Page:The Pālas of Bengal.djvu/61

Rh crossed the Ganges by a 'Nauka-melaka', which has been interpreted by Mahāmahopādhyāya Hara Prasāda Śāstrī as "a bridge of boats." The commentary on the work does not specify the place where the battle took place, but it is quite certain that the contending armies met somewhere in the south-western part of the modern District of Rājshāhī, or the southern part of the Maldah District. According to the commentary on verse 16, Bhīma was captured alive during the battle, and the soldiers of Rāmapāla received a fresh impetus from the news. The commentary on another verse states that Bhīma was captured on the back of an elephant. Bhīma's army most probably dispersed on the capture of their leader, and Rāmapāla seems to have obtained an easy victory, which was followed by the sack of the town of Ḍamara, the capital of Bhīma. The commentary on another verse states that Rāmapāla destroyed Ḍamara, a small town. The adjective Upapura is no doubt applied slightingly because it happened to be the capital of the enemy. Bhīma remained a captive and was placed in charge of a certain Vittapāla. The scattered forces of Bhīma were rallied by one of his friends named Hari. In the ensuing battle Rāmapāla's son contested every inch of ground and at last succeeded in defeating the Kaivarttas. Hari was, at last, deprived of his forces, captured and executed with Bhīma. Ḍamara seems to have continued its existence after its sack by Rāmapāla, and even to this day a village named Ḍamaranagara exists close to Rāmapāla's capital. In another verse, Rāmapāla is said to have taken into employ the soldiers of Bhīma. Rāmapāla founded a city named Rāmāvatī at the confluence of the Karatoyā and the Ganges. The site seems to have been selected for Rāmapāla by a chief named Caṇḍeśvara of Śrī-hetu (not Śrī-haṭṭa) and one Kṣemeśvara. The city was beautified within a very short time, and the author has devoted the best part of a chapter to its praise. The only feature, worth mentioning, is a Buddhist Vihāra named Jagaddala-Mahāvihāra, which was built by Rāmapāla in the new city. It is interesting to note that there is a village named Jagaddala close to the ruins of Rāmāvatī. Rāmāvatī continued to be the capital of the Pālas for some time, and Madanapāla's Manahali grant was issued from this place. It continued to be a place of importance for several centuries. In the sixteenth century it gave its name to a fiscal division, and one of the circles in the Sirkar of Lakhnauti was named Ramauti in Akbar's time. Ramauti is an exact transliteration of Rāmāvatī as Lakhnauti is of Lakṣmaṇāvatī, and the identity of Ramauti with Rāmāvatī has been made certain by the discoveries of Babu Haridās Pālit in the Maldah District. This gentleman has industriously searched the environments of Rāmāvatī and has traced