The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.374

v1.c16.374

It is thus clear that Madanapāla ruled at least for 19 years (*c.* 1130-50 A.D.).² I have already drawn attention to the fact that the Pāla kingdom at this period included only portions of Northern Bengal and Bihar. There is however reason to suspect that not long after his 8th year Madanapāla was driven out of Bengal by the rising power of the Senas. This brings us to the discussion of the Sena chronology. Before introducing this subject I wish to make it clear that the era which started from A.D. 1119, and which later became associated with the name of Lakṣmaṇasena, had nothing to do with the Senas of Bengal. All the Sena records so far discovered, even those of the successors of Lakṣmaṇasena, are dated in regnal years; and so far as is known to me, there is not a single authentic document discovered within the limits of the Sena kingdom which is dated unmistakably in the era commonly known as that of Lakṣmaṇasena.³ Applying the dictum of Fleet that “Any era may be introduced in a country to which it was not founded, but no era can have been founded in a country in which it was never used," to this particular case, we must refrain from introducing the 'era of Lakṣmaṇasena' into Sena chronology.¹ In any discussions on this problem we must take into consideration the following facts :