Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c10.8

c10.8

¹ Ep. Ind., Vol. IX, p. 229 ff. The earliest reference to Vaṅgāla has been recently traced in the Nesari plates (805 A.D.) of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda III, which speak of Dharma (i.e., Dharmapāla) as the king of Vaṅgāla (J.A.S., Letters, Vol. XXII, 1956, pp. 133-34 ). This shows that the name Vaṅgāla was not unknown in earlier times and that the Pālas originally ruled in the tract called by that name. It is interesting to note that Dharmapāla is apparently called 'lord of Vaṅga' in the Sāgar Tāl inscription of Bhoja and 'king of Gauḍa' in the Sanjan plates of Amoghavarṣa. With the expansion of their territories, the Pālas preferred to style themselves as 'lords of Gauḍa'. This seems to be the reason why Vaṅgāla did not become popular in the sense of the Pāla empire.