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Rise of Sasanka King in Gauda

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Rise of Sasanka King in Gauda CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY PATNA RISE OF SASANKA IN GAUDA SUBJECT- HISTORY INZMAMUL HAQUE RESOURCE PERSON- Dr. PRIYADARSHNI 933 (1(1 STST YEAR) 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported me during the compiling of this project. I owe my gratitude to Dr. Priyadarshni, Assistant Professor (History) under whose regular guidance this project was successfully completed by me. I am heartily thankful to the C.N.L.U. library . I would also thank my friends without whom this project would have been a distant reality. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to my family and well wishers. Lastly, I offer my regards and best wishes to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the project. 2 CONTENTs CHAPTERS PAGE NO. 1) Introduction 4 2) Rise of Gauda 5-6 3) History of Gauda/Gaur 7 4) Historical measurement and statistics in Gauda/Gaur 8 5) Architecture style of Gauda/Gaur 9 6) Notable structure at Gauda/Gaur 10 7) Shashanka/Sasanka 11 8 ) Extent of Shshanka’s kingdom 12 9)Extending political influence of Shashanka 13 10) Contemporary sources 14 11) Shashanka’s war with Harshvadhana 15 12) Art and architecture of Shashanka’s dynasty 16 13)Conclusion 17 14)Bibliography 18 3 INTRODUCTION Gauda the city is better known under its ancient name , gaur. Its first recorded reference is by the gramarrian Panini , and its location may be inferred to have been in eastern India . Shashank is often attributed with creating the first separate political entity in a unified Bengal called Gauda and as such is a major figure in Bengali history. He reigned in 7th century AD, and some historians place his rule approximately between 590 AD and 625 AD. He is the contemporary of Harshvardhana. His capital was called Karnasuvarna and is located in modern Murshidabad. The development of the Bengali Calendar is also often attributed to Shashanka as the starting date falls squarely within his reign. Shashanka has been described both in the inscriptions and literary accounts as the ruler of Gauda. In the narrower sense Gauda is the territory between the river Padma and Bardhaman region. But in course of time it embraced much wider area. In the Satpanchasaddeshavibhaga, the seventh patala of Book III, Shaktisangama Tantra Gauda is said to have extended from the vanga country up to Bhuvanesha (ie Bhubaneshwar in Orissa). It is not unlikely that the author had described the extension of Gauda country keeping in mind the kingdom of Shashanka, which also embraced a part of Orissa. 4 Rise of Gauda Gauda (Janapada) an important geographical entity in ancient and medieval Bengal. The Arthashastra refers to it along with vanga, pundra and kamarupa. Though the geographical limit of the Gauda country is not mentioned, the fact that it is linked with Vanga and Pundra definitely indicates its location in eastern India. Vatsayana (3rd - 4th century AD) was familiar with this country. This geographical idea continues even in the Puranas as it is regarded as one of the janapadas of the eastern quarter. Varahamihira (c 6th century AD) was also aware of Gauda janapada. In his Brhat Sanghita he mentions six distinct janapadas viz: Gaudaka, Paundra, Vanga ,samatata, Vardhamana and tamralipta. It appears from his narration that Murshidabad, Birbhum, and western Burdwan formed the territory of ancient Gauda. The earliest epigraphic evidence referring to the territory of the Gauda people is the Haraha inscription of the Maukhari ruler Ishanavarman and is datable to 554 AD. It is stated in the inscription that Ishanavarman defeated the Gaudas who live near the sea (Gaudan samudrashrayan). This statement finds corroboration in the undated Gurgi inscription of Prabodhashiva (c 11th century AD) which describes the Lord of Gauda as 'lying in the watery fort of the sea' (jalanidhi jaladurggam Gauda rajo dhishete). The evidence of these two epigraphs drives home the fact that the Gaudas, at least at one point of history, lived in the coastal region. With the passage of time and change in the political scenario the connotation of Gauda, however, underwent changes. The rise of shashanka, the ruler of Gauda, as a formidable power in the early part of the 7th century AD definitely led to the extension of the territorial limits of Gauda. From the accounts of hiuen-tsang we learn that he travelled from the country of karnasuvarna to a region in coastal Orissa, and the area was ruled by Shashanka. Obviously, the territory of Karnasuvarna stretched up to littoral West Bengal. Interestingly, this king Shashanka is described in Banabhatta's Harsacharita as the Lord of Gauda whose capital was at