The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c6.s6: The States of Eastern India
The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c6.s6
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The States of Eastern India
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The principal feature in the political condition of Northeastern India during the period under review was the rapid dissolution of the Pala empire. Rampala (c. 1126) who succeeded in recovering his ancestral throne from the Kaivarta usurper Dibya, was able to revive for a short period the imperial glory by obtaining victories in Utkala, Kalinga and Kamrup. But his death was followed by an almost immediate collapse. His viceroy, Vaidyadeva, declared independence in the Brahmaputra valley¹. The feudatory kings of the Varman dynasty ruling over eastern and part of southern Bengal also set themselves up as independent sovereigns². Even the petty rulers of Apara-Mandara (in western Bengal, Hooghly district) repudiated their vassalage and, what is more, entered into alliance with the Senas who, under Vijayasena (1097-1159), had lately asserted independence over a part of Radha (West Bengal)³. Under Kumara-pala (1126-30) and Madanapala (c. 1130-50) the Pala dominion fast dwindled in size and came to comprise only a small portion of the Varendri division of North Bengal. In Bihar their power was circumscribed by the independent principality of Yakshapala, at Gaya, a former vassal of Rampala⁴. Another recently independent dynasty, calling themselves Pithipatis, ruled in parts of the Gaya and Hazaribagh districts⁵.
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¹ *EI*, II p. 355-56.
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² Two records have so far been found of this dynasty and although they are without dates, they can yet be assigned to the 12th century; *EI*, XII, pp. 37-43; Majumdar: *Inscriptions of Bengal*, III, pp. 25-41.
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³ *JASB*, 1914, p. 97; Ray: *Dynastic History*, I, pp. 320-21, 342-43, and 359; see also Sarkar, G.D: *Early History of Bengal*, JDL, XVII, p. 14.
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⁴ *IA*, XVI, pp. 63-66.
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⁵ *EI*, II, pp. 330-342. See also *DHB*, I, p. 259-60.
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In the scramble for territories that followed the dissolution of the Pala empire, the Sena chieftains forestalled all the others. In their grants, they call themselves *Brahmakshatriyas*¹—a term, which indicates a mixed origin—and are known to have come from South India in the train of the Chalukya Vikramaditya when he invaded northeast India between c. 1044 and 1068². Vijayasena (1097-1159)³ soon attacked and dispossessed the Varmans of east Bengal from where he issued a grant in 1159⁴. Evidence suggests that he also made himself master of part of Varendri; the last grant of Madanapala, issued in Bengal, is dated in his eighth regnal year⁵. In his grants, Vijayasena claims not only to have defeated the Gouda ruler, but also those of Kamrup, Kalinga and the smaller princes of north and south Bengal. The victory over the Kamrup king may have some reference to his conflicts with either Ryarideva or his successor Udayakarna, who preceded Vallabhadeva of the Chandravansi dynasty⁶. Raghava, the successor of Chodaganga in Orissa, is said to have levied tribute from the lands bordering on the Ganges and thus presumably incurred the hostility of the Senas, related, as mentioned above, to the Sura rulers of the affected territory. Vijayasena also fought successfully with Nanyadeva of Mithila (North Bihar)⁷. In the copper-plate grant of his successors he is mentioned as having sent a naval expedition up the Ganges. This must obviously refer to the beginning of hostilities with the Gahdvalas, then advancing rapidly into Magadha.
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¹ The term has been interpreted as meaning either a Brahmin adopting the profession of a Kshatriya, or a Kshatriya intermarrying with the Brahmin. For a discussion of their origin see, *DHB* I, pp. 205-209.
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² *Ray: Dynastic History*, I, p. 354-57.
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³ Great controversy raged over the chronology of the Senas. For a full discussion see *DHB* I, pp. 230-32. A full bibliography of the question will be fund in *Ray: Dynastic History*, I, p. 353-4.
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⁴ *EI*, XV, pp. 278-86.
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⁵ *JASB*, 1900, pp. 66-73.
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⁶ Vallabhadeva's inscription bears the date *Saka* 1107/1184-5; *EI*, V, pp. 181-88. The relation between Vaidyadeva and Vallabhadeva is not clear.
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⁷ *JASB*, 1915, p. 408-9.
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Madanapala was most probably driven out of Bengal after his eighth regnal year. He succeeded in maintaining a precarious rule in the Patna and Monghyr districts upto c. 1150¹.
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¹ An inscription of his 19th year was found near Lakhisarai, Monghyr; Cunningham: *Reports*, III, p. 125.
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Ballalasena (1159-1170) and his son Lakshmana, the Rai Lakhmania of the Persian writers, (1170-1206) not only maintained their hold on Mithila but also appear to have advanced westwards². The Palas lingered somehow near Gaya where an inscription of a prince, presumably of this dynasty, named Govindapala, is dated in his 14th regnal year, which some scholars equate with V.S. 1238/1175 A.D.³ Another prince, named Palapala, is also mentioned in the inscription of an image dedicated in his 35th regnal year⁴. For all practical purposes, however, the Palas ceased to exist in Bihar, the greater part of which passed under the Gahdvalas. By the end of the century Pala rule, if it existed at all, must have been confined to what is now Bihar district within which was situated the monastic university town (*vihar*) of Uddandapur (Odantapuri).
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² Lakshmanasena is said to have erected pillars of victory at Puri, Benares and Allahabad, *JASB*, 1914, pp. 97-104; Ray: *Dynastic History*, I, p. 368.
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³ Cunningham: *Reports*, III, p. 125. Another of his inscriptions has been found nearby, dated in 1178; *ibid*, XV, p. 155. See Banerji: *A history of the Pala Dynasty*, MASB, no. 5, pp. 108-12, for a different interpretation of the dates. See also *JASB*, (N.S.) IX, p. 278, and Banerji: *Banglar Itihasa*, I, pp. 348-51.
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⁴ Cunningham: *Reports*, III, Pl. XLV, n. 33. *JBOERS*, 1918, p. 496. For the account of the last traditional Pala ruler who is reported to have fled and fortified himself in the Jainagar fort against the Muslim forces led by a saint named Makhdum, supposed to have been buried at Kajoi, near Lakhisarai, see Cunningham: *Reports*, III, p. 159; also Martin: *Eastern India*, II, p. 23.