Raja Prithu

Prithu is a name used by some historians for a ruler associated with early thirteenth-century Kamrup (present-day Assam), particularly in connection with the defeat of Bakhtiyar Khalji following his Tibet campaign. The figure is derived from the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, a Persian chronicle by Juzjani, which refers to a rebel named Britū, described as having killed large numbers of Muslims before being defeated by Nasir ud din Mahmud Shah. Some scholars have identified this figure with the contemporaneous King of Kamrup who had repelled Bakhtiyar’s forces. Others reject this identification, deeming Prithu instead as a rebel in Awadh as asserted by Juzjani, and attributing the resistance in Kamrup to rulers attested in inscriptional records. In recent years, Prithu has gained prominence in Assam as a regional symbol of Hindu resistance against Muslim aggression.

Background The immediate history of Kamrup following the extinction of the indigenous Pala dynasty remains uncertain, particularly with regard to the identities of the rulers. The undated Kamauli copper plate inscription, generally assigned to c. 1139 C.E., indicates that Kamrupa had come under the suzerainty of the Pala Empire of Gauda (Bengal); it records Vaidyadeva, in the fourth year of his rule, as governing the province under Kumarapala after having suppressed a rebellion by Tingyadeva, the previous governor who had declared independence.

The Tejpur copper-plates of Vallabhadeva, dated to 1185 C.E., provides a list of three rulers—Rayarideva Trailokyasimha, Udayakarna Nishankasimha, and Vallabhadeva Srivallabha—in succession, from the lineage of one Bhaskara.