Karnasuvarna. In fact, Bana castigates him as Gauda bhujanga (the dangerous Gauda snake). Thus in the early part of the 7th century Gauda and Karnasuvarna were co-terminous. On the basis of Hiuen Tsang's itinerary and the archaeological remains of raktamrittika mahavihara, Karnasuvarna, the capital city of Gauda kingdom has been located near Chiruti in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Hence Murshidabad formed the core area of Gauda. The political limits of the geographical name Gauda further extended to the region of north Bengal, ie Pundravardhana. From the Aryamanjushri Mulakalpa we learn that Pundravardhana was ruled by Shashanka. This statement finds corroboration in the allusion to a struggle in the 5 Dubi plates between Susthitavarman and Bhaskarvarman of Kamarupa on the one side and the king of Gauda on the other. As a ruler Bhaskarvarman's contemporary was Shashanka. The struggle might have taken place in north Bengal. We know from Hiuen Tsang that Pundravardhana and Kamarupa were contiguous territories. Thus Gauda under Shashanka embraced parts of west Bengal, including its coasts, and north Bengal (at least for a short time). The appellation Gauda was applied even to areas outside Bengal. It was used in a political sense in the Gaudavaho of Vakpati. In Vakpati's account Magadha was included within the realm of the Gauda ruler. In the early medieval period, the term Gauda had a wider connotation. The Rastrakuta and the Pratihara records styled the Pala rulers as Gaudeshvara,Gaudendra, Gaudaraja etc. This obviously implies that the name Gauda, which originally denoted parts of West Bengal, became so diffused that during the 8th and 9th centuries it was sometimes synonymous with the entire Pala kingdom. We come across the term Pancha Gauda for the first time in the famous historical chronicle of Kashmir, the Rajatarangini of Kalhana. This indicates the widest diffusion of the name Gauda. Pancha Gauda referred to Gauda in association with Sarasvata, Kanyakubja, Mithila, and Utkala. It thus appears that originally Gauda janapada lay to the west of Bhagirathi and that its core area was Murshidabad. Gradually, with the increase of the political might of Shashanka, the first independent ruler of Gauda, in the early part of 7th century AD, the political limits of Gauda extended stretching in the south to coastal Orissa and the north to Pundravardhana. The term sometimes even denotes the entire Pala empire. In the 13th century gaur under the Bengal Sultans denoted the entire area of the sultanate. Its capital, also called Gaur, stood at the site previously known as Laksmanavati, and renamed lakhnauti by the Muslim sultans. 6 CONCLUSION Shashanka, the controversial Bengali monarch who ruled over the kingdom of Gaur from 600 to 638 and checked the eastward march of the imperial armies of Gupta king Harshavardhana, had his capital here. Karnasubarna is now home to the ruins of the ancient Buddhist university of Raktamrittika. Following his death, Shashanka was succeeded by his son, Manava, who ruled the kingdom for 8 months. However Gauda was soon divided amongst Harshavardhana and Bhaskarvarmana, the latter even managing to conquer Karnasuvarna. It is also said that the death of Shashanka was followed by a period of plitical turmoil. In 750 AD Gopala was elected as the King of Gaur. This led to the foundation of Pala dynasty in Bengal.Gopala was succeeded by his son Dharmapala(775-810 AD) who in turn was succeeded by Devapala(810-850 AD).Each of them consolidated the dynasty’ s portion in Bengal and the surrounding region making the Pala’s as one of the most powerful dynasties during that period. The monuments of Gaur are now looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India. The brick work of several monuments have been restored, though none to its early perfection or completeness. The ASI is also carrying out excavations of a mound about a kilometer from the Chikha building within the Baisgaji wall where remains of a palace are turning up. 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 1) R. C. Majumdar, History of Bengal, Dacca, 1943, pp 58– 68 2) Sudhir R Das, Rajbadidanga, Calcutta, 1962 3) R. C. Majumdar, History of Ancient Bengal, Calcutta, 1971 4) P. K. Bhattacharyya, Two Interesting Coins of Shashanka, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, London, 2, 1979 External links 1) http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/G_0047.HTM 2) http://www.rangan-datta.info/Karnasubarna.htm 3 )http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/524701/Shashanka 4) http://www.indiaheritage.org/history/history_bengal.htm 5 )http://www.bengalgenocide.com/history02.php 6 )http://www.indianmirror.com/dynasty/shashanakadynasty.html 18.
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