The Emergence of Kamarupa in the Northeast

350 CE

Located in the Brahmaputra valley, Kamarupa becomes a politically significant region, beginning with its consolidation by the Varman dynasty, tributaries of the Gupta empire. A fourth-century inscription added by Samudragupta to the Allahabad Pillar (originally commissioned under Ashoka in the third century BCE) mentions Kamarupa. The kingdom is a crucial border state at this time, given its proximity to the Tuyuhun kingdom (in present-day Tibet) and China, under the Jin dynasty.

Bibliography

Kinsley, David R. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988.

Shin, Jae-Eun. “Changing Dynasties, Enduring Genealogy: A Critical Study on the Political Legitimation in Early Medieval Kamarupa.” Journal of Ancient Indian History 27, no. 1 (2010): 173–87.

Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson, 2016.