Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / Bengal's Buddhist Queen: The Lost Kingdom of Khargadatta
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, we've talked a lot about the Sena dynasty — how they were the last Hindu kings of Bengal, how Lakshmanasena fled when Bakhtiyar Khilji showed up. But there's a story within that story that hardly ever gets told. Luna: Oh? What's that? Lucas: A queen. A Buddhist queen who ruled a significant chunk of Bengal right as the Senas were consolidating power. Her name was Khargadatta, and she might have been the last independent Buddhist ruler in the region before the Muslim conquest. Luna: Khargadatta — I've never heard that name before. Lucas: Most people haven't. Her kingdom was in the Varendra region — that's modern Rajshahi, in present-day Bangladesh. It was the old heartland of the Pala empire, and after the Palas fell, the Senas moved in from the west. But not everyone accepted Sena rule. Lucas: Khargadatta's husband was a local king, probably a Pala vassal or a minor ruler who held out against the Senas. When he died — possibly in battle — she took over. And this is where it gets interesting: she didn't just act as a regent for a son. She ruled in her own right, issuing coins and land grants under her own name. Luna: Wait — we have actual coins from her? Lucas: We do. A handful of silver coins and one remarkable copper plate inscription, discovered in 1912 near the village of Kotalipara in what's now Bangladesh. The inscription records a land grant to a Buddhist monastery, and it's signed by Khargadatta as 'Mahadevi' — queen — not 'regent' or 'queen mother'. Luna: That's huge. A woman ruling in 12th-century Bengal, and she's Buddhist at a time when the Senas were aggressively promoting Brahminical Hinduism. Lucas: Exactly. The Senas were Vaishnavas — devotees of Vishnu — and they used their patronage to sideline Buddhist institutions. Monks from Nalanda and Vikramashila were fleeing east, and some found refuge in Khargadatta's kingdom. She actively sponsored monasteries, especially the ones at Vikramashila and Somapura. Lucas: There's a theory that her court became a last haven for Vajrayana Buddhist scholars, the ones who later fled to Tibet and Nepal. Some art historians think the distinctive style of early Tibetan thangka painting — the bold colours, the intricate mandalas — has roots in the workshops she supported. Luna: So she's a key figure in the transmission of Buddhism from India to Tibet? Lucas: Potentially a very important one. But the historical record is frustratingly thin. We have her name, her title, a few coins, one inscription — and then silence. We don't know exactly when she died, or how her kingdom fell. But we know Lakshmanasena eventually conquered Varendra. Lucas: And here's the twist: some Bengali chronicles from a few centuries later mention a 'Rani Khargadatta' in folktales, often as a wise queen who outwitted her enemies. It's possible her memory survived in oral tradition long after the official records were lost. Luna: That's fascinating. So she became a folk hero, even if the historians forgot her. Lucas: Exactly. And that copper plate I mentioned — it's now in the Bangladesh National Museum, but it's rarely displayed. Most people walk right past it. But for me, it's one of the most important artefacts in South Asian history, because it proves that a woman could hold sovereign power in that era, and that Buddhism didn't just roll over when the Senas came. Luna: It makes you wonder how many other female rulers we've lost. Lucas: Right. And that's part of why I wanted to do this episode — not just to rescue Khargadatta from obscurity, but to think about what gets preserved and what gets erased. The Senas wrote their own history, and they had no interest in celebrating a Buddhist queen who opposed them. Lucas: If you've been coming with us through these conversations about South Asia, and if you care about stories like this — stories that challenge the mainstream narrative — then you might appreciate what we're doing here. This show is ad-free and relies entirely on listeners who find value in it. Luna: Yeah, it's a labour of love. Every episode takes hours of research and writing. Lucas: So if you'd like to support us, you can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to help us keep digging up stories like Khargadatta's. Luna: And it really does make a difference. Lucas: So back to Khargadatta: one of the debates among historians is whether she was truly independent or a Sena vassal who played along. The copper plate doesn't mention any overlord, but it also doesn't use the full imperial titulary that Palas or Senas used. That ambiguity is part of what makes her so intriguing. Luna: What do the coins say? Lucas: The coins are silver, about the size of a modern dime, and they have a simple design: a stylised lion on one side, and her name in Bengali script on the other. No mention of a suzerain. That's pretty strong evidence that she was issuing currency as a sovereign. Lucas: And the lion — that's a Buddhist symbol, right? It's associated with the Buddha's teachings, the 'lion's roar'. So she's making a clear statement: this is a Buddhist kingdom. Luna: That's amazing. So she's literally minting her identity. Lucas: Exactly. And if you look at the broader context, her kingdom was a last stand. Within a generation, Lakshmanasena had absorbed Varendra, and then Bakhtiyar Khilji swept in and ended Sena rule entirely. Buddhism in Bengal never recovered its political power. Lucas: But her legacy survived in a different way: the monasteries she patronised became centres of learning that attracted scholars from across Asia. The Tibetan monk Chag Lotsawa visited Somapura in the 13th century and described it as a 'great temple with a thousand monks'. That was possible because of patrons like her. Luna: So even though her kingdom fell, the institutions she supported carried on for generations. Lucas: Right. And that's the hidden history we try to uncover: not just the battles and kings, but the patrons, the refugees, the women who held things together. Khargadatta is a perfect example. Luna: I'm really glad we did this episode. She deserves to be remembered. Lucas: Me too. And if you want to see that copper plate, it's worth a trip to the Bangladesh National Museum in Dhaka. It's in the epigraphy section, usually on the second floor. Ask for it — they might bring it out. Luna: I'll have to put that on my bucket list.