Gauda

Summary

Gauda, commonly anglicised as Gaur, occupies a prominent place in the political and cultural history of Bengal. In his study, D. C. Sircar begins by discussing the term 'Gauda' itself, noting that it was originally the name of a city situated on the left bank of the Ganges near modern Malda. From the early medieval period this fortified city served as the residence of several Muslim dynasties who ruled Bengal. Travellers described it as a vast metropolis three leagues long, defended on one side by the river and on the other by a massive wall, and capable of housing two hundred thousand inhabitants. The ruins of mosques, palaces and fortifications spread across the jungle-covered plains attest to its former splendour. The author traces the etymology of the name, observing that in ancient texts 'Gauda' also denoted a region or the whole of Bengal. Pāṇini’s grammatical rule distinguishing Gauḍa and Pauṇḍravardhana indicates that the term was used for a territory in the fifth century BCE, possibly because the area was famous for its sugar ('guda'). In early Pāla times the capital of the Gauḍa country was known as Karnasuvarna, and later the Sena kings used Lakhnauti (Lakṣmaṇāvatī) as their capital. Muslim chroniclers transcribed the name as Gaur or Lakhnauṭi. Sircar surveys historical references to Gauda from Gupta and Pāla records, Sanskrit drama and Arab chronicles. He distinguishes between the city of Gauḍa on the Ganges and the wider Gauḍa country that stretched across north Bengal. The city’s fortunes waxed and waned with successive dynasties: under the Senas it became a flourishing Hindu centre, while under Muslim rulers it expanded into a vast cosmopolitan capital with markets, mosques and public buildings. The author discusses a variety of references to Gauda in literature, epigraphy and travellers’ reports, showing how the term became a metonym for Bengal itself. He concludes by analysing the cultural life of the city, noting its role in the development of Bengali art, architecture and literature, and by stressing the need to preserve the ruins at Malda as a historical monument.