The Colas c18.39

c18.39

They also imply that the conquest of Mahīpāla was achieved on the return march. Obviously, both these accounts cannot be true, and as a choice has to be made, the Tamil *praśasti* which was recorded almost immediately after the campaign must be accepted as the more authentic. On this basis, 'most probably Daṇḍabhukti was the march-land between Orissa and Bengal'⁷¹ and its ruler Dharmapāla, of whom we know nothing more than his name, may have been a relative of Mahīpāla, the powerful Pāla ruler of Bengal at the time. The language of the Tamil inscription appears to suggest,⁷² what seems likely even otherwise, that Mahīpāla had a sort of supremacy over the other chiefs named in this context and that the overthrow of Dharmapāla, Raṇaśūra⁷³ and Gōvindacandra led to the final struggle with Mahīpāla. Lāḍa (Raḍhā) was the ancient name of a part of Bengal, which was bounded on the north by the Ganges, the divisions of Bengal across the river being known as Mithilā and Varēndra.⁷⁴ The conquest of Vangāḷa apparently deflected the course of the Cōḷa army a little to the east, and for the rest of it, its march was due north from the land of Southern Kōsala.⁷⁵