three centuries over the greater part of Bengal and Bihar, and at times brought under its sway adjacent territories in Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 25 May 2018 at 13:37:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00046001 VAEENDRA 101 Northern India, forming what may properly be described as an empire. The founder of the dynasty, Gopala, who appears to have been a petty chief in Varendra, rose to power in a period of anarchy, towards the end of the eighth century, being chosen by some form of election as paramount ruler of Gauda, and succeeded later in bringing Magadha, or South Bihar, under his control. His successor, Dharmapala, extended his power further to the west, and dethroned the king of Paiichala, whose capital was Kanauj. The Senas, who replaced the Palas in the twelfth century, are believed, on acquiring Varendra, to have made their capital at Bijayanagar near Godagari in the south-west of the tract, and to have subsequently moved to Lakshmanavati, the town which afterwards took the name of Gauda. During the short period of the Varendra Research Society's existence, its members have been very active in exploring the various sites in Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur, and Dinajpur, where remains of antiquarian interest are found, and a collection has been made of specimens of mediaeval sculpture and ancient Sanskrit manuscripts, which have been housed temporarily in the building of the Rajshahi Public Library.