Samatata and Pattikera

Who rules

Title

Local king or kings of Pattikera (Mainamati), name not known for 1 January 1200

Since

not known

Born

not known

Family

The nearest dated name is Ranavankamalla Harikaladeva of Pattikera (plate of 1220 CE, Banglapedia Mainamati); after him Damodaradeva and Dasarathadeva in the 13th century.

Confidence

low

Nothing in the sources reachable names a ruler of Samatata or Pattikera for 1199-1200. The Harikaladeva plate calls Pattikera a country "adorned with forts and monasteries", so a kingdom with its own court existed twenty years later; we draw it as held by that unnamed line.

Overlord

None attested. The Senas claim the whole delta, but the Pattikera kings of 1220 are not their subjects, and no Sena plate lands east of the Meghna.

What the realm holds

• The Lalmai-Mainamati ridge and its monasteries (Salban, Ananda, Bhoja viharas, Kotila Mura, Charpatra Mura)
• Devaparvata (Bara Kamta) and the plain round Comilla and Pattikera
• Feni, Noakhali and the Meghna estuary islands
• Chittagong (Chatigrama) and the Karnaphuli mouth, a port the Arab shipping has used since the 9th century

How it was acquired

Not known. The ground passed from the Khadgas (7th century) to the Devas of Devaparvata (8th century) to the Chandras of Harikela (10th century, Govindachandra the last known) and then to Varmans and Senas in the west; Pattikera appears as a separate country in Burmese and Tibetan texts and again in the 1220 plate.

Allies and rivals

The Senas on the Meghna (claimant, not ruler); the Tripuri hill kings (Rajmala, late); the Arakanese kings of the Lemro valley (Chittagong has been claimed by Arakan in the chronicles; the Arakan Chronicle is late); Kamarupa and Srihatta to the north-east.

The realm that morning

No ruler can be named. Buddhist monasteries at Mainamati are still occupied (Kotila Mura had an Abbasid gold coin in an upper level, so it was in use into the 13th century), and the port of Chittagong is open. The Sena claim runs to the Meghna; beyond it the ground is held by a local line that is independent by 1220 and probably earlier. Treat it as unwatched by the Senas and unharmed by the Ghurids.

Wealth

Rice, cotton, areca and coconut, the Chittagong ship trade (horse and metal imports, cloth and rice out), Harikela-type silver coin (over 500 thin silver coins of Arakanese type found in the Deva levels at Mainamati: early, not 1200).

Military

River boats, hill-edge archers and the elephants of the Tripura and Chittagong hills; forts are mentioned in the 1220 plate but none is located. No numbers.

Threats

• A Sena claim pressed from Vikramapura
• Arakanese seaborne raids on Chittagong
• Tripuri hill raids on the plain
• The Meghna estuary 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.

1. 1220 (the Mainamati plate of Ranavankamalla Harikaladeva, dated 1220 CE on Banglapedia; the era is the Pattikera year 1141, not converted here)A Pattikera king named Harikaladeva grants land from a country "adorned with forts and monasteries"; this fixes an independent court twenty years after the game opens.Depends on: The Pattikera line survives the Ghurid and Sena disturbances of 1200 to 1220. Stopped by: A Sena or Arakanese conquest; the line is extinguished.
2. 13th century (Mehar plate of Damodaradeva, Chittagong plate of the same king, Dasarathadeva after him)The Deva kings of the 13th century hold Samatata and the delta east of the Meghna; Dasarathadeva later takes Vikramapura from the Senas.Depends on: The Sena sons stay weak in Vanga. Stopped by: The sons recover.

Places of note

• Mainamati-Lalmai monasteries: Salban Vihara 115 cells (Banglapedia), Kotila Mura three stupas, Ananda Vihara.
• Chittagong (Chatigrama): Port; Arab shipping since the 9th century.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry pattikera: "nobody can say who holds it now or whether he owes the Senas anything". Agreed. The campaign board marks it Sena-contested; we draw it as samatata (independent, ruler not known) because the 1220 plate shows a separate court.
• The campaign board entry devaparvata-bara-kamta: "By 1200 the Deva and Chandra houses are long gone". Agreed for the 8th-century Devas and the Chandras; the 13th-century Devas are a later line.
• The campaign board entry chatigrama-chittagong: nothing names the lord of Chittagong in 1200. Agreed.

Evidence: Archaeology (Mainamati) and the plates of 1220 and later; no document of 1199-1200 names a ruler.

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

On the map: A court without a named king, drawn from archaeology and a later plate. The Chittagong part is contested because nothing names its lord.

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