History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s6.7

v3.c34.s6.7

We gave the history of the Pālas of Bengal during the second sub-period of our history in Vol. II Chap. IX ending with Mahīpāla I. The Pāla dynasty continued to rule throughout the third sub-period (1000-1200) also, a remarkable case of long-lived kingly line as Sir Vincent Smith rightly remarks. We may, however, divide it into two portions which curiously enough fall at Mahīpāla I about the beginning of this sub-period. It is a fact mentioned in most Pāla records that Mahīpāla or his father lost the kingdom about this time. It is usually stated that Mahīpāla won back the paternal kingdom which had been taken possession of by persons who were not entitled to it.* (See Sarnath inscription dated 1026 A. D. I. A. XIV p. 136). Sir Vincent Smith has given in I. A. 1906 a list of Pāla kings with detailed information of all their records found till then and has also given their genealogy as also probable dates of accession of the Pāla kings. We give at the end this genealogy from Mahīpāla I onwards with the dates of each king. Now the accession of Mahīpāla is placed by Smith in 980 A. D. as Mahīpāla is said to reigned long and in Insc. No. 17 the regnal year of this king is given as 48. If then we take Mahīpāla's accession as 980 A. D. we must also hold that his kingdom must have been seized by outsiders or false claimants about this time and not earlier. Unfortunately, no Pāla inscription mentions the nature of the usurpation or the name of the usurper. We made a surmise in the last volume (p. 141) that the shock given by Mahmud's invasions may have reached Bengal. Of course it is not possible that Mahomedan Turks came in those days so far east, but it is possible that dispossessed Rajputs of the Panjab or the North-western province may have sought for some territory to rule so far east, as dispossessed Rajput kings always did in Indian history (witness the Sisodias going to Nepal after being driven by Allauddin out of Chitor or the Rathods going to Marwad from Kanauj after Jaichand's defeat). Now the Dinajpur inscription published in J. R. A. S. Bengal 1911 mentions a Kāmboja king of Gauda building a temple of Śiva* in Dinajpur and it is suggested that its date Śaka 888 or 966 A. D. brings it near this event and that a Kamboja king (Kamboja is western Tibet) might have invaded Gauda and founded his power there. From this king or his successor Mahīpāla must have recovered the kingdom of Gauda belonging to his father. This, however, is too early; for this dispossession is not mentioned as taking place in the time of Vigrahapāla who ruled probably from 960 to 980. This inscription does not state that the Kamboja took possession of the kingdom of the Pālas, nor do the Pāla inscriptions mention that their kingdom was seized by a Kamboja king. It is further possible that some Gauda feudatory may have caused this trouble and he may eventually have been ousted by Mahīpāla.