Samatata

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kingdom of Samatata (or Samata) was a Hindu kingdom in ancient Bengal, located at the mouth of the Brahmaputra river (near Chittagong). and was dependent on Gupta.

Samatata was created during the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, sometime after the death of Emperor Ashoka in 232 BC. Not much is known about the kingdom's history, except that it was ruled by Buddhist kings in the late 600s.

Roman geographer Ptolemy called the kingdom Souanagoura. Two ancient Chinese travelers also mention Samatata. In the early 600s a monk named Xuanzang called it "San-mo-tat'a" and indicates the kingdom was a Buddhist center. Nearly a century later it was visited by another monk, Yijing.

Archaeological excavations are underway in the villages of Wari and Bateshwar (near the center of ancient Samatata).