Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/68

64 explain the situation. When Orissa constituted a part of the Presidency of Bengal, the term Bengal could be found, in some works of history and geography, to signify Orissa along with Bengal proper; if because of such political inclusion of Orissa in Bengal, no portion of Orissa could be confounded with Bengal proper, no one will be justified to identify any portion of the Barinda country, with the Gauḍa Deśa of the 10th century, or of earlier times.

When the Westerners such as the Gurjaras and the Rāṣṭrakuṭas became supreme all over Bihar, the successors of Nārāyana Pāla, ruled over a limited area which is supposed to be the Rāḍha country, having lost Gauḍa and Magadha. When these successors of Nārāyana Pāla, lost their real dignity, Northern Bengal came into the possession of a Mongolian tribe, known in History as the Kāmbojas. Very likely these Kāmbojas came from Farther India, but no discussion on the point is here necessary. When Mahīpāla regained the possession of Northern Bengal, he styled himself as Gauḍeśvara in memory of the past glory of the family. True it is, that Mahīpāla and his successors regained subsequently a footing in Mithilā and Magadha, but the good old time did not return. Constant invasion of Bihār by the Westerners and the permanent domination of the province by some of them, wrought such changes as had far-reaching effect both in Bihār and Bengal.

We have seen that in Rāḍha, Puṇḍrabardban, and Vaṅga, that is to say all throughout the country of Bengal, Māgadhi culture including the Māgadhi speech was prevailing since long; and now we see that at the transfer of the capital of the Pāla Rajas from Magadha to Bengal, the chance for a very free development of Māgadhi civilization in Bengal became very great. If we