Samataṭa
The Deva kings held the country around modern Comilla from a capital at Devaparvata, and are known from copper plates and from excavation at the Mainamati ridge, where a series of Buddhist monasteries and shrines has been uncovered. The Ānanda Vihāra and the Śālban Vihāra there are among the most substantial Buddhist remains in Bangladesh.
Their grants show Buddhist patronage of the same kind the Pālas were extending further west, and the region's monastic economy appears to have been prosperous.
A later namesake
A separate Deva dynasty ruled parts of eastern Bengal in the thirteenth century, after the Sena collapse and before the region was absorbed by the Sultanate. Daśaratha-deva is its best-known ruler. Whether this later house was connected to the earlier one is not established, and the shared name may be coincidental — Deva was a common royal suffix.
The later Devas represent the last independent Hindu-Buddhist rule in the Bengal delta before the Sultanate period.
Further reading
- Dehejia, Vidya. Early Buddhist Rock Temples. Cornell University Press, 1972
- Schopen, Gregory. Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks. University of Hawaii Press, 1997
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. University of Hawaii Press, 2003
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. Pearson, 2008
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.