Mahamanikya

Mahamanikya (also Mahamanikpha) was a 14th-century king of the Kachari Kingdom who claimed the Barāha (Varaha) lineage.[1][2] During his reign, he settled Brahmins and promoted Brahmanical culture in the present-day Hojai district. Under his patronage Madhava Kandali translated the Sanskrit epic Ramayana to Assamese verse called Saptakanda Ramayana.[2] A stone inscription found at Lanka, Hojai dated to 1352 AD records Mahamanikya giving land to a Brahmin named Din Dwija at a village named Bamdeva.[3][4]

Some historians suggest that he was also involved, along with the Kamata king, in resisting Sikandar Shah's invasion into the Kapili valley (Davaka region) around 1362 AD.[5] This view is supported by the Gachtal stone inscription, which records that Yavana or Bangal forces had entered the Davaka region and that nearly three thousand enemy troops were trapped and driven downstream through coordinated use of riverine warfare and seasonal floods [6]

This is the Lanka Stone inscription dated to 1352 AD about a land grant being made by the king Mahamanikya. The lower part of the stone depicts the Gajasingha motiff with a lion on top of an elephant.

References

  1. ↑ (Bez 2012:5)The poet himself mentions in Lankākānda that he composed the Rāmāyana at the behest of Mahamanikya, Barāha Rājā.
  2. 1 2 Sharma (2006), p. 4: "It may also be noted that the Assamese rendition of the Ramayana (next only to Kampana’s Tamil to be rendered to a modern Indian language) by Madhab Kandali in the 14th century was also achieved under the patronage of Borahi-Kachari king Manikpha (sanskritized as Mahamanikya)."
  3. ↑ Thakuria, Gitanjali (2015). "Survey of the Inscriptions and Their Technicalities". Studies in the Inscriptions of Medieval Assam: Chapter 2. Shodhganga@INFLIBNET (PhD thesis). Gauhati University. No. 267. Retrieved 4 July 2026. The inscription records that the king Sri (Maha) manikya donated the village of Vamadeva along with the rights of danda to one Dina-brahman, in saka 1274.
  4. ↑ Parashar, Abantika. Gariyakhi (7th edition, May 2023). p. 20.
  5. ↑ (Sarkar 1992:43)
  6. ↑ Sarma, Dimbeswar. Kamrupa Sasanavali: Gachtal pillar inscription. Pramod Kalita, Banalata. p. 281.

Notes

  • Bez, Gitanjali (2012). "Introduction". Grammatical categories in madhav Kandalis Ramayana (PhD). Guwahati University. hdl:10603/116370.
  • Neog, Maheshwar (1953), "Assamese Literature Before Sankaradeva", in Kakati, Banikanta (ed.), Aspects of Early Assamese Literature, Gauhati: Gauhati University, pp. 19–64
  • Neog, M (1990), "Assamese Literature", in Barpujari, H K (ed.), The Comprehensive History of Assam, vol. III, Guwahati: Publication Board, Assam, pp. 280–291
  • Kakati, Banikanta (1953). Aspects of early Assamese literature. Gauhati University.
  • Sharma, Chandan Kumar (2006), "Genealogy Contested: Oral Discourse and Bodo Identity Construction", in Muthukumaraswamy, M.D. (ed.), Folklore as discourse, Chennai: National Folklore Support Centre, pp. 73–94
  • Sarkar, J. N. (1992), "Chapter II The Turko-Afghan Invasions", in Barpujari, H. K. (ed.), The Comprehensive History of Assam, vol. 2, Guwahati: Assam Publication Board, pp. 35–48
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