South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

TWO PALA PLATES FROM BELWA

verses from the introduction of one’s predecessor’s charter became prevalent in the Pāla house amongst the descendants of Vigrahapāla or Śūrapāla I (circa 850-54 A. C.) who was the cousin’s son and successor of Dēvapāla (circa 810-50 A. C.) The first six verses of our record describe the exploits of Gōpāla I (circa 750-70 A. C.) who was the first imperial ruler of the Pāla dynasty, his son Dharmapāla (circa 770-810 A. C.), his younger brother and general Vākpāla, his son Jayapāla who was a general of Dēvapāla, his son Vigrahapāla I and his son Nārāyaṇapāla (circa 854-908 A. C.). These verses are noticed for the first time in the charter^[1] of Nārāyaṇapāla and are found quoted in all the later grants of the family. It is as yet unknown whether the first five of these verses were quoted by Nārāyaṇapāla from a charter of his father, as no copper-plate grant of Vigrahapāla I has so far been discovered. We have also as yet no charter of the time of Rājyapāla (circa 908-40 A. C.), son and successor of Nārāyaṇapāla, although the Jājilpārā plate of Gōpāla II (circa 940-85 A. C.), son and successor of Rājyapāla, was published some time ago in the Bengali journal Bhāratavarsha (B. S. 1334, part i, pp. 264 ff.).^[2]) It is therefore no wonder that verses 7-9 of our record dealing with Rājyapāla and Gōpāla II are also found in the Jājilpārā plate. Verse 10 speaks of Vigrahapāla II (circa 985-88 A. C.), son and successor of Gōpāla II, and the following two verses verses 11-12) of his son and successor, the reigning monarch Mahīpāla I (circa 988-1038 A.C.).

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Verse 11 says that Mahīpāla I recovered his paternal rājya, which had become anadhi-kṛita-vilupta (rost owing to the occupation by usurpers), after having killed all the enemies in battle by the prowess of his own arms. Our inscription, dated in the king’s fifth regnal year, shows that Mahīpāla attained success against the enemies quite early in his reign. The enemies who dispossessed Mahīpāla I of his paternal kingdom are usually indentified with the Kāmbōja rulers of northern and south-western Bengal known from the Bāṇgarh pillar inscription and the Irda plate, although there is a theory challenging the suggestion of Kāmbōja occupation of parts of Bengal in the second half of the tenth century A. C.^[3] Whatever be the truth of the suggestion regarding the recovery of northern and south-western Bengal by Mahīpāla I from the Kāmbōjas, we know that the Pāla king very probably reconquered south-east Bengal from the Chandras quite early; in his reign. As I have elsewhere shown,^[4] the Chandras originally ruled over Chandradvīpa, otherwise called Vaṅgāladēśa, in the Buckerganj region of southern Bengal ; but Śrīchandra, the first imperial ruler of the family conquered and ruled over wide regions of south-east Bengal in the second half of the tenth century. There was a short eclipse of Chandra power after Śrīchandra apparently owing to the success of Mahīpāla I. This is suggested not only by Mahīpāla’s claim referred to above, but also by the Bāghāurā^[5] and Nārāyaṇpur^[6] inscriptions, dated respectively in his 3rd and 4th regnal years, which speak of Mahīpāla’s rule over Samataṭa, i.e., the present Tippera-Noakhali region, although Chandra suzerainty was re-established in eastern and south-eastern Bengal by Gōvindachandra during the life-time of Mahīpāla I himself. Verse 12 of our record says that the war elephants of Mahīpāla I roamed in the eastern countries, then in the valleys of the Malaya mountain range (the modern Travancore hills), next in the Maru country (i.e., the Marwar region in the Rajputana desert in the ancient Western division of India) and ultimately in the valleys of the Himalayas. This has often been taken to indicate aimless wandering of the Pāla army owing to a great catastrophe that befell the Pāla kingdom.^[7] But,

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^[1] Gauḍalēkhamālā, pp. 55 ff.
^[2] See Journ. As. Soc., Letters, Vol. XVII, pp. 137-44.
^[3] History of Bengal, Dacca University, Vol. I, pp. 133 ff., 190 f.
^[4] Ind. Cult., Vol. VII, pp. 410 ff. The Chandras originally owed allegiance to a dynasty of Harikēla kings possibly represented by Kāntidēva of the Chittagong plate. See also J.R.A.S.B., L., Vol. XVII, pp. 90-91.
^[5] Above, Vol. XVII, p. 351.
^[6] Ind. Cult., Vol.. IX, pp. 121-25.
^[7] History of Bengal, op. cit., p. 136.