Kotivarsha

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Kotivarsha (कोटिवर्ष) was a Vishaya (territorial division), itself part of the wider administrative unit of Pundravardhana Bhukti, which had Mahasthangarh as its capital in the period of Chandras, Varmans and Senas.

Variants

• Kotivarsha (कोटिवर्ष) (AS, p.231)
• Kotivarsa (कोटिवर्ष)

History

The earliest mentions about the Kotivarsha town are found in the Vayu Purana (XXIII,209) and the Brihat Samhita (XI,II). Lexicographers, Hemchandra (the Abhidhanachintamani IV,977) and Purushottama (in his Trikandashesha) have mentioned the city by several names – Uma(Usha?)vana, Banapura, and Shonitapura. Sandhyakara Nandi in his Ramacharita described at length about the temples and the lakes of the city. The ruins of the city are found in Bangarh, which is located at Gangarampur town, about 45 km south of Balurghat town, in Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal state in eastern India. It has variously thought of as part of Pundravardhana or Rarha regions. There was a Brahmin densities at Devikota.

Afghan rule was first established in Bengal in 1204 by Bakhtiyar Khilji. The kingdom was called Lakhnawati or Lakhnauti. The capital was located sometimes at Lakhnawati and sometimes at Devkot. Bkahtiyar Khilji died at Devkot in 1205-06, possibly murdered by Ali Mardan, who was governor of Naran-Koh.

In Gupta inscriptions

Tej Ram Sharma writes that 3. Kotivarsa (कोटिवर्ष) is mentioned in Inscriptions (No 34, L.3; No.35,L.3; No.36,L.3; No.37,L.3):

34. Damodarpur Copper-plate Inscription of the time of Kumaragupta I Gupta Year 124 (=A.D. 443)

35. Damodarpur Copper-plate Inscription of the time of Kumaragupta I Gupta Year 128 (=A.D. 448)

36. Damodarpur Copper-plate Inscription of the time of Budhagupta (=A.D. 476-94)

37. Damodarpur Copper-plate Inscription of the Gupta Year 224 (= A.D. 543)

It has been described as a visaya under Pundravardhana-bhukti. This reference clearly shows that the size of a visaya was smaller than that of a bhukti. The visaya of Kotivarsa occurs frequently in the epigraphic records of the Palas and Senas. ¹⁰⁷ It seems to have comprised the southern part of the Dinajpur district, the northern portion of Rajashahi and probably also ,the eastern tracts of the Bogra district. ¹⁰⁸ Its head-quarters was Diw-kot (Devakota or Devikota). ¹⁰⁹ Yadavaprakasa identifies Kotivarsa with Devikotta. ¹¹⁰ The Vayu Purana also refers to a city of the name of Kotivarsa. ¹¹¹

The Prakrit lexicon Paia-sadda-mahannavo describes it as the capital of Lata country. ¹¹² The name is known to the Jain Prajnapana in which it is placed in Ladha or Lata. ¹¹³

Hemacandra ¹¹⁴ says that Kotivarsa, Banapura, Devikota, Umavana and Sonitapura are identical. Purusottama ¹¹⁵ agrees with Hemacandra with the only difference that he mentions Usavana in place of Umavana. Banapura is represented by Bangarh in the Dinajpur district, which still preserves the extensive ruins of a citadel known as Damdamah said to have been the fort of Devikota associated with the exploits of the mythical king Bana. ¹¹⁶ Diw-kota or Devikota (wrongly read as Dihi- kota in the A-In-i-Akbari) was a mahal under the Sarkar of Lakhnauti (Lakshanavati). ¹¹⁷

The termination varsa is significant. It denotes a division of the earth as separated off by mountain ranges. ¹¹⁸ From the Puranas we know of such names as Harivarsa, Kimpurusa-Varsa and Bharata-Varsa. ¹¹⁹ Varsam in Panini ¹²⁰ means the rainy season. We know that rains are connected with the mountains. So originally the divisions might have been made according to the rains in different areas. Rains being very important for agriculture affect the inhabitants of a certain area through- out the year. Later on the semantic development of the word came to denote a year. In India the seasons have been regarded to be important and hence they had often been used to

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Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions 217

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denote the year. ¹²¹

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107. B.C. Law, Historical Geography of Ancient India. p. 230.

