Tribes in Ancient India c55.15

c55.15

The Pāla kings of Bengal are often described as ‘Lords of Gauḍa’ (*Gauḍendra* or *Gauḍeśvara*) as well as ‘Vaṅgapati’, in the contemporary epigraphic records of the ninth century A.D. Dharmapāla and Devapāla had often to measure swords with the Gurjara Pratihāras on the one hand and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas on the other. Thus the Rādhanpur plates of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda III (*Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 248) as well as the Wani grant of the same monarch refer to a defeat inflicted by the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Dhruva upon Vatsarāja, the Gurjara king, who had already defeated the king of Gauḍa. The Sanjan Copperplate of Amoghavarṣa I tells us that Dhruva took away the white umbrellas of the king of Gauḍa, which were destroyed between the Ganges and the Jumna (*Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XII, p. 159). That Dhruva actually advanced so far is also proved by a verse in the Baroda plates of Kakkarāja. This proves almost conclusively that the kingdom of Gauḍa in the ninth century stretched at least as far as Allahabad at the confluence of the Ganges; and Vatsarāja’s son Nāgabhaṭa is stated in the Gwalior Inscription of Bhoja to have defeated the king of Bengal (*c.* 810 A.D.). The Jodhpur Inscription of Bauka informs us that his father Kakka ‘gained renown by fighting with the Gauḍas at Madgagiri (or Monghyr)’ (Majumdar, *Gurjara Pratihāras*, p. 60). The Sirur and Nilgund Inscriptions (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. VI) of Amoghavarṣa I (866 A.D.) refer to the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda III, who imprisoned not only the Keralas and Mālavas, but also the Gauḍas, whose king at that time was Devapāla who is described in the Garuḍa Pillar Inscription of Bādal (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, pp. 160ff.) as the Lord of Gauḍa. It was probably during the reign of Devapāla’s grandson Nārāyaṇapāla that the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Krishna II inflicted a defeat on the Gauḍas. In the Deoli Plates he is said to have ‘taught humility to the Gauḍas’. The Gauḍas are represented as having been humiliated by Krishna III as well (Karhad Plates of Krishna III, *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 287). The Kāmarūpa copperplate of Vaidyadeva also refers to the Lord of Gauḍa, evidently meaning the Pāla king¹ who appointed Vaidyadeva as ruler (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, p. 348).