Brahmapur was an ancient state of Uttarakhand. The only source we have to know the history of Brahmapur are two copper plates, which were issued by the Paurava kings. But to know the geography of Brahmapur, the travelogue of the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang is most important. The Paurav copper plates obtained in the 20th century were the latest facts in the history of Uttarakhand.
New Facts In Indian History-
The ancient history of India, when written before the twentieth century, was limited to the rise and rise of the Aryan race. Extensive discussion and research on the original abode of the Aryans had been the main subject of ancient Indian history in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries. The events of ancient Indian history were compiled on the basis of the Vedic texts composed by the Aryans.
But in the 20th century, due to the construction and excavation work done for the expansion of the Indian Railways, a very ancient civilization was included in Indian history in an unexpected way. The work of bringing the archaeological history to light through systematic and comprehensive explorations started in 1921. In the 20th century, extensive explorations in the catchment area of the Indus and its tributaries suddenly brought the ‘Indus’ or ‘Harappan’ civilization to the fore and it became necessary for historians to re-order the previously written Indian history.
New Facts In Uttarakhand History-
Similarly, in the history of Uttarakhand in the 20th century, before new facts came to light, it had become necessary to reorder the written history. The writing work of the ancient history of Kumaon and Uttarakhand was done by many English historians as well as Indian scholars. In the nineteenth century, where the history of Kumaon was compiled by ‘Atkinson’ in the form of the title ‘Himalayan Gazetteer’, in the twentieth century, Pandit Badridutt Pandey followed him and wrote a book titled ‘History of Kumaon’ in 1936 and based on the available facts. (Bageshwar inscription and copper plates with Kartikeyapur inscription) succeeded in identifying the ancient history of this region as ‘Katyuri kingdom’.
But the archaeological explorations of the 20th century gave a special place to the presence of ‘Kunind’ and ‘Paurav’ dynasty in the ancient history of Uttarakhand with authenticity. These two dynasties, older than the ‘Katyuri state’, were an important period in the history of Uttarakhand. The 20th century was a period of significant archaeological discoveries on a global scale. At the same time, in the context of India, new historical facts were revealed from different areas.
Rock Shelters And Copper Plates-
The 20th century was the most important period for the ancient history of Uttarakhand to bring new facts to light and archaeological investigations. In this century, where the discovery of prehistoric rock shelters from different regions of Uttarakhand was most important, hundreds of copper plates of local dynasties also came to light, which proved useful for giving a detailed dimension to the history of Uttarakhand. Almora district, the center of Kumaon, was the center of archeology of Uttarakhand, where the discovery of prehistoric caves helped in writing the very ancient history of the region.
Taleshwar Village-
In the year 1915 AD, in Taleshwar village situated in the Garhwal border area of Almora district, the laborers received two copper plates while building the farm wall. But these copper plates could come to light for the local people and historians only after the sixth decade of the twentieth century. This is the reason why these two important Taleshwar copper plates were not mentioned in the book titled ‘History of Kumaon’.
There is an ancient temple of Katyuri style in Taleshwar village of archaeological importance, which is famous as ‘Taleshwar Mahadev’. Another temple of ‘Taleshwar Mahadev’ in Kumaon is near Jhulaghat in Kali river valley of Pithoragarh border district. It is also a strange coincidence that even today there is one ancient ‘Taleshwar’ temple in the eastern and western border area among the remains of the Kumaon state.
Taleshwar village of Western Ramganga catchment area is near Surkhet-Deghat road in Syalde tehsil, from where the ‘Paurav Dynasty of Brahmapur’ came into existence through the copper plates obtained. In these copperplates, the ‘mountainous’ (Parwatakar) state and Brahmapur have been mentioned.
‘Hiuen Tsang’-
Important information related to the geography of Brahmapur has been obtained from the description of India’s journey of ‘Hiuen Tsang’ (Hyun Tsang). In the seventh century, a Chinese traveler named Hiuen Tsang had traveled to India for a total of 14 years from 629 to 643 AD. In this period, the power center of North India was Kannauj, where Emperor Harsha of Pushyabhuti dynasty ruled.
The Chinese traveler wrote a book on his travel details called ‘Si-Yu-Ki’. The purpose of Hiuen Tsang’s return to India was to visit the major pilgrimage sites of Buddhism as well as collect manuscripts of Buddhist scriptures and take them to their country. To fulfill this objective, he reached Thaneshwar in 629 AD from the capital of ‘Tang’ rulers, ‘Changan’ (Xian Nagar) “via Gandhara, Kashmir, Jalandhar, Kulut and Mathura”. From Thaneshwar via Matipur, Ahichchanna and Sankashya, in 636 AD he entered Kannauj, the capital of Harsha. Thaneshwar was the ancestral capital of Harsha before he ascended the Kannauj throne in 606 AD.
Scholars associate ‘Matipur’, a stop on Hiuen Tsang’s journey path, with ‘Haridwar’, the border site of Brahmapur state.
