The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.91

v1.c16.91

The recent discovery of the Nālandā copper-plate of Devapāla has thrown an interesting sidelight on the history of Bengal and Bihar of this period. The plate records the grant of five villages in the *Viṣayas* of Rājagṛha and Gayā by the Pāla king at the request of *Suvarṇadvīpādhipati Mahārāja Bālaputradeva*, grandson of a *Sailendra* king of *Yava-bhūmi*.) The land was intended for the upkeep of a Buddhist monastery built by the Sailendra king at Nālandā.³ As Yava-bhūmi and Suvarṇadvīpa have been identified with the islands of Java and Sumatra this record is an evidence of intercourse between the lower Ganges valley and the islands of the East Indian Archipelago in the middle of the 9th century. There may have been a regular pilgrim-traffic, possibly by sea, between these islands and the mouths of the Ganges.