Bengal and the Pala Empire
Both under Lalitaditya and Vinayaditya Kashmir had come into conflict with the arms of Gauda, which was the name applied to a people of Western and North-Western Bengal as well as to their country. In the seventh and eighth centuries AD this eastern kingdom definitely entered on the scene as a rival of Kanauj and Kashmir. References to Gauda occur in early literature, notably in the sutras of Panini, the Kautiliya Arthasastra and some of the Puranas. The sister realm of Vanga or Eastern and Central Bengal does not seem to be less ancient as it is referred to in the Dharmasutras and the epic. In the days of Maurya and Gupta ascendancy Bengal seems to have formed part of the empire of Magadha, the eastern districts enjoying a certain amount of autonomy.
After the fall of the Imperial Guptas we find several local rulers, notably Dharmaditya, Gopachandra and Samacharadeva, asserting their independence. Gopachandra was a powerful ruler whose dominions embraced large tracts in both Eastern and Western Bengal. In his days, or those of his immediate successors, the Gauda people emerge as a great military power. Sometime before AD 554 they came into conflict with Isanavarman Maukhari and found a safe refuge in a maritime region. In the next century we find them in possession of the aggressive kingdom of Karnasuvarna (in the Murshidabad district). Under the leadership of their king they waged war on the aspiring house of Pushyabhuti. The murder of Rajyavardhana and the war of revenge undertaken by his brother and successor Harsha have been mentioned above. Till 619 the power of the Gauda king seems to have remained unshaken, and his suzerainty was acknowledged as far south as Ganjam. But sometime between 619 and 637 Sasanka seems to have died and some years later we find the capital city in the possession of Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa, the eastern ally of Harsha. In the latter half of the seventh century eastern India seems, according to some scholars, to have been shared between the “later Guptas” of Magadha and the Khadga dynasty of Eastern Bengal. The Khadga chronology is, however, still uncertain. Early in the eighth century both Western and Eastern Bengal were overrun by Yasovarman of Kanauj. Other conquerors followed in his wake. There was anarchy (Matsya nyaya) in the realm till at last the different sections of the people (prakritis) raised to the throne a chief named Gopala, who brought the blessings of peace to the distracted lands.
With Gopala began the famous Pala dynasty which, in the last days of its rule, claimed descent from the solar race and also from the sea. Under Pala rule Bengal was to enjoy a period of prosperity undreamt of in her early annals. In contemporary records the earliest kings of the line are called Vangapati and Gaudesvara, showing that they ruled over the twin kingdoms of Eastern and Western Bengal.
Dharmapala, son of Gopala, was one of the greatest kings that ever ruled in Bengal. His accession to the throne probably took place about 780 AD. In the course of a long reign of at least thirty two years he raised Bengal to the position of the premier state in Northern India, and did much to restore the greatness of the old imperial city of Pataliputra. He doubtless attempted to shift the political centre of gravity once more to the east, the home territory of the Imperial Mauryas and the great Guptas. He defeated Indraraja and other enemies, conquered Kanauj and, with the assent of the neighbouring powers, placed on the throne his protege Chakrayudha. Some records describe him as the conqueror of the whole country from the Himalayas in the north to Gokarna in the south. But his successes in the Gangetic Doab were short-lived. The Rashtrakutas of the Deccan claim to have expelled the Gauda king from the territory between the Ganges and the Jumna during the period AD 772 to 794, while the Pratiharas of Western India under Nagabhata II drove away Chakrayudha, the vassal king of Kanauj, and made themselves masters of the imperial seat of Harsha certainly before AD 836 and probably before even 833.
The death of Dharmapala probably took place sometime about AD 815. His son and successor Devapala was equally ambitious. He renewed the struggle with the Gurjaras or the Pratiharas of the west and the Dravidians of the south, and his troops claimed victories not only over the neighbouring realms of Orissa, and Assam but also over the Huns, a people whom it was the policy of every aspirant for imperial dominion in Northern India to try to overcome. His court poet credits him with having enjoyed the whole earth from the Himalayas to Adam’s Bridge. A more modest claim is put forward in other epigraphic passages which say that his arms reached the Kamboja territory in the north and the Vindhya hills in the south. That he maintained some sort of relations with the northwest borderland of India appears probable from his connection with Viradeva, a Brahamana from Nagarahara or Jalalabad, who got the important post of abbot of Nalanda in South Bihar. He also received an embassy from Balaputradeva, ruler of Suvarnadvipa or Sumatra. He seems to have preferred Monghyr to Pataliputra as the seat of his “camp of victory”. He died about AD 855 after a reign of at least thirty-nine years, having raised the kingdom of Bengal to a pinnacle of glory that was never again attained in the time of his successors.