Hiuen Tsang In Uttarakhand-
Famous historian Dr. Shivprasad Dabral presents the following facts regarding Hiuen Tsang’s visit to Uttarakhand:
1- “After walking 400 li or 66 miles towards north-east from Sthanishwar, the traveler reached the district of ‘Su-lu-kin-na’. Which Cunningham has identified with the Srughan district.
2- “According to the traveller, the circumference of Srughan district was 6000 li i.e. 1000 miles. Gangaji used to flow on the eastern border of the district. The river Yamuna flowed through the middle of the district and a great mountain stood on the northern boundary of the district.
3- According to the traveler, the climate of Srughan was similar to the climate of Sthanishwar.
4- Yuan-Chwad had estimated the distance from Yamuna to Gangaji at 800 li or 133 miles.
5- According to the travel description of Yuan-chwad., from there the traveler reached Po-lo-ki-mo district by walking 300 li i.e. 50 miles north. Po-lo-ki-mo is considered by Julian and Cunningham to be a translation of Brahmapur of Sanskrit.
6- According to the traveller, the circle of this district (Brahmapur) was 4000 li or 666 miles. There were mountain ranges all around it.
7- The climate of Brahmapur has also been described by the traveler as somewhat cold. The soil of Brahmapur was fertile and two crops were regularly grown in it.
8- From Matipur, the traveler reached Ku-pi-shang-na district after walking a little more than 400 li i.e. a little more than 66 miles in the south-east direction. The circumference of this district was 2000 li or 333 miles. This district has been identified with Govishan.
9- In Govishan, all those crops were produced which used to be in Matipur, in the northern plain of Gangaji.
Himalayan Districts-
Even in the 7th century, the central Himalayas were organized into state units called Janapadas in the sequence of the ancient Kuninda Janapadas. The mountainous and mountainous plains of North India were mainly divided into three Janapadas – Srughan, Brahmapur and Govishan (Kashipur).
According to the travel description of ‘Hiuen Tsang’, the scholars determined the geographical limits of the Himalayan districts in this way – the land from the western catchment area of Yamuna to Gangaji in ‘Srughna district’ and the Terai-Bhabar region (Kumaon) in ‘Govishan district’. Along with this, some plains of the south-east were also included.
‘Srughan District’-
With the help of Waters’ quote, Dr. Shivprasad Dabral writes- “According to the traveler, the circumference of Srughanjanapada was 6000 li i.e. 1000 miles. Gangaji used to flow on the eastern border of this district. The river Yamuna flowed through the middle of this district, and on whose northern border stood the great mountain (Maha Himalaya).
Srughan has been identified with Ambala in Haryana. If you look at the map, Yamuna river flows at almost equal distance from ‘Ambala’ and ‘Haridwar’. Between these two cities, the banks of the Yamuna and the Ganges are at a distance of about 60 miles from each other. While Hiuen Tsang’s estimate was about 133 miles, which is more than double that.
Dehradun of Uttarakhand and western part of Ganga/Bhagirathi river of Haridwar-Tehri-Uttarkashi districts were included in Srughan district.
‘Brahmapur District’-
‘Brahmapur district’ included the mountainous part from Gangaji to Kali river. The present Udham Singh Nagar and the plains of Nainital district were included in Govishan district. While Brahmapur included Tehri-Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Pauri, Bageshwar, Almora, Pithoragarh, Champawat and Nainital districts east of Bhagirathi.
It is clear from the geographical division of the middle Himalayas that the largest state of Uttarakhand was ‘Brahmapur’ in the seventh century. The ‘Brahmapur district’ of the seventh century was called ‘Po-lo-ki-mo’ by the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang in his description.
Dr. Shivprasad Dabral writes with the help of Waters and Cunningham’s quotes- “Yuan-chwad. According to the description of the journey of Matipur, after walking 300 li i.e. 50 miles north, the traveler reached Po-lo-ki-mo district. According to the traveller, the circumference of this district was 4000 li or 666 miles. There were mountain ranges all around it.”
The circumference of the capital of Brahmapur was more than 20 li. That is, the capital of Brahmapur was in a circle of about 6 to 7 kilometers. In this period, it seems to be an extraordinary fact for a traveler to make such a calculation in the mountainous state. The demarcation of Brahmapur state on the basis of the measurement of district circle is a questionable fact. But Cunningham demarcates the mountainous terrain from Alaknanda to Kali-Karnali as the state of Brahmapur – “On the map, the perimeter of this region comes out to be about five-six hundred miles, in which more than the perimeter mentioned by the traveler.”
There is no difference. When Hiuen Tsang was on a trip to India, China was ruled by the ‘Tang Dynasty’ (Tang Dynasty). In the Tang period, 1 li was equal to about 323 meters. On the basis of this scale, Brahmapur district was surrounded by 4000 li or 1292 km or 803 miles. While Cunningham fixed the scale of 4000 li or 666 miles. The difference in the measurement of the two scales makes it clear that the demarcation of Brahmapur district on the basis of Hiuen Tsang’s travelogue was merely a process of estimation.