Kamarupa

Who rules

Title

Ruler of the Brahmaputra valley, name not known

Since

not known

Family

Nearest dated name: Vallabhadeva, last of a short "lunar" line (Bhaskara, Rayarideva, Udayakarna, Vallabhadeva) known from a single inscription of 1185 (Saka 1107). After that the first securely dated ruler is the unnamed Kamarupa king who meets Bakhtiyar Khalji's column in 1206 (sometimes called a son of Vallabhadeva; uncertain). Prithu appears from 1226-1228 (later).

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia, Kamarupa: "Their existence rests on a single 1185 inscription". Saka 1107 + 78 = 1185 CE. No inscription or dated account names a king for the 1190s or 1200.

Overlord

None attested.

What the realm holds

• The valley from the Karatoya to the Dhansiri: Goalpara, Guwahati (Pragjyotishpura), Hajo, North Guwahati (Kamarupanagara), Tezpur (Sonitpur)
• Kamakhya on Nilachal hill and Hayagriva Madhava at Hajo
• Sualkuchi (silk) and the elephant forests of the north bank
• Claims on the Kamata country west of the Manas (Koch-Mech ground) and on the Sylhet region in the south

How it was acquired

Ramapala of Bengal conquered western Kamarupa in the early 1100s and could not hold it; Timgyadeva (reigned 1110-1126 on English Wikipedia) ruled the west independently; Vaidyadeva, sent by Kumarapala, issued grants under the old elephant seal and took the title Maharajadhiraja. Central Kamarupa had the lunar line of 1120-1200 (single inscription of 1185).

Allies and rivals

The Senas to the west (Lakshmanasena's youthful expeditions against Kamarupa are claimed in the Sena plates; no Sena rule in the valley); the Kachari and Chutia polities to the east; the Koch, Mech and Bodo peoples of the west; the Khasi, Garo and Naga hill peoples south of the river. The Ghurids arrive only with Bakhtiyar's Tibet expedition in 1206.

The realm that morning

The valley is in the hands of a ruler or rulers whose names the sources do not give. The Kamakhya shrine and Hajo temple hold the idea of Kamarupa together. The Ahoms have not arrived (Sukaphaa 1228). Bakhtiyar's column has not yet entered by the north-bank road.

Wealth

Silk (Sualkuchi), eri and muga cloth, gold-washing in the rivers, salt and cotton from the hills, iron and dao steel from the Naga hills, elephants and aloe-wood, and the trade road to Tibet by Tawang and Bhutan.

Military

Not known: river boats, elephants and archers. The 1206 account shows a force able to beat a Turkish column in its own country by cutting a bridge and flooding the road. No numbers.

Threats

• Bakhtiyar's Tibet expedition by way of Kamarupa in 1206
• Koch-Mech and Kachari rivalries
• Flood and river change on the Brahmaputra

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. 1206Bakhtiyar Khalji marches from Devkot through Bengal and Kamarupa towards Tibet, guided by a Mech chief (Minhaj); the Kamarupa king cuts the road, the bridge fails, the force is destroyed and Bakhtiyar returns with about a hundred survivors (English Wikipedia).Depends on: Lakhnauti is held by the Ghurids; the Kamarupa king is able to hold the bridge. Stopped by: The column is delayed or turns back.
2. 1226 to 1228Ghiyath al-Din Iwaz of Gauda invades; he is defeated and killed in 1228; Prithu is believed to have repulsed both attacks.Depends on: Later; given for the long course only. Stopped by: Not applicable.
3. 1228Sukaphaa's Ahoms enter the upper valley and begin the Ahom state between the Kachari and the Chutia.Depends on: Later. Stopped by: Not applicable.

Places of note

• Kamakhya: Shakta shrine on Nilachal; the standing temple is a rebuilding of 1565 (board).
• Hajo (Hayagriva Madhava): Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage hill.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry kamarupa blurb: "a fragmented Brahmaputra valley kingship, poorly documented at this exact date". Agreed. The campaign board entry guwahati-pragjyotishpura: "the last king anyone can date here is Vallabhadeva from a copperplate of 1185". Agreed.
• The assignment asks me to say whether Kamarupa has a king: the answer is "not known". The Pala-era regnal dates on English Wikipedia's Kamarupa page (for example Dharmapala 1035-1060, Jayapala 1075-1100) are given without a source; we do not use them.
• The campaign board entry tezpur-sonitpur, dimapur-kachari and sadiya-country put Tezpur, Dimapur and Sadiya under Kamarupa. Dimapur and Sadiya are Kachari and Chutia ground in the sources of the 1200s; we draw them as peoples, not as Kamarupa.

Evidence: One inscription of 1185 for the central valley; Vaidyadeva's grants; the Persian account of 1206. Everything between is silence; the Buranjis and Kamarupa-anjali are late.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: A block for a kingship that cannot be named; the real order was temple towns, a river road and tribal belts.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

• 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