Page:The Pālas of Bengal.djvu/57

Rh Devarakṣita did not continue to be the ruler of Pīṭhī for a long time, as we find another king in that country when Rāmapāla led his expedition into Northern Bengal. The relationship between the Pālas, the Gāhaḍavālas, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Magadha and the rulers of Pīṭhī are shown in the table on following page.

Pīṭhī has been identified by Dr. Sten Konow with the modern Piṭhapuram in the Madras Presidency. But this is perhaps wide of the mark. It is mentioned as a separate principality, the ruler of which makes war upon the Pāla Kings of Bengal, and later on during the war between the Pālas and the Kaivartta King of Bengal, another prince of Pīṭhī is mentioned as a feudatory or as an ally of the Pāla King. It was hardly possible for the Pāla Kings after Nayapāla and Vigrahapāla III to wage war with the princes of Piṭhapuram or to demand an acknowledgment of suzerainty from them for any length of time. On the other hand, Pīṭhī should be somewhere near Magadha or a province with a boundary contiguous to the possession of the Pālas. A place named Pīṭhaghaṭṭā is mentioned in an ancient geographical work called Deśāvalī, a copy of which is in the manuscript collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The addition of the word ghaṭṭā probably means that his place was situated on the Ganges. This Pīṭha or Pīṭhī was most probably on the western or northern boundary of Magadha and is perhaps represented by the trans-Son districts or Tirhut in the modern days. Some coins bearing the name Paṭha (most probably Pīṭhī) are preserved in the Cabinet of the Indian Museum, but no records are available to prove their find-spots.

The great event of Rāmapāla's reign was his campaign in Northern Bengal, against the descendants of the rebel Divvoka, in which he was assisted and accompanied by a large number of allies and feudatories. A long list of these princes is given, at the beginning of the second Chapter of Sandhyākaranandi's Rāmacarita. Unfortunately very few of the localities mentioned in this list can be identified at present. At the head of the Ust is the name of Bhīmayaśas, Prince of Pīṭhī and Magadha. This prince is apparently the successor of Devarakṣita, as in one of the following verses the commentary describes the defeat of Devarakṣita by Mahaṇa as an already accomplished fact. It may be that Devarakṣita had placed his son Bhīmayaśas on the throne after his defeat by Mahaṇa. The commentary distinctlv states, that Bhīmayaśas was Lord of Pīṭhī and Magadha, but in the commentary on the Rāmacarita Mahaṇa is called Lord of Magadha, and Devarakṣita, King of Sindhu and Pīṭhī. Mahaṇa may have been divested of the possession of Magadha by Bhīmayaśas of Pīṭhī, after his defeat of Devarakṣita and the marriage of Mahaṇa's daughter with him. It also appears that though Devarakṣita was the Lord of Pīṭhī and Sindhu, his successor Bhīmayaśas was not. The position of Sindhu is doubtful. Bhīmayaśas is said to have