The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c31.s8.27

c31.s8.27

The Pāla dynasty deserves remembrance as one of the most remarkable of Indian dynasties. No other royal line in an important kingdom, save that of the Āndhras, endured so long, for four and a half centuries. Dharmapāla and Devapāla succeeded in making Bengal one of the great powers of India, and, although later kings had not the control of realms so wide or possessed influence so extensive, their dominion was far from being contemptible. The Pāla authority was considerably shaken by the Kāmboja usurpation in the latter part of the tenth century, and again by the Chāsi-Kaivarta or Māhishya revolt in the eleventh century, which prepared the way for the encroachments made by the Sena kings. The Pālas seem to have held Magadha or South Bihār, and Mungir in North Bihār, almost throughout to the end, with little interruption, but during the last century of their rule they lost nearly the whole of Bengal to the Senas.² The details of the local history need to be worked out.