108. B.C. Sen, Some Historical Aspects of the Inscriptions of Bengal, p. 107.

109. Majumdar, The History of Bengal by R. C. Majumder. Vol. T, p. 25 : Law, Ethnic Settlements in Ancient India by S. B. Chaudhuri. p. 188, f.n.4.

110. Indian Historical Quarterly, Calcutta . XIX, p. 224 'Yadavaprakasa on the Ancient Geography of India'.

111. Vol. I, chap. XXIII, v. 196.

112. Paia-Sadda-Mahannavo (ed.) V. S. Agrawala and Malvania. p. 262, col. 2, see कोटीवरिस.

113. B.C. Sen, Some Historical Aspects of the Inscriptions of Bengal , p. 106.

114. Abhidhanachintamani, 390.

115. Trikandadesa, 32.

116. B.C. Sen, Some Historical Aspects of the Inscriptions of Bengal, pp. 106-107.

117. Ibid., p. 106 : Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1896, p. 112 : Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta(NS), Vol. V, pp : 215-16.

118. Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Williams . p. 926, col. 3, Cf. Bharatavarsa.

119. S.M. Ali, Geography of the Puranas, pp. 7 and 52.

120. 3.3. 56.

121. In the Vedic times we said, "जीवेम शरद: शातम्" See समा: (Cf. Summer) for year : "माँ निषाद ! प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगम: शाश्वती समा:, उत्तररामचरित २.५; काव्यमीमांसा, तृतीयोअध्याय पृ.१८ The use of वर्ष (वर्षा) is very popular now-a-days. Vasanta was also used : 'कति वसन्ता: यापिता: भुवि ?'

Deokot

Deokot or Devkot (Hindi:देवकोट, Bengali: বকোট) (also known as Kotivarsha, Devikota, Devakota or Diw-kot) was an ancient city which was the administrative centre of Kotivarsha Vishaya.

Bangarh

Bangarh is the historical place situated in Gangarampur, West Bengal, India. Bangarh was the ancient city which was the administrative centre of Kotivarsha Vishaya (territorial division), itself part of the wider administrative unit of Pundravardhana Bhukti, which had Mahasthangarh as its capital[1] in the period of Chandras, Varmans and Senas.

Excavations at Bangarh: The earliest excavations at Bangarh was carried out by a team led by K.G. Goswami during 1938-41. Located on the bank of the Punarbhaba, the excavated site reflects its urban character. The site has its core in the form of a citadel surrounded by mud ramparts (area about 25 hectares) which dates from the earliest phase of the site.The earliest phase remains uncertain, as the excavations could not reach the natural soil. The citadel area revealed five cultural phases dating from the time of the Mauryas to the medieval period. The initial phase (the Mauryan period) indicates that the city had a modest beginning in which it had probably a mud rampart wall. It was only in the following phase (the Kushana period, 200 BCE - 300 CE) a brick built wide rampart wall is found with drains, cesspits and residential buildings made of burnt bricks of a very large size, showing distinct signs of prosperity and burgeoning urbanism. The excavated materials of the Gupta period are not comparable with the richness and diversity of those belonging to Kushana cultural phase. Though the late Gupta phase of Bangarh is marked by decadence, particularly in terms of building activities, the Pala period (mid 8th century -12th century), in sharp contrast, indicates a picture of efflorescence. Rampart walls, compound walls, residential quarters, temples with ambulatory path and its enclosing walls, damp proof granaries, bathrooms, drains and ring wells suggest a prosperous condition of the city

कोटिवर्ष

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ...कोटिवर्ष (AS, p.231) दामोदरपुर, दीनाजपुर ज़िला (बंगाल) से प्राप्त हाने वाले ताम्रपट्ट लेखों के अनुसार पाँचवी-छठी शती ई. में 'पुण्ड्रवर्धन' नामक भुक्ति का एक विषय या ज़िला था। कोटिवर्ष से ही ये दानपट्ट प्रचलित किए गए थे-'कोटिवर्षअधिष्ठानधिकरणस्य।'

अभिलेखों से सूचित होता है कि कोटिवर्ष विषय की स्थिति आधुनिक राजशाही, दीनाजपुर, मालदा और बोगरा के ज़िलों में रही होगी। कोटिवर्ष का मुख्य स्थान शायद फ़रीदपुर (पश्चिम बंगाल) के पास होगा, जहाँ से एक दानपट्ट प्राप्त हुआ है।