Appeared in Prakrit

In the coastal Orissa writing was certainly

known from the third century B C., and inscriptions up to the middle of the

fourth century A. D. appeared in Prakrit. But from about A.D. 350 Sanskrit

began to be used. What is more significant, charters in this language appear

outside the coastal belt beyond the Mahanadi in the north.

Thus the art of writing and Sanskrit

language spread over a good portion of Orissa, and some of the finest Sanskrit

verses are found in the epigraphs of the period. Sanskrit served as the vehicle

of not only brahmanical religion and culture but also of property laws and

social regulations in new areas. Verses from the Puranas and Dharmasastras are

quoted in Sanskrit charters, and kings claim to be the preservers of the Varna

system. The affiliation of the people to the culture of the Gangetic basin is

emphasized. A dip in the Ganga at Prying at the confluence of the Ganga and the

Yamuna is considered holy, and victorious kings visit Pitaya

Bengal

As regards Bengal, portions of north Bengal,

now in Bogra district, give evidence of the prevalence of writing in the time

of Asoka. An inscription indicates several settlements maintaining a storehouse

filled with coins and food grains for the upkeep of Buddhist monks. Clearly the

local peasants were m a position to spare a part of their produce for paying

taxes and making gifts.

Further, people of this area knew Prakrit

and professed Buddhism, Similarly an inscription found in the coastal district

of Noakhali in southeast Bengal shows that people knew Prakrit and Brahmi

script in that area in the second century B.C. But for the greater part of

Bengal we do not hear anything till we come to the fourth .century A.D In about

the middle of the fourth century a king with the title of maharaja ruled in

Pokharna on the Damodara in Bankura district. He knew Sanskrit and was a

devotee of Vishnu, to whom he possibly granted a village.

The area lying between the Ganga and the

Brahmaputra now covering Bangladesh emerged as a settled and fairly Sanskrit educated

area in the fifth and sixth centuries The Gupta governors seem to have become

independent after about A.D. 550, and occupied north Bengal, a portion may have

been seized by the rulers of Kamarupa Local vassal princes called Samantha

maharajas had created their own administrative apparatus and built their

military organization consisting of horses, elephants and foot soldiers and

boats to fight their rivals and collect taxes from the local peasantry. By A.D.

600 the area came to be known as Gaudi with its independent state ruled by

Sasanka, the adversary of Harsha