Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/61

Rh Magadha which prevailed over all parts of Bengal, was absent in Assam, where Buddhism could not make any impression. This phenomenon partly explains why the Assamese speech was not then exactly identical with that of Northern Bengal. The people of Assam of those days are reported by the traveller to have been "of small stature and of dark-yellow complexion"; this description leads me to think, that the Mongolian element predominated then in Assam, and because of this ethnic character, the language of mid-India became slightly different in Assam. Hiuen Tsiang then goes to Samataṭa of Bengal, after travelling a very long distance from Kamrup. As particulars of that route are not on record, the geography remains incomplete as to the extent of Vanga to the east. But it seems to be implied in a statement, that the hilly tracts of Tippera and Chittagong which were not visited by the traveller, were included in the Samataṭa country, for the traveller speaks of those tracts, when describing the Samataṭa country, as a wild country difficult of access. Another fact is quite clear, that just to the west of Samataṭa was the Suhma country. This tallies exactly with what we inferred regarding the geography of old Bengal from ancient Indian records. It must be specially noted, that the influence of Buddhist priests and Magadha culture were as extensive in Samataṭa as they were in Suhma, Kie-chu-ho-khi-lo, Puṇḍravardhan and Karṇasuvarṇa. The Puṇḍras, the Suhmas, and the Vangas, who were kindred tribes, were dominated by one and the same cultural influence, during the seventh and very likely during the sixth century A.D.

Śaśānka or Narendra Gupta who annexed some portions of Orissa and Ganjam to his empire, had his principal seat at Karṇasuvarṇa in the seventh century A.D. This Karṇasuvarṇa was no doubt located somewhere to the