Kamarupa in the context of "Pala empire"

The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala ("protector" in Prakrit & Sanskrit) dynasty, a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopāla by the chiefs of Gauda in late eighth century CE. The Pala stronghold was located in Bengal and eastern Bihar, which included the major cities of Gauḍa, Vikramapura, Pāṭaliputra, Monghyr, Somapura, Ramavati (Varendra), Tāmralipta and Jagaddala.

The Pālas were astute diplomats and military conquerors. Their army was noted for its vast war elephant corps. Their navy performed both mercantile and defensive roles in the Bay of Bengal. At its zenith under emperors Dharmapala and Devapala in the early ninth century, the Pala empire was the dominant power in the northern Indian subcontinent, with its territory stretching across the Gangetic plain to include some parts of northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Dharmapala also exerted a strong cultural influence through the Buddhist scholar Atis Dipankar in Tibet, as well as in Southeast Asia. Pala control of North India was ultimately ephemeral, as they struggled with the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas for the control of Kannauj and were defeated. After a short-lived decline, Emperor Mahipala I defended imperial bastions in Bengal and Bihar against South Indian Chola invasions. Emperor Ramapala was the last strong Pala ruler, who gained control of Kamarupa and Kalinga. The empire was considerably weakened with many areas engulfed and their heavy dependence on Samantas being exposed through 11th century rebellion. It finally led to the rise of resurgent Hindu Senas as sovereign power in the 12th century and final expulsion of the Palas from Bengal by their hands marking the end of the last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent.

Guwahati (Assamese: [ɡua.ɦa.ti]) is the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport is the 10th busiest in India, and the busiest in the North-East of the country. A major riverine port city along with hills, and one of the fastest growing cities in India, Guwahati is situated on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. The city is known as the "gateway to North East India".

The ancient cities of Pragjyotishpura and Durjaya (North Guwahati) were the capitals of the ancient state of Kamarupa.Many ancient Hindu temples like the Kamakhya Temple, Ugratara Temple, Basistha Temple, Doul Govinda Temple, Umananda Temple, Navagraha Temple, Sukreswar Temple, Rudreswar Temple, Manikarneswar Devalaya, Aswaklanta Temple, Dirgheshwari Temple, Lankeshwar Temple, Bhubaneswari Temple, Shree Ganesh Mandir, Shree Panchayatana Temple, Noonmati, and the like, are situated in the city, giving it the title of "The City of Temples". The noted Madan Kamdev is situated 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Guwahati.

The Pushyabhuti dynasty (IAST: Puṣyabhūti), also known as the Vardhana dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Thanesar in northern India during the 6th and 7th centuries. The dynasty reached its zenith under its last ruler Harsha Vardhana (c. 590 – c. 647 CE), whose empire covered much of north and north-western India, extending till Kamarupa in the east and Narmada River in the south. The dynasty initially ruled from Sthanveshvara (modern-day Thanesar, Haryana), but Harsha eventually made Kanyakubja (modern-day Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh) his capital, from where he ruled until 647 CE.

Narakasura, also known as Naraka, was a mythical asura king, the legendary progenitor of all three dynasties of Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa, and the founding ruler of the legendary Bhauma dynasty of Pragjyotisha. Though the myths about Naraka are first mentioned in the Mahabharata, later texts embellish them. According to later post-Vedic texts such as the Brahma Purana and Vishnu Purana, he was the son of Bhudevi, fathered either by the Varaha incarnation of Vishnu or Hiranyaksha. He was killed by Krishna and Satyabhama. His son Bhagadatta—of Mahabharata fame—succeeded him.

The 10th/11th-century Kalika Purana embellishes the myths further and he is claimed to have come from Mithila and said to have established the kingdom of Pragjyotisha after overthrowing the last of the Kirata kings, Ghatakasura, of the Danava dynasty. It was foretold that he would be destroyed by a later incarnation of Vishnu. His mother, the earth, sought the boon from Vishnu that her son should have a long life, and that he should be all-powerful. Vishnu granted these boons.

The Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscription is a 5th-century land grant discovered in the Nagajari area of the Golaghat district. The artifact is fragmentary, with inscriptions in Sanskrit written in the eastern variety of the Brahmi script. In style, language, and script, the inscription is very similar to the Umachal and Barganga rock inscriptions. Additionally, since it betrays no influence of a local Prakrit, this inscription is often placed earlier than the Umachal rock inscription. It also indicates that Indo-Aryan culture had spread to the Golaghat region by the 5th century. It is also speculated that it might belong to a different dynasty unrelated to the Varmans of Kamarupa.

Vijaya Sena (Bangla: বিজয় সেন), also known as Vijay Sen in vernacular literature, was the son of Hemanta Sena, and the second ruler of the Sena dynasty. He conquered Bengal, fighting the kings of Gauda, Kamarupa, and Kalinga. He had capital in Vijayapuri and Vikramapura.

It appears from his records that he inherited the position of a subordinate ruler in Rarh under the Palas. He was possibly the same as Vijayraj of Nidravali, one of the fourteen Samanta kings who helped Ramapala in his recovery of Varendra.

Kamarupi Prakrit is the postulated Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) Prakrit language used in ancient Kamarupa (5th–12th century). This language has been derived from Gauda-Kamarupi Prakrit and the historical ancestor of the Kamatapuri lects and the modern Assamese language; and can be dated prior to 1250 CE, when the proto-Kamta language, the parent of the Kamatapuri lects, began to develop. Though not substantially proven, the existence of the language that predated the Kamatapuri lects and modern Assamese is widely believed to be descended from it.

The evidence of this MIA exist in systematic errors in the Sanskrit language used in the Kamarupa inscriptions. A distinguishing characteristic of Kamarupa inscriptions is the replacement of ś and ṣ by s, which is contrary to Vararuci's rule, the main characteristic of Magadhi Prakrit, which warrants that ṣ and s are replaced by ś. Linguists claim this apabhramsa gave rise to various eastern Indo-European languages like modern Assamese and felt its presence in the form of Kamrupi and Kamatapuri lects.