The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.389

v1.c16.389

Turning now to the question of their origin, I have already pointed out the possibility that they came from the South. In the *Ballāla-carita* of Ānanda Bhaṭṭa, a work composed in the beginning of the 16th century, the Sena genealogy is traced back to the epic hero Karṇa, whose great-grandson Vīrasena married Somatā, the daughter of a Gauḍa Brahman. The Senas of Bengal were sprung from the descendants of this Vīrasena, and were higher in rank than the Kṣatriyas, being Brahma-Kṣatriyas like the Pāṇḍavas.² In the inscriptions of the Senas, Karṇa, Vṛṣasena and Pṛthusena are entirely omitted. But they mention Vīrasena as the remote ancestor of Sāmantasena, who appears to have been the real founder of the line. The Senas claim to belong to the lunar race. In the Deopara Stone inscription of Vijayasena we are told that in the family of the moon were born the southern rulers (*Dākṣiṇātya-Kṣauṇīndra*) Vīrasena and the rest. In that Sena family (*Sen-ānvaye*) was born Sāmantasena the *Kulaśirodāma* of the *Brahma-Kṣatriyas* who “slaughtered the wicked robbers of the wealth of Karṇāṭa (*Karṇāṭa-lakṣmī-luṇṭhakānām*).”¹ In the Barrackpur grant of the same king, Sāmantasena is said to have sprung from the family of the *rājaputras* of the lunar race. He is further described as the head ornament of the Kṣatriyas.² In the Naihati grant of Ballālasena, Sāmantasena is said to have been born in the family of the *rājaputras* of the lunar family who were ornaments of the *Rāḍhā* country.³ In the Madhainagar grant of Lakṣmaṇasena, Sāmantasena is described as the head-garland (*Kula-śirodāma*) of the *Karṇāṭa-Kṣatriyas*.⁴ From these passages it is quite clear that the Senas came from *Karṇāṭa* in the Deccan and settled in *Rāḍhā*, in West Bengal. It is interesting in this connection to note that names ending in *Sena* were by no means unknown during this period in the Karṇāṭa country. Prof. R. C. Mojumdar has recently pointed out a line of 7 Jaina teachers with names ending in Sena in the Dharwar district (Bombay).⁵ As the dates of these Senas range from about 850 to 1054 A. D., and as change of religion, from Jainism to Hinduism or *vice versa*, is not an unfamiliar feature of Indian society, it had been suggested that the Senas of Rāḍhā may have had some connection with the Senas of Dharwar. The religious revolution in Karṇāṭa in the 11th and 12th centuries, which ultimately led to the foundation of the Liṅgāyata sect, may have helped to change the creed of the Jaina family into Śaivism. The conversion of the Cālukya prince Jayasiṁha II (*c.* 1018-1042 A.D.) from Jainism to Śaivism is an interesting example on the point. The fact that Sāmantasena is called *Brahmavādi* in the Deopara inscription and that he retired in his old age to a hermitage on the Ganges whose parrots even knew by rote the text of the Vedas, seems to support the contention that he sprang from a line of teachers. The example of Mayūraśarman, the founder of the Kadambas, shows that in the south proficiency in the Vedas was no bar to a military career.¹ It is not unlikely that Sāmantasena, like Mayūraśarman was a Brahman, and like him entered the royal service and adopting a Kṣatriya’s life soon gained prominence “by acts of bravery in battles.” This would give a satisfactory explanation to the puzzling word *Brahma-Kṣatriya* applied to him.² By adopting a Kṣatriya’s profession, they became ultimately merged in the general body of the Kṣatriyas. In the Deopara inscription of Vijayasena, which is one of the earliest documents of the Senas, they still remembered their Brāhmaṇa origin. But the prefix *Brahma* gradually disappears in their records. In the Barrackpur grant of the same king Sāmantasena is already the ‘head-ornament’ of only the Kṣatriyas.³ I have suggested the possibility that Sāmantasena or one of his predecessors came in the train of the Cālukya prince Vikramāditya when the latter invaded N. E. India in the reign of his father Someśvara I (*c.* 1044-68