The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.93

c18.93

The emergence of suzerainty like that of vassalage can also be studied in the inscriptions. The Khalimpur Plate of Dharmapāladeva records that Gopāla was induced by the people to assume the sovereignty in order to put an end to lawlessness and disorder. The grant employs the term Mātsya-Nyāya—the Logic of the Fish—the classical Sanskrit expression for anarchy. So he founded the Pāla dynasty of sovereigns about 730—740 A.D. He married Daddādevi, daughter of a king of Bhadra, and thus assimilated his line to the bluest blood of the country.² Here, then, we can observe how the general popular support would enable a dynasty to rise to supremacy. As in the earlier centuries, the rise to independence was always signalised by the assumption of the grand titles. Thus