The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.268

v1.c16.268

During the reign of Vigrahapāla III, the Pālas again came into conflict with the Kalacuri Lakṣmī-Karṇa. The commentary on the *Rāma-carita* tells us that Vigrahapāla III defeated in battle Karṇa, the ruler of Ḍāhala, but did not completely uproot him. We are further told that the Pāla king married Yauvanaśrī, the daughter of Karṇa.⁴ It is possible that this marriage was the result of an alliance between the two powers. Another foreign invasion of the lower Ganges valley appears to have taken place during this reign. We are informed by Bilhaṇa that during the latter part of the reign of the Cālukya Someśvara I of Kalyāṇa (*c.* 1044-68 A.D.) his son Vikramāditya undertook expeditions in northern India and defeated the kings of Gauḍa and Kāmarūpa.¹ It was probably these raids of the Karṇāṭa prince which brought into various parts of north-eastern India bodies of his countrymen who soon afterwards succeeded in carving out separate principalities for themselves. The rise of the *Karṇāṭakas* of Tirhut and Nepal, as also of the *Karṇāṭa-Kṣatriyas* of Rāḍha (*i.e.*, the Senas), in the 11th century, naturally leads to the suspicion that their origin may have been connected with these Cālukya invasions. It has indeed been suggested that Sāmantasena, the grandfather of Vijayasena, may have accompanied Vikramāditya in one of these expeditions and carved out a principality somewhere in Western Bengal.² As Someśvara I is also said to have utterly destroyed the power of Karṇa,³ the lord of Ḍāhala, it is not unlikely that the Senas of Karṇāṭa entered Rāḍha after the expulsion of the Kalacuris from that region by the Cālukyas. Another dynasty which also may have come from the south and settled in Eastern Bengal during this period was that of the Varmans. The existence of this line of princes is revealed by the *Belava copper-plate of Bhojavarman*. This inscription was discovered by a peasant while digging earth in the village of Belava, situated on the northern boundary of Rupganj Thana, in the Mahesvardi pargana (Narainganj subdivision, Dacca district). It is a single plate, containing in all 51 lines of writing (front 26 and back 25). The plate had a seal with the representation of Viṣṇu's wheel (*Śrīmad Viṣṇu-cakra-mudrāyā*, line 48) at the top," but the impress of the sacred wheel, as well as any possible legend on it was completely scraped off by the finder of the plate.¹ The characters of the inscription belong to a period not earlier than the 11th century, and according to some they are " of the late 11th and early 12th century A.D." The inscription opens with *Oṁ Siddhiḥ*, and then traces the genealogy of the donor of the grant from Svayambhu (Brahmā) :