Kamarupa inscriptions

The Kamarupa inscriptions are a number of 5th-century to early 13th-century rock, copper plate and clay seal inscriptions associated with the rulers and their subordinates of the Kamarupa region. The common language of these inscriptions is Sanskrit. The earliest of these inscriptions, the Umachal and Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscriptions, belong to the 5th century and written in a script which was nearly identical to the eastern variety of the Gupta script.[2] There is a steady evolution in the script over the centuries, and last of the scripts, for example the Kanai-boroxiboa inscription using a proto-Assamese script.[3] The script in this period is called the Kamarupi script, which continues development as the Medieval Assamese script from the 13th to the 19th century and emerges as the modern Assamese script.

9th-century Nagaon Copper Plate Inscription of Valavarman III. Text: trailokya vijaya tuṅga yenāpahṛtaṃ yaśo mahendrasya Kāmarūpe jitakāmarūpaḥ prāgjyotiṣākhyaṃ puramadhyuvāsa rājāprajāraṇjana labdhavarṇṇo.
Kanai-boroxiboa rock inscription, 1207 CE, shows proto-Assamese script.
The findspots of inscriptions[1] associated with the Kamarupa kingdom give an estimate of its geographical location and extent.

Though the language is Sanskrit, there appear systematic Prakriticisms that indicate an underlying colloquial Indo-Aryan language, called Kamarupi Prakrit.[4]

List of inscriptions

The list below is from (Lahiri 1991, pp. 26-27), and the numbers in the list correspond to the ones given in the find spot map.

NameKindRulerDateFind spotFind Year
1UmachalRockSurendravarman5th centuryNilachal Hills, Guwahati
2Nagajari-KhanikargaonRock-5th centuryKhanikargaon, Golaghat
3BargangaRockBhutivarman6th centuryBarganga river, Nagaon
4DubiCopper plateBhaskarvarman7th centuryDubi village, Kamrup
5NidhanpurCopper plateBhaskarvarman7th centuryNidhanpur village, Sylhet, Bangladesh
6NalandaClay sealsBhaskarvarman7th centuryNalanda, site-1, monastery 1
7Sankara NarayanaImageSri Jivara8th centuryDeopani, Golaghat
8Hari-HaraImageDiglekhavarman8th centuryDeopani, Golaghat
9TezpurRockHarjaravarman830 CETezpur
10HayunthalCopper plateHarjaravarman9th centuryHayunthal, Karbi Hills
11Deopani VishnuImage-9th centuryDeopani, Golaghat
12TezpurCopper plateVanamalavarmadeva9th centuryTezpur
13aParbatiyaCopper plateVanamalavarmadeva9th centuryParbatiya village, Tezpur
13bKaliaborCopper plateVanamalavarmadeva9th centuryDighali village, Nagaon
14UttarbarbilCopper plateBalavarman III9th centuryUttarbarbil village, Karbi Hills
15UlubariCopper plateBalavarman III9th centuryUlubari village, Darrang
16NagaonCopper plateBalavarman III9th centurySutargaon village, Nagaon
17BargaonCopper plateRatnapala1035 CENaharhabi village, Tezpur
18SuwalkuciCopper plateRatnapala1036 CESuwalkuci village, Kamrup
19CoratbariCopper plateRatnapala11th centuryCoratbari village, Nagaon
20GauhatiCopper plateIndrapala1058Barpanara village, Kamrup
21GuwakuciCopper plateIndrapala1071Guwakuci village, Nalbari
22GachtalCopper plateGopalavarman1080Gachtal village, Nagaon
23SubhankarapatakaCopper plateDharmapala12th century(not known)
24PushpabhadraCopper plateDharmapala12th centuryPushpabhadra river bed, North Guwahati
25KhonamukhCopper plateDharmapala12th centuryKhonamukh village, Nagaon
26KamauliCopper plateVaidyadeva1142Kamauli, Uttar Pradesh
27AssamCopper plateVallabhadeva1185Tezpur
28Kanai-BoroxiboaRock(not known)1206North Guwahati
29AmbariStoneSamudrapala12th-13th centuriesGuwahati
30GachtalPillar(not known)12th-13th centuriesGachtal, Nagaon
31SuryaImage(not known)9th centuryKaki, Nagaon
32GauhatiCopper bellSrikumara8th centuryGuwahati

Notes

  1. (Lahiri 1991:26–28)
  2. (Lahiri 1991, pp. 58-59)
  3. (Lahiri 1991, pp. 57-58)
  4. "... (it shows) that in Ancient Assam there were three languages viz. (1) Sanskrit as the official language and the language of the learned few, (2) Non-Aryan tribal languages of the Austric and Tibeto-Burman families, and (3) a local variety of Prakrit (ie a MIA) wherefrom, in course of time, the modern Assamese language as a MIL, emerged." (Sharma 1978, pp. 0.24-0.28)

References

  • Bora, Mahendra (1981). The Evolution of Assamese Script. Jorhat, Assam: Assam Sahitya Sabha.
  • Lahiri, Nayanjot (1991). Pre-Ahom Assam: Studies in the Inscriptions of Assam between the Fifth and the Thirteenth Centuries AD. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd.
  • Sharma, Mukunda Madhava (1978). Inscriptions of Ancient Assam. Guwahati, Assam: Gauhati University.
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