Kingdom of Gauḍa Gāuṛa Rājya | |||||||||||||
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| c. 4th century AD (pre-Gupta) 554–626 750–1230 | |||||||||||||
![Map of the Shashankas or "Gauda Kingdom", circa 600 CE.[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMap_of_the_Shashankas.png) Map of the Shashankas or "Gauda Kingdom", circa 600 CE.[1] | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Karnasuvarna (present dayMurshidabad district,West Bengal,India) | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism (Shaivism) | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Maharajadhiraja | |||||||||||||
• 554–590 | Jayanaga | ||||||||||||
• 590–625 | Shashanka | ||||||||||||
• 625–626 | Manava | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | India Bangladesh | ||||||||||||
TheGauḍa kingdom was a kingdom during theClassical era in theIndian subcontinent, which originated in theGauda region ofBengal (modern-dayWest Bengal andBangladesh)[2][3] in 4th century CE or possibly earlier.[4]
A BuddhistMahāyāna TextMañjuśrī-Mūlakalpa records the existence of Gauda kingdom in Bengal before it was replaced byGupta Empire in the 4th century. King Loka who was born in Vardhamāna (Bardhamān) is mentioned who must have ruled in the early 4th century CE.[5]
KingShashanka is often attributed with creating the first separate political entity in a unifiedBengal calledGauda. He reigned in 7th century, and some historians place his rule approximately between 590 and 625.[citation needed] His capital was atKarnasubarna, 9.6 kilometres (6.0 mi) south-west ofBaharampur, headquarters of Murshidabad district.[2] The Chinese monk,Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) travelled from the country of Karnasubarna to a region in the present-day state of Orissa ruled by Shashanka.[3] There is mention ofPundravardhana being part of Gauda in certain ancient records.[6] Not much is known about the early life of Shashanka. Historian D K Ganguly is reported to have concluded that he was a native of Magadha.[7] The same source reports that the historianPadmanath Bhattacharya took Shashanka to be a son of Mahāsenagupta. R D Banerji concluded that he was descended from the Magadha Guptas.Nagendranath Basu has argued that Shashanka was the son / descendant of Raja Karnadeva, who founded the city ofKarnasubarna in Bengal.[8]
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In some sources, Shashanka is described as a tribal leader of Bengal.[10] Shashanka's name appears in multiple forms, including Śaśānka and Śaśānka-deva. The name is derived fromSanskrit, as another name for the Moon. Śaśānka-deva therefore loosely translates to "moon god".
The Hindu godShiva bears the epithetShashankasekhara, meaning, "he who bears the moon". The Chinese monkXuanzang's writings, he is mentioned as She-Shang-Kia. He is also called Śaśānka Narendragupta, which initially lent credence to the claim that he was descended from the later Guptas.[11] In Sinha's Dynastic History of Magadha, the names 'Śaśānka' and 'Soma' are used interchangeably. Some historians believe that Shashanka began his career as a feudatory chief (mahasamanta) under Mahasenagupta, of theLater Gupta Dynasty.[12] And that after the death of Mahasenagupta, Shashanka drove the later Guptas and other prominent nobles out of the region and established his own kingdom with his capital atKarnasubarna. Other historians like Sailendra Nath Sen is of the opinion that Mahasenagupta - already under pressure from the Maukharis (for failing to provide adequate protection) - wouldn't have knowingly appointed Shashanka to such an important position. Middleton (2015) argues in a similar vein that Shashanka served asmaha samanta to a Gauda king, possiblyJayanaga.[13] Whether Shashanka was a feudatory under the Maukharis or the Guptas is not known. By 605 C.E. following Mahasenagupta's death, Shashanka had established what became known as the Gauda kingdom. From there, he issued gold coins to celebrate his triumph, and came to be addressed asMaharajadhiraja (king of great kings). According to some sources the city ofGauda was founded by King Shankaladeva. He, originally, was a native ofKannauj. In the book,History of Hindostan (originally translated from the bookGulshan-i-Ibrahimi written byFirishta), it has been stated that Shankaladeva (Sinkol) was a native of Kannauj (Kinoge) and established the city of Gauda during the 8th century BC.[14] Following his death, Shashanka was succeeded by his son,Manava, who ruled the kingdom for eight months. However Gauda was soon divided amongstHarshavardhana and Bhaskarvarmana ofKamarupa, the latter even managing to conquer Karnasuvarna.
Evidence is inconsistent regarding links of Gauda with theRarh region. While Krishna Mishra (11th or 12th century), in hisPrabodha-chandrodaya, mentions that Gauda Rashtra includes Rarh (or Rarhpuri) and Bhurishreshthika, identified withBhurshut, inHooghly andHowrah districts, the Managoli inscription of theYadava kingJaitugi I distinguishes Lala (Rarh) from Gaula (Gauda).[2]
According to Jain writers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Gauda included Lakshmanavati in present-dayMalda district.[2]
ThePala emperors were referred to as Vangapati (Lord of Vanga) and Gaudesvara (Lord of Gauda).Sena kings also called themselves Gaudesvara. From then Gauda and Vanga seem to be interchangeable names for the whole of Bengal.[2]
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