Page:The Pālas of Bengal.djvu/78

108 The relations between this chief and the Gāhaḍavāla Kings of Kanauj has been made clear by the Tārāchaṇḍī inscription of the same prince. This inscription was edited by Dr. Fitz-Edward Hall in 1860. According to this inscription, in Samvat 1225 on Wednesday, the 3rd day of the dark half of Jyaistha, = 16th April, 1169 A.D., Pratāpadhavala announces that a certain copper-plate recording the grant of the villages of Kalahaṇḍī and Baḍapilā has been obtained by several Brāhmaṇas by bribing one, Deu, the slave of King Vijayacandra of Kānyakubja. The inscription finally adds that the proprietary share of the rent should be collected yearly as before. This inscription shows very clearly that though Pratāpadhavala was semi-independent, he was obliged to recognize the suzerainty of the Gāhaḍavāla King of Kanauj. The villages stated above within his territories could be granted by the King of Kānyakubja to anybody he liked.

After the death of Lakṣmaṇasena three of his sons seem to have come to the throne:—(1) Mādhavasena, (2) Viśvarūpasena and (3) Keśavasena. Nothing is known about the order of succession of these princes and their dates. Elsewhere I have tried to prove that Mādhavasena precedes the other sons of Lakṣmaṇasena, Viśvarūpa, and he in his turn preceded Keśavasena. One copper-plate inscription of each of these princes have been discovered, viz., those of Viśvarūpa and Keśavasena. A copper-plate of Mādhavasena has been preserved in a monastery in the Tehri State.

Viśvarūpsena is known from his now lost Madanapāḍa Grant of the year 14 of his reign. It records the grant of certain lands in the village Piñjakāṣṭhī in the Vikramapura division (bhāga) of Eastern Bengal (Vaṅga) of the Pauṇḍravarddhana bhukti to a Brāhmaṇa named Viśvarūpadeva-śarmman. His brother Keśavasena is also known from his Edilpur Grant of the year 3, which records the grant of certain lands in the province (pradeśa) of Eastern Bengal, the division (bhāga) of Vikramapura and the bhukti of Pauṇḍravarddhana to Īśvaradeva-Śarmman, a brother of the Viśvarūpadeva Śarmman of the Madanapāḍa Grant. The Sena Dynasty came to an end with the Muhammadan occupation of East Bengal, and the last kings are not known.

In 1161 A.D. we find a king named Govindapāladeva in Magadha. His existence is proved from a stone inscription and six manuscript records. But we are not yet in a position to state clearly whether he belonged to the Imperial Pāla Dynasty or not. Yet the affix Pāla and the Buddhist titles (e.g. Parama-saugata) would lead us to believe that he was descended from them. He seems to have come to the throne in 1161 A.D., as the Gayā Stone Inscription distinctly mentions that his fourteenth regnal year fell in 1232 = 1175 A.D. A manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā discovered by Hodgson at Nepal, which was copied in the fourth year of the King's reign, mentions the