Kamrup Kingdom, also called Pragjyotisha, was the first historical kingdom in Assam that existed between 350 and 1140 CE i.e for almost 800 years. Ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in present-day Guwahati in Kamrup and Tezpur in Central Assam it covered the entire Brahmaputra river valley and, at times, North Bengal and parts of Bangladesh.
Though the historical kingdom disappeared by 12th century to be
replaced by smaller political entities, the notion of Kamarupa persisted
and ancient and medieval chroniclers continued to call this region by
this name. Coins of Alauddin Hussain Shah, who invaded the Kamata Kingdom in the late 15th century, called the region Kamru or Kamrud.
Sources
The region is mentioned as Pragjyotisha in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The periplus of the Eritherian Sea (1st century) and Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd century) calls the region Kirrhadia after the Kirata population. The first epigraphic mention of Kamarupa comes from the Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta from the 4th century, which marks the beginning of the historical period. The Chinese traveler Xuanzang visited the kingdom in the 7th century, then ruled by Bhaskar Varman. Inscriptions left by the rulers of Kamarupa, including Bhaskar Varman, at various places in Assam and present-day Bangladesh are important sources of information.
Boundaries
According to the 10th century Kalika Purana and the 7th century Xuanzang, the western boundary was the historical Karatoya river. The eastern border is given by the temple of the goddess Tamreshvari (Pūrvāte Kāmarūpasya devī Dikkaravasini in Kalika Purana) near present-day Sadiya in the eastern most corner of Assam. The southern boundary was near the border between the Dhaka and Mymensingh districts in Bangladesh. Thus it spanned the entire Brahmaputra valley and at various times included present-day Bhutan and parts of Bangladesh.
This is supported by the various epigraphic records found scattered
over these regions.
State
The extent of state structures can be culled from the numerous copper plate grants left behind by the Kamarupa kings as well as accounts left by travelers such as those from Xuanzang.
Kings and courts: The king was considered to be of divine
origin. Succession was primogeniture, but two major breaks resulted in
different dynasties. In the second, the high officials of the state
elected a king, Brahmapala, after the previous king died without leaving
an heir. The royal court consisted of a Rajaguru, poets, learned men and physicians. Different epigraphic records mention different officials of the palace: Mahavaradhipati, Mahapratihara, Mahallakapraudhika, etc.
Council of Ministers: The king was advised by a council of ministers (Mantriparisada),
and Xuanzang mentions a meeting Bhaskar Varman had with his ministers.
According to the Kamauli grant, these positions were filled by Brahmanas
and were hereditary. State functions were specialized and there were
different groups of officers looking after different departments.
Revenue: Land revenue (kara) was collected by special
tax-collectors from cultivators. Cultivators who had no proprietary
rights on the lands they tilled paid uparikara. Duties (sulka) were collected by toll collectors (kaivarta) from merchants who plied keeled boats. The state maintained a monopoly on copper mines (kamalakara). The state maintained its stores and treasury via officials: Bhandagaradhikrita and Koshthagarika.
Grants: The king occasionally gave Brahmanas grants (brahmadeya), which consisted generally of villages, water resources, wastelands etc (agraharas).
Such grants conferred on the donee the right to collect revenue and the
right to be free of any regular tax himself and immunity from other
harassments. Sometimes, the Brahmanas were relocated from North India,
with a view to establish varnashramdharma. Nevertheless, the
existence of donees indicate the existence of a feudal class. Grants
made to temples and religious institutions were called dharmottara and devottara respectively.
Land survey: The land was surveyed and classified. Arable lands (kshetra) were held individually or by families, whereas wastelands (khila) and forests were held collectively. There were lands called bhucchidranyaya that were left unsurveyed by the state on which no tax was levied.
Administration: The entire kingdom was divided into a hierarchy of administrative divisions. From the highest to the lowest, they were bhukti, mandala, vishaya, pura (towns) and agrahara (collection of villages).
These units were administered by officials such as nyayakaranika, vyavaharika, kayastha etc., led by the adhikara.
They dispensed judicial duties too, though the ultimate authority lay
with the king. Law enforcement and punishments were made by officers
called dandika, (magistrate) and dandapashika (one who executed the orders of a dandika).
Political Background
Kamarupa, first mentioned on Samudra Gupta's Allahabad rock pillar as a frontier kingdom, began as a subordinate but sovereign ally of the Gupta empire around present-day Guwahati
in the 4th century. It finds mention along with Davaka, a kingdom to
the east of Kamarupa in the Kapili river valley in present-day Nagaon district,
but which is never mentioned again as an independent political entity
in later historical records. Kamarupa, which was probably one among many
such state structures, grew territorially to encompass the entire
Brahmaputra valley and beyond. The kingdom was ruled by three major
dynasties, all of which drew their lineage from the legendary king Naraka, who is said to have established his line by defeating the aboriginal king Ghatakasura of the Danava Dyanasty.
Varman dynasty (350-650)
Pushya Varman (350-374)
established the Varman dynasty, by fighting many enemies from within
and without his kingdom; but his son Samudra Varman (374-398), named
after Samudra Gupta, was accepted as an overlord by many local rulers. Nevertheless, subsequent kings continued their attempts to stabilize and expand the kingdom. Narayana Varman (494-518) and his son Bhuti Varman (518-542) offered the ashwamedha (horse sacrifice); and as the Nidhanpur inscription of Bhaskar Varman avers, these expansions included the region of Chandrapuri visaya, identified with present-day Sylhet division.
