Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/62

40 south of the wild tract which stretched forth from the Rajmahal hills, since going 700 li north-west from Tāmralipta, Karṇasuvarṇa was reached. Having narrowed down the limits of different provinces with the help of Hiuen Tsiang's topographical survey, it may be safely asserted that Karṇasuvarṇa was the capital of the Rāḍha country, in the seventh century A.D. The records of moral and intellectual advancement of the people of Karṇasuvarṇa, as left behind by Hiuen Tsiang, justify us in making this inference, that all over the country which forms now the presidency of Bengal, the influence of the Magadha civilization of the seventh century A.D, did effectively and extensively prevail.

I have related several facts which have some bearing upon the province which is now known by the name Orissa; it will be necessary also to relate what relation subsisted between Bengal and Orissa, to explain some points of linguistic unity between the languages of those provinces. I have just now mentioned that Śaśānka alias Narendra Gupta annexed some portions of Orissa, but it must be stated that his influence can only be traced in Kongada (i.e., over the Puri district) and in some parts of Ganjam, where Oria language now prevails. It must be made clear, that the Kalinga country of historical note and the territories of Śaśānka had no connection with the land, which was possessed in ancient time by the tribes which got the names Oḍra and Utkala. With reference to the people of that part of Orissa, which was within the range of Śaśānka's influence, we get this account from Hiuen Tsiang, that with respect to their written characters, they were the same as those of Mid-India, but their language and mode of pronunciation were quite different.

It is a significant fact, that we do not get a well-defined country bearing the name Utkala in the Mahābhārata