Visvarupasena

Who he is

Name

Visvarupasena

Title

Prince (kumara), later Maharajadhiraja (1206 to about 1225)

Since

prince in 1200; reign 1206-1225 on English Wikipedia (Sena dynasty); Banglapedia gives no dates

Born

not known

Family

Son of Lakshmanasena; brother of Kesavasena (who follows him).

Confidence

medium

His plates grant land in the Vikramapura and Vanga areas (Banglapedia). By our memory his plates call him "the Rudra of the doom of the Garga Yavanas", a boast of victory over Muslim raiders; not checked in this work.

Overlord

Lakshmanasena.

What it holds

• No attested holding in 1200
• After 1206: Vikramapura and Vanga (land grants in the Vikramapura area)

How it was acquired

By birth; succeeded in 1206.

Allies and rivals

His brother Kesavasena; the court poets; the Turks of Lakhnauti after 1204 or 1205.

How things stand that morning

A prince at the old king's court. His age is not known. Do not give him a command in 1200 unless the campaign wants one.

Wealth

The royal house's.

Military

None attested for 1200.

Threats

• His father's death
• The Turks

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.

1. 1206Succeeds Lakshmanasena; keeps the east from Vikramapura.Depends on: His father dies about 1206. Stopped by: A dispute with Kesavasena or an earlier death.
2. 1206 to 1225 (English Wikipedia)Reign of Visvarupasena; his plates issue from the Vikramapura camp.Depends on: The delta holds. Stopped by: A Turkish crossing.

Places of note

• Vikramapura: The camp later used for his plates.

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment calls both sons "his sons with his court"; the sources give them no role before 1206. Which was the elder is not stated; the order of succession (Visvarupa then Kesava) suggests Visvarupa.

Evidence: Later plates only.

On the map: No holding is drawn for 1200; his later core is Vanga.

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