An inscription of Maurya Emperor Ashoka was discovered in 1860 from a place called Kalsi in Dehradun district. This inscription confirms the rule of the Maurya dynasty in Uttarakhand. During the Maurya period, the central Himalayan region was ruled by the Kuninda or Kulinda dynasty, who were subordinate to Emperor Ashoka. After the fall of the Maurya dynasty, Magadha was ruled by the Shunga and Kanva dynasties respectively.
According to ancient Indian literary sources, Sungas were Brahmins. Maharishi Panini described this dynasty as Brahmin of Bhardwaj gotra. There was a Yavana attack on India during the reign of Sunga ruler Pushyamitra. Evidence of Sunga rule over Uttarakhand has not been found yet. But the stupa found from ‘Senapani’ (near Nanakmatta) is considered to be from the Sunga period.
The Sunga rulers were staunch opponents of Buddhism. “According to the Buddhist text Divyavadana and the description of Tibetan historian Taranath, Pushyamitra Shunga has been described as a staunch enemy of Buddhists and the destroyer of stupas and monasteries.” According to Buddhist texts, he had decided to destroy 84,000 stupas. Therefore, the builder of Senapani Stupa during the Sunga period cannot be a Sunga ruler.
Before the Sunga period, during the Maurya period, during the reign of Emperor Ashoka, ‘Govishan’ (present day Kashipur) had become a famous center of Buddhism. Probably the Sunga rulers harassed the Buddhist monks of ‘Govishana’. Oppressed Buddhist monks fled to the mountains to save their lives. Probably they took refuge in the mountain foothill area ‘Senapani’ and built a stupa there. “Therefore, it is unimaginable that there was ever Sunga rule in the foothills of the central Himalayas.”
A place called Senapani is about 20 kilometers north-west of Khatima, between the foothills of the central Himalayas and Terai-Bhabar. Presently this site is at the north-eastern end of Haldwani development block. To the south of this ancient site is Nanak Sagar (Nanakmatta, where the first Guru of Sikhism ‘Nanak’ came in the sixteenth century). And to the north of this place Vynandhura is also an important religious place on the hill, where the Kumaoni deity ‘Aid Jew’. There is a famous temple of ‘Edi Devta’.
There are hundreds of temples of Aid Jew in Kumaon, but this temple of Vynandhura is one of the famous shrines of the local deity, where a grand fair is organized on Kartik Purnima (Guru Nanak Jayanti). Devotees of Aid Jew from far and wide come to this fair to seek the blessings of the deity. On this occasion, the incarnation of the God on a human devotee remains the center of attraction. Therefore, the establishment of a shrine of a local deity in the area adjacent to a Buddhist stupa underlines the coordination between the local people Kirat and Buddhism of the Central Himalayas.
The word ‘Senapani’ is made up of army and water. This can be understood in the sense that in ancient and medieval times, there were many routes for external attacks on the Kumaon region. One of them was via Senapani. It was from this place that the external invading armies used to climb the mountain carrying water. Hence this place was called Senapani. During the period of Chand rule, this place was in the occupied area of ‘Chhinki’ Pargana.
After the Sunga dynasty, Magadha was ruled by the Kanva dynasty. The power of the Magadha state declined in the post-Maurya period. Magadha rulers had now become weak. One reason for this was the Yavana invasion from the northwest. With the weakening of the central power in India, small states got the opportunity to become independent. The Kuninda rulers of the central Himalayas also became independent.