The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.403

v1.c16.403

Sāmantasena was succeeded by Hemantasena. Nothing but vague praise is recorded for this prince. The following verse from the Deopara inscription may be accepted as a sample : “On his head he had the dust of the feet of the half-moon-crested (god), in his throat true speech, in his ear sacred precepts, at his feet the hairs of enemies, on his arms the marks of the scars made by the hard bow-string” (V. 11.). But from the epithet of *mahārājñī*, given to his consort Yaśodevī in the same inscription, he seems to have already claimed to be a chief of some importance. The feet of Yaśodevī we are told, "were brightened by a series of rays of the lines of the crest-jewels of the wives of princes both friendly and hostile" (V. 14). But the prince who really laid the foundation of the Sena kingdom in Bengal appears to have been Vijayasena, his son by this queen. In our chronology his reign extended from about 1097 to 1159 A. D. This is quite consistent with the suggestion already made that he is to be identified with the Vijaya of Nidrābala who, according to the commentary of the *Rāma-carita*, helped Rāmapāla (*c.* 1084-1126 A. D.) in defeating the Kaivartas in Varendrī. If this identification is accepted, it must be supposed that Vijayasena, in about the last quarter of the 11th century, was only a feudatory of the Pāla king. But from the fact that he is not given any such epithet as *bhūpāla*, *rājā*, or *pati*, which are given to some of the other *Sāmantas*, it must be assumed that he did not enjoy a position of any considerable power in the Pāla's *Sāmantacakra*. It was probably his marriage with Vilāsadevī, who is described as *Śūra-kulāmbodhi-kaumudī* in his Barrackpur grant, that first raised him into importance. We have already noticed that the Śūras were the rulers of a principality in South Rāḍhā, in the first quarter of the 11th century A. D. A Śūra chief also figures in the list of the *Sāmantas* of Rāmapāla. A matrimonial alliance with the Śūras therefore must have certainly led to a considerable improvement of the position of this ambitious Sena chieftain. I have suggested elsewhere that the enemy from whose attack a Varman prince of the eastern country sought the protection of Rāmapāla was possibly Vijayasena. In any case the Varmans must have been supplanted by the Senas before the 62nd year (*c.* 1159 A.D.) of Vijayasena, as his Barrackpur grant was issued in that year from Vikramapura, the same place where was pitched the "victorious camp" of Bhojavarman in the Belava grant. But this was not his only conquest.