Mahanavika Buddhagupta - The Bengali Merchant turn Monarch who Established Hindu Kingdom in Malaysia
We all are aware of the story of the conquest of Sri Lanka and the establishment of the Sinhalese kingdom with the 700 boats of prince Vijaya Singha of the Simhapura kingdom of Bengal. Especially in several countries of South and Southeast Asia, there are many traces of the ancient Bengali raids and colonization or establishment of independent kingdoms. In fact, Aryanism and Hindu civilization entered countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia through the arrival and colonization of the Bengalis. The influence of which can be seen in the continuous influence of Gaudiya style in the temple-architecture of the respective countries.
Bengali architects are the builders of several large temples like Onkarnath (Ankorvat), the world's largest temple, or Barbudhar (Borobudur) temple. So the poet Satyendranath Dutta proudly said - “শ্যাম কম্বোজে ওঁঙ্কারধাম মোদেরই প্রাচীন কীর্ত্তি।”. Vijaya Singha established a kingdom in Sri Lanka, while Lak-Lam (Lakshmanam), the ruler of the Naag-worshipping tribe Bong-Long (Bangalam) went and established a kingdom in Vietnam. Kaundinya Pandit established a kingdom in Funan, Cambodia – just like that from the Raktamritika region of Bengal, a Bengali merchant and a great sailor, named Buddhagupta established a kingdom in Malaysia.
In 1834, James Low, an officer of the East India Company, found an inscription on a slate stone in the remains of an ancient Buddhist temple in the northern part of the then Wellesley Kingdom (now Seberang Perai, Penang State, Malaysia) on the Malay Peninsula. On January 14, 1835, he presented this article to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. Presently preserved in the Indian Museum, Kolkata, this stone tablet is 66 cm long and 8-9 cm wide. On one side of it is engraved the image of a stupa, and on both sides of this image of the stupa are inscriptions in Sanskrit from top to bottom in the ancient Pallava Brahmi script. The lower part of the stone tablet is broken, but the inscription is almost complete and legible. It was the inscription of Buddhagupta which quoted the following:
"Añjanāccīẏatē karma janmanaḥ karma kāraṇa (ma) jñānānucīẏatē (karma karmābhābānna jāẏatē) Mahānāvika Bud'dhaguptasya Raktamrttikā bāsa (ṯvyasya) sarbē prakārēṇa sarbāsmiṇa sarbathā sa(ra)ba sid'dha yāta (raḥ)santu"
This inscription gives details about the great navigator Buddhagupta and his abode Raktamritika or today's Rangamati. Later, excavations at Raktamritika or Rangamati and Rajbaridanga led to the discovery of Karnasuvarna, the capital of Gaudadhipati Shashanka.
Modern scholars have dated the inscription to the 5th century based on the font. This writing records a prayer by one of the Buddhist monastery that the great navigator Buddhagupta's trading journey would be successful; perhaps this auspicious tablet was carried on a trading ship. Raktamritika was the residence of Buddhagupta, the great navigator as mentioned in this text. This is the oldest reference of Raktamrittika town till date. From this text, it can be assumed that the traders of Bengal used to trade in South-East Asia via the Indian Ocean along the Bhagirathi trade route from Raktamritika in the fifth century AD. Probably, under the patronage of rich merchants of Tantric Buddhism of ancient Bengal like Buddhagupta, one or more institutions of Tantric Buddhist śāstracarcā (discussion of scriptures and holy texts) were established in Raktamritika town.
Inscription of the Bengali Monarch of Malaysia - Mahanavika Buddhagupta In the Indian Museum, Kolkata, WB.
From the first to the 5th century AD, several commercial port states (entrepot) emerged in the Malay Peninsula and elsewhere. South-East Asia and some of their regions are located along coastlines or river mouths, although there were some states that were located in further inlands. There was a dispute over the location of Chih Tu (Red Earth Land) within that kingdom. Among scholars, most of them believe that the location of Chih Tu Kingdom is on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, i.e. Kelantan located in Tanah Merah.
Although records of the Chih-Tu region date back to the 7th century in the Chinese source "Chi Tu Gouji", it is believed that the region existed before that date. This statement was verified by the discovery of an inscription in the Bujong Valley, the Buddhagupta Inscription, which tells about Buddhagupta's journey from a place known as Tanah Merah, its origin to the 'Red Earth Land of Gauda' in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The word 'Chi Tu' means red soil, 'Gouji' means Gauda kingdom.
Maharaj Buddhagupta is remembered forever by the people of India for establishing Indian culture outside India. The initiative of the Indian administration in promoting his glory is commendable. During the India-Singapore joint meeting on June 1, 2018, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi presented a replica of the 6th century stone inscription of Maharaja Buddhagupta to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, which is an important initiative to promote the history of the Bengalis, internationally.
References :-
1. Chhabra, B. Ch., “Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture during Pallava Rule” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 1, 1935; Calcutta: The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 1936, pp. 16-20.
2. Beal, Samuel, Si-Yu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World: Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (AD 629), Vol. 2; London: Trübner & Co., 1884, pp. 201-204. . Beal, Samuel, The Life of Hiuen Tsiang by the Shaman Hwui Li; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1911, pp. 131-132.
3. Das, Sudhir Ranjan, Rajbadidanga: 1962 (Chiruti: Jadupur: An Interim Report on Excavations at Rajbadidanga and Terracotta Seals and Sealings), Reprint; Kolkata: The Asiatic Society, 2003 (1968).
4. Kerajaan Chih-Tu : Kerajaan Awal Yang Yujud de Negeri Kelantan ~ Zuliskandar Ramli
5. The Kingdom of Red Earth (Chitu Guo) in Cambodia and Vietnam from the Sixth to Eighth Centuries ~ Tatsuo Hoshino
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