Mahamanikya
Ruler of Assam, India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mahamanikya (also Mahamanikpha) was a 14th-century king of the Kachari Kingdom who claimed the Barāha (Varaha) lineage.[1][2] During his reign, he settled Brahmins and promoted Brahmanical culture in the present-day Hojai district. Under his patronage Madhava Kandali translated the Sanskrit epic Ramayana to Assamese verse called Saptakanda Ramayana.[2] A stone inscription found at Lanka, Hojai dated to 1352 AD records Mahamanikya giving land to a Brahmin named Din Dwija at a village named Bamdeva.[3]
Some historians suggest that he was also involved, along with the Kamata king, in resisting Sikandar Shah's invasion into the Kapili valley (Davaka region) around 1362 AD.[4] This view is supported by the Gachtal stone inscription, which records that Yavana or Bangal forces had entered the Davaka region and that nearly three thousand enemy troops were trapped and driven downstream through coordinated use of riverine warfare and seasonal floods [5]
