326 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Sept., 1914. 



The kingdom of Karnasuvarna could not have been founded 

 earlier than the latter end of the 5th century a.d. Local 

 traditions as recorded by Captain Layard and others ] as well 

 as the architectural remains that still exist associated with 

 the name of Karna lead to the conclusion that the kingdom 

 was founded by Karna Sena. Though as yet we have not got 

 the advantage of any epigraphical evidence, yet the discovery 

 of Gupta coins at its capital of the same name now called Raii- 

 gamati, six miles below Berhampur, and the fact that its last 

 king bore the name of Narendra Gupta (SaSanka), go to es- 

 tablish that Karna Sena must have been a prince belonging to 

 the royal house of the Guptas charged with the administration of 

 the eastern provinces as viceroy under the regning sovereign. 

 The decline of the Gupta empire after the death of Skanda 

 Gupta, already weakened by the frequent inroads of the 

 Hunas, afforded a suitable opportunity to Karna Sena like 

 others to throw off his allegiance and carve out an independent 

 kingdom for himself, consisting of the district of Murshidabad 

 which was gradually extended over to Ariga and it is very 

 probable that the kingdom was called Karnasuvarna after the 

 name of the founder. Major Wilford places Karna of Sultan- 

 ganj-Karnagar in the 3rd century a.d.,* but according to 

 tradition as recorded by Buchanan this Karna was identical 

 with Karna of Campanagar-Karnagar, and traditionally he was 

 a contemporary of Vikrama as the Gupta kings were generally 

 called. 3 Hence considering all circumstances he could not be 

 placed earlier than the 5th century a.d. No mention of the 

 name of Karnasuvarna appears before the 7th century a.d. 

 Hiuen Tsiang was the first to mention the name, and he 

 states that S'aSanka, the murderer of Rajyavarddhana, the 

 elder brother of Sri Harsa of Kanouj, was king of Karnasu- 

 varna. It is generally believed that Bana Bhatta does not 

 mention the name of the murderer of Rajyavarddhana, but 

 as a matter of fact he does mention his name. He says that 

 the murderer of Rajyavarddhana was king of Gauda, who 

 is described as the "wicked Narendra" * in one place and 



* J.A.S.B., xxii, p. 281 ; Martin: East. Ind., voJ. ii ; Rev. J. Long: 

 Banks of the Bhagirathi (C. R., vi). Capt. Layard say 8 : "The city of 

 Kansonapuri [Karnasuvarna or Rangamati] is said to have been built 

 hundreds of years ago by a famous Maharaja of Bengal named Karn Sen, 

 who resided chiefly at Gour. He erected also a country palace about four 

 miles distant, which was called after him Gowkurn from the circumstance 

 of his ears being of gold and shaped like those of a cow." 



2 Asia. Res., ix, 108. 



3 Martin : East . Ind. , i, 32, SB. 

 Harsa-ch. (Calcutta ed.), pp. 436, 438: the compound word 



" vK«%rtW?qijWl| m means " enraged at the discomfiture sustained from 

 the wicked Narendra ". It should be remarked that Bana uses the prefix 

 "Duh" (wicked) before the word "Narendra," punning upon every 



