The delta lives by boats, and the merchants of Saptagram, Tamralipti and the Padma ports carry rice, cloth, salt and cowries.
The sources we could open give no charter, guild head or quarrel for 1200. They matter because an army can move in Bengal only by boat, and the boatmen and the cowrie landings decide who can be fed and who can be ferried.
Who he is
- Title
- Merchant and boatmen communities (no single head)
- Since
- not known
- Family
- The Suvarnavanik (gold merchants) are said in a late text (Ballalacarita, about the 15th century) to have been degraded by Ballalasena after a quarrel over a loan; legend, not evidence.
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board names the delta boatmen, the cowrie landings and Saptagram as places; we found no source for any organisation in 1200.
Overlord
Lakshmanasena.
What it holds
- Boats, ferries and landing places; no land
How it was acquired
By trade.
Allies and rivals
Allied with the king; at risk from the Sundarbans pirates and the tides.
How things stand that morning
Quiet trade; the Padma and Bhagirathi crossings are the choke points.
Wealth
Rice, cloth, salt, cowries, boats.
Military
Armed river craft.
Threats
- Siltation, floods
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1202 to 1205Boatmen decide whether the Turks can cross the Padma and follow the court east.Depends on: The Turks have no boats. Stopped by: They take boats at Nadia.
Places of note
- Saptagram (Satgaon): River port on the Saraswati; its board place.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry the-delta-boatmen, the-cowrie-landings and saptagram-satgaon: kept as points; no source for a guild.
Evidence: No source for an organisation.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Points on the river; the real power is on the water.
Primary sources for Senas of Bengal
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
- Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- The Song of Govinda, Jayadeva (late 12th century, by tradition at the court of Lakshmanasena of Bengal). A literary witness, not a chronicle. Read online
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.