Kirana Suvarna

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

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Kirana Suvarna was one of Buddhist Kingdoms visited by Xuanzang in 639 AD. Kirana Suvarna has beeb identified with Barabhum in Purulia district of West Bengal by Alexander Cunningham

Jat clans

• Kheria
• Kol
• Munda
• Sura

Visit by Xuanzang in 639 AD

Alexander Cunningham writes that Hwen Thsang places the capital of Kie-lo-na-su-fa-la-na, or Kirana Suvarna, at 700 li, or 117 miles, to the north-west of Tamralipti, and the same distance to the north-east of Odra or Orissa. As the capital of

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[p.505]: Orissa in the seventh century was Jajipur on the Vaitarani river, the chief city of Kirana Suvarna must be looked for along the course of the Suvarna-riksha river (Subarnarekha), somewhere about the districts of Singhbhum and Barabhum. But this wild part of India is so little known that I am unable to suggest any particular place as the probable representative of the ancient capital of the country. Bara Bazar is the chief town in Barabhum, and as its position corresponds very closely with that indicated by Hwen Thsang, it may be accepted as the approximate site of the capital in the seventh century. The territory was from 4400 to 4500 li, or from 733 to 750 miles, in circuit. It must, therefore, have comprised all the petty hill- states lying between Medinipur and Sirguja on the east and west, and between the sources of the Damuda and Vaitarani on the north and south.

This large tract of country is now occupied by a number of wild tribes who are best known by the collective name of Kolhan or Kols. But as the people themselves speak various dialects of two distinct languages, it would appear that they must belong to two different races, of whom the Munda and the Uraon may be taken as the typical representatives. According to Colonel Dalton, "the Mundas first occupied the country and had been long settled there when the Uraons made their appearance;" and "though these races are now found in many parts of the country occupying the same villages, cultivating the same fields, celebrating together the same festivals and enjoying the same amusements, they are of totally distinct origin, and cannot intermarry without loss of caste." This

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[p.506]: difference of race is confirmed by the decisive test of language, which shows that the Uraons are connected with the Tamilian races of the south, while the Mundas belong to the hill men of the north, who are spread over the Himalayan and Vindhyan mountains from the Indus to the Bay of Bengal.

The various tribes connected with the Mundas are enumerated by Colonel Dalton as the Kuars of Elichpur, the Korewas of Sirguja and Jaspur, the Kherias of Chutia Nagpur, the Hor of Singhbhum, the Bhumij of Manbhum and Dhalbhum, and the Santals of Manbhum, Singhbhum, Katak, Hazaribagh, and the Bhagalpur hills. To these he adds the Juangas or Pattuns (leaf-clad) of Keunjar, etc. in the Kataka tributary districts, who are isolated from " all other branches of the Munda family, and have not themselves the least notion of their connection with them ; but their language shows that they are of the same race, and that their nearest kinsmen are the Kherias. The western branches of this race are the Bhils of Malwa and Kanhdes, and the Kolis of Gujarat. To the south of these tribes there is another division of the same race, who are called Suras or Suars. They occupy the northern end of the eastern Ghats.

According to Colonel Dalton, the Ho or Hor tribe of Singhbhum is "the nucleus of the Munda nation." He calls it "the most compact, the purest, the most powerful and most interesting division of the whole race, and in appearance decidedly the best-looking.

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[p.507]: In their erect carriage and fine manly bearing the Hos look like a people that have maintained and are proud of their independence. Many have features of sufficiently good cast to entitle them to rank as Arians; high noses, large but well-formed mouths, beautiful teeth, and the facial angle as good as in the Hindu races. . . . When the face of the Munda varies from the Arian or Caucasian type, it appears rather to merge into the Mongolian than the Negro. . . . They are of average stature, and in colour vary from brown to tawny yellow."

In the different dialects of the Munda language Ho, Hor, Horo, or hoko is the term for "man." The assumption of this name by the people of Singhbhum is a strong confirmation of Colonel Dalton's description of the tribe as the most powerful division of the Munda nation. But they also call themselves Larakas, or the "warriors," which points to the same conclusion that they are the leading division of the Munda race.

Colonel Dalton gives no explanation of the name of Munda ; but as I find that the head men of the villages are called Munda or Moto amongst the Hors of Singhbhum and other divisions of the Munda race, I conclude that the Mundas or Motos must once have been the ruling division of the nation. The name of Munda is found in the Vishnu Purana as the appellation of a dynasty of eleven princes who succeeded the Tusharas or Tokhari. In the Yayu Purana, how-ever, the name is omitted, and we have only Marunda, which is most probably the variant form of another name, Murunda, as found in two inscriptions

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[p.508]: of the second and third centuries. Ptolemy has Marundai as the name of a people to the north of the Gauges ; but to the south of the river he places the Mandali, who may be the Mundas of Chutia Nagpur, as their language and country are called Mundala. This is only a suggestion ; but from the position of the Mandali they would seem to be the same people as the Monedes of Pliny, who with the Suari occupied the inland country to the south of the Palibothri. As this is the exact position of the country of the Mundas and Suars, I think it quite certain that they must be the same race as the Monedes and Suari of Pliny.

In another passage Pliny mentions the Mandei and Malli as occupying the country between the Calingae and the Ganges, Amongst the Malli there was a mountain named Mallus, which would seem to be the same as the famous Mount Maleus of the Monedes and Suari. I think it highly probable that both names may be intended for the celebrated Mount Mandar, to the south of Bhagalpur, which is fabled to have been used by the gods and demons at the churning of the ocean. The Mandei I would identify with the inhabitants of the Mahanadi river, which is the Manada of Ptolemy. The Malli or Malei would therefore be the same people as Ptolemy's Mandalae, who occupied the right bank of the Ganges to the south of Palibothra. Or they may be the people of the Rajmahal hills who are called Maler, which would appear to be

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[p.509]: derived from the Kanarese Male and the Tamil Malei, a "hill." It would therefore be equivalent to the Hindu Pahari or Parbatiya, a "hill man."

The Suari of Pliny are the Sabarae of Ptolemy, and both may be identified with the aboriginal Savaras, or Suars, a wild race of wood-cutters, who live in the jangals without any fixed habitations. The country of the Savaras is said to begin where that of the Khonds ends, and to extend as far south as the Pennar river. But these Savaras or Suars of the eastern Ghats are only a single branch of a widely-extended tribe, which is found in large numbers to the south-west of Gwalior and Narwar, and also in southern Rajputana. The Savaris or Saharias of the Gwalior territory occupy the jangals on the Kota frontier to the westward of Narwar and Guna. They are found along the course of the Chambal river and its branches, where they meet the Rajputana Surrias of Tod. The name is preserved in the Sorae Nomades of Ptolemy, who are placed to the south of the Kondali and Phillitae, or the Gonds and Bhils. They must therefore be the Suars or Savaras of central India, who occupy the wild hilly country about the sources of the Wain Ganga, and who are also found along the valley of the Kistna river. As Kiraṇa means a "man of mixed race," or barbarian, it seems probable that the name of Kirana Suvarna may be the original appellation of the barbarian Suvaras, or Suars.

In the beginning of the seventh century the king of this country was She-skang.kia, or Shashanka, who is famed as a great persecutor of Buddhism.

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[p.510]: I found a gold coin inscribed with the name of this prince at full length in the ' Payne Knight Collection' of the British Museum, and there are a few specimens in other collections.