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| {{about|the mythical kingdom|the historical kingdom|Kamarupa}} | | #REDIRECT [[Pragjyotisha kingdom]] |
| {{short description|kingdom}} | | |
| {{Infobox country | | {{Redirect category shell| |
| |conventional_long_name = Pragjyotisha Kingdom
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| |common_name = Pragjyotisha
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| |status = Legendary
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| |image_map = Scenes from the Story of Narakasura, Folio from a Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) LACMA M.72.3.1.jpg
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| |image_map_caption = A scene involving king Naraka
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| {{Pragjyotisha}}
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| {{Assam History}}
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| '''Pragjyotisha''' is a mythological kingdom that is mentioned in a multitude of [[Hindu Epics]] and is popularly associated with the historical [[Kamarupa]].<ref name=":0" />
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| Jae-Eun Shin rejects the uncritical association with historical Kamarupa; she points out that it was [[Bhaskaravarman|Bhaskarvarman]] of [[Varman dynasty]] who constructed a divine descent from the lineage of [[Narakasura|Naraka]]/[[Bhagadatta]] of the legendary Pragjyotisha to [[legitimization|legitimize]] his rule over Kamarupa.<ref name=":0">"Considering the historical content of the seventh century Kāmarūpa, especially during the reign of Bhāskarvarman when the Varmans was ascending to one of the important powers in north India, it appears that they projected Kāmarūpa on a larger geopolitical map by combining it with Prājyotisa, the Epic kingdom. In other words, Prājyotisa was retrieved from the ancient Epic past by the aspirant local kingship to overcome this peripherality. An elusive mythical space was brought into the actual geography of Kāmarūpa {{Harv|Shin|2018|p=38}}</ref> Identifications with elements of mainland Brahminical literature allowed the peripheral origins of the Kamarupa Varmans to pose no problem at a time when Bhaskaravarman had become one of the most prominent Kings of North India.<ref name=":0" /> The identifical with the mythical Naraka/Bhagadatta lineage continued to be used by the [[Mlechchha dynasty|Mlechchhas]] and [[Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)|Palas]] for roughly similar purposes.<ref>{{harvcol|Shin|p=38-40}}</ref>
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| ==Scriptures==
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| All early references do not locate Pragjyotisha in or around Kamarupa in [[Northeast India]].<ref>{{harvcol|Shin|2018|p=40}}</ref> The first mentions of this kingdom are found in the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Mahabharata]], in sections not written much earlier than the first century.<ref>"...the passages in questions may not be much earlier than the first century." {{harv|Sircar|1990|p=81}}</ref> In the ''Kishkindha Kanda'' of the former, Pragjyotisha is placed in the west near Mount Varaha on the sea.<ref>{{harv|Sircar|1990|p=81}}</ref> In ''[[Ashvamedhika Parva|Aswamedha-Parva]]'' of the latter, [[Arjuna]] defeated [[Vajradatta]] of Pragjyotisha in a three-day battle near [[Punjab]] in the Lower Indus Valley;<ref>{{harv|Sircar|1990|p=81}}</ref> the ''[[Harivamsa|Harivamsa Parva]]'' features multiple mentions as well.<ref>{{harv|Sax|2002|p=77}}</ref><ref>{{harv|Brodbeck|2019}}</ref>
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| ==Popular culture==
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| A popular mythical narrative claims that Jyotisha is the sanskritised form of ''Zuhthis'', who were (apparently) the first migrants to Assam from China — this has little historical evidence in support.<ref>{{harv|Banerjee|2010|p=89}}</ref>
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| == See also ==
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| *[[Mahabharata war]]
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| *[[Asura Kingdom|Sonitpura Kingdom]]
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| *[[Kingdoms of Ancient India]]
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| ==Notes==
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| {{reflist}}
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| ==References==
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| {{refbegin}}
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| *{{Citation| last = Sircar| first = D C| contribution = | year = 1990| title = The Comprehensive History of Assam| editor-last = Barpujari| editor-first = H K| volume = I| pages = 79–93| place = Guwahati| publisher = Publication Board, Assam}}
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| * {{Citation| last = Shin| first = Jae-Eun| contribution = Region Formed and Imagined: Reconsidering temporal, spatial and social context of Kamarupa| year = 2018| title = Modern Practices in North East India: History, Culture, Representation| editor-last = Dzüvichü| editor-first = Lipokmar |editor2-last=Baruah |editor2-first=Manjeet |pages = 23–55| place = London & New York| publisher = Routledge}}
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| *{{Cite book|last=Sax|first=William S.|title=Dancing the Self : Personhood and Performance in the Pandav Lila of Garhwal|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=9780195139143|chapter=Hunting the Rhinoceros}}
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| *{{Cite book|last=Banerjee|first=Paula|title=Borders, Histories, Existences: Gender and Beyond|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2010|isbn=9788132102267}}
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| *{{Cite book|last=Brodbeck|first=Simon|title=Krishna's Lineage : The Harivamsha of Vyasa's Mahabharata|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|isbn=9780190279172}}
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| *{{Cite book|last=Misra|first=Sanghamitra|title=Becoming a Borderland : The Politics of Space and Identity in Colonial Northeastern India|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=9780415612531|series=Transition in Northeastern India|chapter=Histories, Memories, and Identities}}
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| {{refend}}
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| [[Category:Kingdoms in the Mahabharata]]
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| [[Category:Kamarupa (former kingdom)]]
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| [[Category:Pragjyotisha Kingdom| ]]
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