The Karnatas of Mithila

Who rules

Name

Narasimhadeva

Title

Maharaja Narasimhadeva (reconstructed), king of Mithila (Tirhut)

Since

1188 (English Wikipedia, Karnat dynasty: "succeeded his father in 1188"); the king list in the same article gives 1187; neither is tied to an inscription

Born

not known

Family

Karnata dynasty founded by Nanyadeva (taking of the land dated Saka 1019 = 10 July 1097 by a pillar inscription); Gangadeva his successor (invaded Gauda after 1147); Narasimhadeva; then Ramasimhadeva, Saktisimhadeva and Harisimhadeva (reigned 1295-1324, last).

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia says the table of rulers is empty and the order after Nanyadeva is debated; the only dated points are 1097 (inscription) and 1324. Narasimhadeva's 1187/1188 start is a reconstruction. Vidyapati (about 1400) names him with a Chahamana ally in an anecdote about the Sultan of Delhi.

What the realm holds

• Tirhut: the plain between the Gandak and the Kosi, Champaran, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Madhubani and Hajipur at the Gandak mouth
• Simraungarh (in Nepal, anchored here), the main capital and an earthwork fortress at the edge of the tarai forest
• Darbhanga, the second capital under Gangadeva
• Vaishali (Basarh), a ruin field of the Licchavi city
• The fords of the Bagmati, Kamala and Kosi and the Brahman villages (Mahishi and others)
• A loose hegemony over the princes of Nepal in Nanyadeva's time, since lost (Arimalla broke away)

How it was acquired

Nanyadeva took the land in 1097 (Saka 1019, 10 July 1097 on the pillar inscription); Gangadeva added Darbhanga as a capital and fought towards Gauda; Narasimhadeva succeeded in 1187 or 1188.

Allies and rivals

The Senas to the east (Lakshmanasena's growth likely cost Mithila ground, perhaps part of Purnia); the Gahadavalas to the west (relations quiet; the Mithila prince Malladeva spent time at their court); the Pithipatis and the Pala-line king across the Ganges; Nepal to the north, over which Nanyadeva held a loose hegemony; the Ghurids, of whom Vidyapati tells that Narasimhadeva and a Chahamana Cacikadeva helped the Sultan of Delhi; English Wikipedia sees no evidence that the Karnatas were subservient.

The realm that morning

The king is Narasimhadeva on the reckoning above; he is not attested by an inscription of 1199 or 1200. The kingdom is at peace. The Ghurids are not yet on the Gandak; Bakhtiyar's base in the Mirzapur country lies several hundred kilometres west and he has not crossed the Ganges at Tirhut. The strongest asset is the Sanskrit and Maithili learning kept in endowed villages.

Wealth

Rice, fish, oilseed and the surplus that pays for the schools; elephants from the tarai forest; the Nepal road (salt and wool down, rice and cloth up) which is the Tibet map's ground; cowries and silver for payments.

Military

Retinues of the king and his samantas; elephants; the tarai fever belt as a wall in the wet months. Simraungarh is an earthwork town. No numbers and no record of a campaign in the 1190s.

Threats

• Ghurid or Khalji raiding across the Ganges in the 1200s
• Sena claims in Purnia and the Kosi country
• Nepal's breakaway princes
• Flood: the Kosi shifts

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.

In 1200

1. 1200s to 1210s (no date)Minhaj records that Ghiyath al-Din Iwaz took tribute from several neighbours of Lakhnauti, among them Tirhut; if the Karnatas pay, it is after the Ghurids hold Lakhnauti (1204 or 1205), not in 1200.Depends on: Bakhtiyar's successors hold Lakhnauti and ride north across the Ganges. Stopped by: The Karnatas fight on the Gandak and Kosi; the Ghurids turn to Kamarupa or Odisha.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1324Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq storms Simraungarh and Harisimhadeva withdraws to the hills; the Karnata line ends.Depends on: Not applicable to 1200; given for the long course only. Stopped by: Not applicable.

Places of note

• Darbhanga: Second capital; district rather than a walled town in 1200.
• Hajipur at the Gandak mouth: Ganges port and Harihar Kshetra at Sonepur across the Gandak mouth.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry simraungadh is N:tib (Bara district, Nepal); the Karnata realm is mine, so Simraungarh is anchored here but not drawn as a record. Janakpur (board janakpur-videha) is the Tibet map's.
• The campaign board entry blurb for the Karnatas says the kingdom was "held on the usual reckoning by Narasimhadeva". Agreed; we mark it low confidence because the list is a reconstruction.
• The campaign board entry mahishi-ugratara: the tradition of Mandana Mishra's home there is not contemporary; kept as a point only.

Evidence: Two dated inscriptions of the dynasty, the Panji tradition and later Maithili texts; the order of kings is a reconstruction.

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

On the map: The outline follows the Gandak, the Ganges and the Kosi with the Nepal edge; the 1200 patchwork of Brahman villages and samanta lands cannot be drawn.