Genealogical Myth in Land Grant Charters of Bengal and Bihar of the 8th–13th Centuries as a Variety of Political Myth

Abstract

The paper deals with the genealogical parts of the land grant charters of Eastern India dating back to the reign of the Pāla dynasty (mid-VIII – early XIII centuries. The characteristic of these parts of land grant charters was given: they were panegyrics by their shape, and starting from the second half of the early medieval period (7th–13th centuries), were composed of rhythmic stanzas. A subset was also ascertained for further consideration, consisting of 26 charters. For studying the genealogical parts, the method of comparative formal analysis was applied. Based on the content of the text, the stanzas of each genealogical part were divided into the following groups: directly genealogical, indirectly genealogical, historical descriptive and mythological descriptive. Historical information in one form or another is contained in the first three of these groups. A detailed examination of this information shows that the degree of its reliability is relatively low because, being a panegyric, it has an exclusively positive color, in addition, there are intentional omissions in the genealogical lists. To testify the reliability of this information, it is necessary to involve new independent sources (inscriptions) related to the reign of other dynasties, contemporaneous with the dynasty under study. We draw a conclusion that genealogical parts of letters of commendation of the rulers of East India in the 8th–13th centuries should be considered as a genealogical myth.

Keywords

• history of eastern india
• history of bengal
• pāla dynasty
• early mediaeval period
• epigraphics
• land grant charters