After Devapala the Pala power seems to have declined. The next king Vigrahapala I, nephew of Devapala, was a weak ruler given to religious activities who finally abdicated in favour of his son Narayanapala. The “camp of victory” at Monghyr was still in existence in the seventeenth year of Narayanapala, about AD 880. After this the famous fort does not find any mention in any Pala record. A Pratihara record of 837 tells us that a chieftain named Kakka gained renown by fighting with the Gaudas at Monghyr. It is not improbable that Pataliputra and Monghyr fell before the advancing arms of the Pratiharas. Within a short time, not later than AD 808 , even Northern Bengal was annexed to the Pratihara empire. Part of the lost ground seems to have been recovered in the latter part of Narayanapala’s reign, which extended over more than half a century (at least fifty-four years). Two or three generation later, in the time of Gopala II or of Vigrahapala II, the Pala power was once more shaken, possibly by the Kambojas, but the fortunes of the family were restored by Mahipala I. Mahipala is known to have been ruling in the first quarter of the eleventh century AD.
Mahipala I is referred to as the overlord of Gauda in a record of AD 1026. Parts of Bengal had fallen into the hands of local dynasties which may in some cases have acknowledged in a vague way the suzerainty of the Pala emperor (adhipa). Two of the local families, namely, the Suras of South-West Bengal and the Chandras of Eastern Bengal, deserve special mention. Sura princes find mention in literature and inscriptions. The most notable among them is Adisura, a name famous in Bengali legend. In the absence of contemporary records it is difficult to say if he can be regarded as an historical figure.
In or about AD 1023 the princes of Bengal had to bear the brunt of an attack from Rajendra Chola I, the ambitious ruler of the Tamil country in the far south of India. The army of Rajendra claims to have measured swords with Ranasura of South West Bengal and Govindachandra of the eastern part of the province. He is also credited with having won a victory over Mahipala. Another invader of Mahipala’s dominions was in the opinion of some scholars the famous Gangeyadeva Kalachuri, but this view rests on an identification which may be doubted.
After Mahipala came his son Nayapala and grandson Vigrahapala III. Both these personages came into conflict with Karna Kalachuri, the great king of the Chedi country in central India. Vigraha III married Yauvanasri, daughter of the Chedi king. Another queen of this monarch was of Rashtrakuta lineage. He left three sons, Mahipala II, Surapala, and Ramapala. Mahipala II proved to be a weak king . The Pala empire now depended in large measure on the support of a military aristocracy recruited in part from other provinces. A confederacy of indigenous chieftains revolted against the king. Divvoka, a Kaivarta, held sway in North Bengal which was temporarily lost to the Palas. Some time after Divvoka his nephew Bhima became king. The latter was overthrown by Ramapala, the youngest brother of Mahipala II, mainly with the help of his Rashtrakuta relations. The new king once more restored the fortunes of his family . Ramapala was followed by his son Kumarapala a grandson, Gopala III, and a second son Madanapala. In the end Pala supremacy in Bengal was destroyed by Vijayasena, who belonged to a family that came from the Kanarese country in the Deccan. The Sena power was firmly established in almost the whole of Bengal by the middle of the twelfth century AD.
The Pala dynasty produced the last great Hindu emperor whose commands were issued from the historic city of Pataliputra. Like the Mauryas and the Guptas, the Pala sovereigns raised a kingdom in Eastern India to a position of pre-eminence in Aryavarta. Like their illustrious predecessors they maintained relations with the distant potentates of the world as known to them, and not only did much to foster religion and culture in India but encouraged their spread to foreign lands. The Pala period saw the foundation of the Universities of Uddandapura and Vikramasila. The epoch was rendered memorable by the activities of artists like Dhimana and Vitapala, of missionaries like Pandit Dharmapala and Atisa Dipankara and scholars like Chakrapani and Sandhyakara. Themselves devoted worshippers of Buddha, the Pala monarchs were catholic enough to grant toleration to the votaries of Narayana and Mahadeva. Throughout the Pala period the king sought the assistance of Brahmana ministers. The rise of Kaivarta chiefs to positions of power and wealth in the latter days of the dynasty shows that careers were open to men of talent irrespective of caste and creed.