Thus, the small but powerful kingdom that Pushya Varman established grew
in fits and starts over many generations of kings and expanded to
include adjoining possibly smaller kingdoms and parts of Bangladesh.
After the initial expansion till the beginning of Bhuti Varman's reign, the kingdom came under attack from Yashodharman (525-535) of Malwa, the first major assault from the west.
Though it is unclear what the effect of this invasion was on the
kingdom; that Bhuti Varman's grandson, Sthita Varman (566-590), enjoyed
victories over the Gauda of Karnasuvarna and performed two aswamedha
ceremonies suggests that the Kamarupa kingdom had recovered nearly in
full. His son, Susthita Varman (590-600) came under the attack of
Mahasenagupta of East Malwa. These back and forth invasions were a
result of a system of alliances that pitted the Kamarupa kings (allied
to the Maukharis) against the Gaur kings (allied with the East Malwa kings).
Susthita Varman died as the Gaur invasion was on, and his two sons,
Suprathisthita Varman and Bhaskar Varman fought against an elephant force
and were captured and taken to Gaur. They were able to regain their
kingdom due probably to a promise of allegiance. Suprathisthita Varman's regin is given as 595-600, a very short period, at the end of which he died without an heir.
Supratisthita Varman was succeeded by his brother, Bhaskar Varman
(600-650), the most illustrious of the Varman kings who succeeded in
turning his kingdom and invading the very kingdom that had taken him
captive. Bhaskar Varman had become strong enough to offer his alliance
with Harsh Vardhana just as the Thanesar king ascended the throne in 606 after the murder of his brother, the previous king, by Shashanka of Gaur. Harsha Vardhana finally took control over the kingless Maukhari kingdom and moved his capital to Kanauj. The alliance between Harsha Vardhana and Bhaskar Varman squeezed
Shashanka from either side and reduced his kingdom, though it is unclear
whether this alliance resulted in his complete defeat. Nevertheless,
Bhaskar Varman did issue the Nidhanpur copper-plate inscription from his
victory camp in the Gaur capital Karnasuvrna (present-day Murshidabad, West Bengal) to replace a grant issued earlier by Bhuti Varman for a settlement in the Sylhet region of present-day Bangladesh.
In about 643, the Xuanzang
visited Bhaskar Varman's court. Xuangzang confirms that the western
border of the Kamarupa kingdom was the Karatoya river. At the end of
this visit, Bhaskar Varman accompanied Xuanzang to Kanauj, and
participated in a religious assembly and a festival at Prayaga (Allahabad)
with Harsha Vardhana, spending more than a year away from his own
kingdom. It seems Bhaskar Varman maintained relations with China. He
recounted to Xuanzang a Chinese song about the Jin Dynasty
which became very popular in his kingdom. After the death of Harsha, he
helped a mission from China led by Wang Hiuen-ts'oe according to a
Chinese account. Bhaskar Varman, also called Kumar, or Shri Kumar, was a
bachelor king and died without an heir.
Mlechchha dynasty (655-900CE)
After Bhaskar Varman's death without an heir, the kingdom fall into the hands of Salasthambha (655-670), an erstwhile local governor and a member of an aboriginal group called Mlechchha (or Mech), after a
period of civil and political strife. Though this dynasty too claims its lineage
from the Naraka Dynasty, it had no dynastic relationship with the previous Varman Dynasty. The capital of this dynasty was Haruppeshvara, now identified with modern Dah Parbatiya near Tezpur. The kingdom took on feudal characteristics with political power shared between the king and second and third tier rulers called mahasamanta and samanta who enjoyed considerable autonomy. The last ruler in this line was Tyāga Singha (890-900).
Pala dynasty (900-1140)
After the death of Tyāgasimha without an heir, a member of the Bhauma family, Brahmapala (900-920)),
was elected as king by the ruling chieftains, just as Gopala of the
Pala dynasty of Bengal was elected. The original capital of this dynasty
was Hadapeshvara, and was shifted to Durjaya built by Ratnapala, near
modern Guwahati. The greatest of the Pala kings, Dharmapala had his
capital at Kamarupanagara, now identified with North Guwahati. The last
Pala king was Jayapala (1075-1100). Around this time, Kamarupa was attacked and the western portion was conquered by the Pala king of Gaur Ramapala.
Non-dynastic independent Kings
The Gaur king could not hold Kamarupa for long, and Timgyadeva (1110-1126)
ruled Kamarupa independently for sometime. A minister of the Gaur king
Kumarapala (the son of Ramapala) began an expedition against Timgyadeva
and installed himself as a ruler at Hamshkonchi in the Kamrup region.
Though he maintained friendly relationships with Kumarapala, he called
styled himself after the Kamarupa kings issuing grants under the
elephant seal of erstwhile Kamarupa kings and assuming the title of Maharajadhiraja. The period saw a waning of the Kamarupa kingdom, and in 1205 the Afghan Muhammad i Bakhtiyar
passed through Kamarupa against Tibet which ended in a disaster.
Mughisuddin Yuzbak of the Mameluk rulers of Bengal attacked and defeated
an unknown ruler of Kamarupa in 1257.
But Yuzbak could not hold on to the capital as he was weakened by the
Monsoon rains that led to his defeat and death by the local population.
