Maharani Asmita or Asmita and Maitreyidevi was the empress consort of Mahipala II and a queen of the Pala Empire. Various inscriptions describe she was from a lineage of about 153 years of the Haryanka dynasty. Her name may occur in the inscriptions of the Haryanka dynasty, chapter (23), the marriage of Mahipala II. Queen Asmita started the art of Bharatnatyam and established the rule of the Haryanka dynasty in 1456. The queen Mahata was her cousin. She was the first and senior consort of Mahipala II.
Sources about Bharatnatyam[edit | edit source]
Bharatnatyam, was a course started by the Queen (Asmita) and she was also great in that dance. She danced a few steps in front of King Mahipala, which impressed him and he married her. She was not a dancer but she was taught Nrutya and Kala. The first queen in India to know dance was Queen Asmita of Pala Empire. She encouraged people for doing pottery, cooking food and gifted two temples to the Brahmins, she outlived her husband. The two stayed happily. In Jagjivanpura, there is a copper plates stating Mahata and Asmita dance in the Bharatnatyam position of Shiva and Parvati.
Brihadratha dynasty
