Page:The Pālas of Bengal.djvu/35

Rh No inscriptions of Rājyapāla have been discovered as yet, and so nothing definite can be stated about the length or the events of his reign. According to the inscriptions of the later Pālas, he was succeeded by his son Gopāla II.

The British Museum possesses a Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrika Prajñāpāramitā written in the 15th year of Gopāla II at the monastery of Vikramaśilā. Its colophon runs thus:—

Parameśvara-paramabhaṭṭāraka-paramasaugata-Mahārājādhirāja-Śrī-mad-Gopāladevapravarddhamāna-kalyāṇa-vijaya-rajy-etyādi samvat 15 āsmine dine 4 Śrī-mad Vikramaśīla-deva-vihāre likhiteyaṁ bhagavati.

We possess two inscriptions of Gopāla II, and from these we learn that Magadha was temporarily recovered by the Pālas during the reign of this monarch. The first of these inscriptions was discovered by the late Sir Alexander Cunningham, at Bargaon in the Patna District, the ancient Nālandā. It records the fact that an image of the goddess Vāgīśvarī, at Nālandā, was covered with gold leaf by some unnamed personage in the first year of Gopāladeva. The second inscription was discovered amidst the ruins of the Mahābodhi temple at Bodh-Gayā and records the erection of image of Buddha by a person named Śakrasena during the reign of Gopāladeva, no year being mentioned. These inscriptions prove that some time during the reign of Gopāla II, South Bihār or Magadha was temporarily occupied by the Pālas. The reason of this sudden enterprise is not far to seek. During the long reign of Amoghavarṣa I, whose certain dates extend from 817 to 877 A.D., there was no war between the Gurjaras and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. In fact the only war between Bhoja I and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas was his war with the Rāṣṭrakūṭas Dhruvarāja II of Gujarat some time before 867 A.D., in which Bhoja I himself was worsted. After Bhoja I, Mahendrapāla succeeded to an empire which had reached its greatest extent at that time, from Punjab to the borders of Bengal, and from the foot of the Himalayas to Saurāṣṭra. Mahendrapāla's reign was a very short one, as his certain dates range from 893 to 907 A.D. He had two wives and was succeeded by Bhoja II, his son by Dehanāgā. Most probably there was some dispute about his succession, which, may have been contested by his half-brother Mahīpāla II. Bhoja II was assisted to the throne by the Cedi Emperor Kokkalla I, which is referred to in the Bilhari inscription:—

We find a corroboration of this statement in the Benares grant of the Cedi Emperor Karṇadeva:—