n^ Ancient Land Grants in Assam. [No. 104. 



"m^*^^ ''^^'^^■^"ce ^'^ your note with its enclosures on the subject of the Assam 

 t ) \5"f^^5| Tamba Putur, (1) containing grants of land on the banks of the 



(2) ct^i Ganges, (2) I have much pleasure in communicating my thoughts 

 '"ti on the subject, and which I hope will clear up the mystery, 



namely how the Rajah of Assam could grant lands on the banks of the Ganges. 



" It appears from Captain Jenkins' letter, that the grants were discovered near the 

 station of Tezpore, in the Durrung division, and that those grants specified the lands as 



(3) ^TSjTg^ ' Burmutter' (3) by ' Dharmopala' ; (4) and each grant with the 

 . v*.^ • prefix of the figure of Ganesa(5). You will find on referring to 



(4) ^fsST^tSI JDr. M' Cosh's Topography of Assam, page 93, that 'the 



(5) ctr «• northern central Assam, or Durrung, or Tezpore, (the place 

 9Tc«i*r of the discovery of the grants) is bounded from Nowdowar on 



the east by the river BurilL* Here is the mystery. The river Burili is called 



(6) TSfafgy in the language of the country Bhurili(6), and the sacred 



^ \t name for the same river is Vasishty Gunga,(7) or Ganges, 



^^ "^tf^fl^^^l which you will be able to ascertain from the learned people of 



that country through Captain Jenkins. Thus the land alluded to in the grant must 



be on the banks of this Ganges ; and not of ours. Gunga, corruptly called Ganges, 



is not the exclusive name for our river. For instance, the latter should properly be 



(8) 'vS1'«?t'Z9?t'«ts1 called Bhagiruity-Gunga.(8) And there are others, such as 



''''^'^' ''^' Shutu-Gunga(9j in Orissa, Boory- Gunga, (10) at Dacca, Tool- 



^^^^^^ see-Gunga(ll) at Rungpore, and so on, in various places. 

 THstff^ ^^^ ^^^ Sanscrit writers of the grants and Sanscrit authors, 

 /■j^N ^^. particularly on the occasion of compiling poetical compositions, 



'SSfjft^Wl *or the sake of metre, emphatically omit the proper epithets ap- 

 plied to the word Ganges. This may account for the word Ganges being used in 

 the grants with the omission of the adjective Vasishty. 



" The inference of the grants of the land being on the banks of the Vasishty Gunga, 



and not on ours, is further supported by the name of the granter, namely, Dharmapala. 



This sovereign of Assam was distinguished for having embraced the Bhraminical 



(12) 7t^Ci religion, and invited Brahmins (12) from Gour(13) to his court 



- -^V^ north of the Burramapooter, and also from Mithela(J4) to co- 



(^3) ^^"vg Ionise in his country. Thus it is quite natural that from the 



C14) fVr^J veneration in which he held the ministers of his new religion, 



^ ■' T'l'T^^ he granted to them, and generally to colonists of the same sect, 



lands free of rent, which accounts for the three grants discovered near Durrung, 



situated likewise on the north side of the Burramapooter ; and many others may be 



found in time. It may be conjectured that the monarch had his capital situated 



in the vicinity of Tezpore, perhaps in some place near or at Chardwar, being one 



of the four divisions of Durrung, as we still find the ruins of ancient temples and 



other edifices on that spot (vide Journal of the Asiatic Society, April 1835, page 185.)" 



I perfectly concur in thinking that this explanation relieves us of the 

 necessity of supposing Vanamala to have possessed lands on the banks 

 of the real Gunga, (carrying thus into Bengal Proper the name of a ruler, 

 and an sera unknown there), and further of being compelled to admit a 

 violation of the rule, which all experience of the discovery of ancient 

 copper grants teaches us, namely, that the Tamba patur is invariably found 

 upon the land to which its contents relate. 



Taking Hujara, or Vanamala, as a Raja ruling only in Chardwar and its 

 vicinity, we have next to trace his existence with reference to what of 

 history is still extant as regards the ancient Assamese dynasties. The 

 late Captain Pemberton, whom I consulted on this point, was of opinion 

 that what Mr. James Prinsep, (Useful Tables, p. 118) calls the Induvansa 

 dynasty, "though," to use Captain Pemberton's words, "it should have 

 been the Ahom, or Ahong dynasty, and not Indu," was to be found in the 

 list composing the Pal dynasty, commencing with Chukapha in 1230 a. d. 

 " There can be no doubt that this race of kings by whom the conquest of 

 Assam was effected in the thirteenth century crossed the mountains known 

 as the Pal hole, or Pal mountains, which separate Assam from the moun- 

 tainous region on the western frontier of China, near the sources of the 

 Irawaddee river of Ava, and we may fairly conclude that the term Pal has 



