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350
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
whether idi. Apåla was the immediate predecessor of Govindapala or not, we are not a liberty to count the years of Kumarapala backwards directly from 1161 A.D. Then, turning to the other end of the line, even if Nayapâla's name be omitted from that part of the royal succession which is now under review, it is safer to place Kumarapala nearer the end than the beginning of the period 1060-1161 A.D. Thus 1142 and 1161 remain. And of the two 1142 A.D. seems the more probable date for the grant of Vaidyadeva. The 4th year mentioned in Plate III, A., 11. 3, 4, 5 may be the regnal year of Vaidyadeva, whose rule in Assam would then date from 1138 A.D.
Next, as to the history of the Sena dynasty, it is generally acknowledged that some time during the second half of the 11th century A.D. the Pålas lost Eastern and Northern Bengal (including Assam) to the Senas under Vijayasena. “Vijayasena's reign (Dr. Kielhorn writes, ante, vol. I, 307) may therefore be reasonably supposed to have begun about the beginning of the last quarter of the 11th century." I have Do wish to indulge in further speculation. Briefly, this is what I suppose the drift of events to have been. At first, i.e. roughly from 1060-1130 A.D. the Palas were driven westwards by the Senas. Then the Senas begau to lose ground rapidly and were driven back by the Pálas into a small corner of Bengal, where they were finally demolished by the Muhamalans at the beginning of the 13th century A.D. Thus, the conquest of Janakabhami (Mithila) by Râmapala, recounted in verse 4 of the Vaidyadeva grant, may have been an historical fact, marking the return of power to the Pala line. And thus, too, the Pala culmination under Kumarapala about 1142 A.D. would synchronise with the Sena decadence under Keśavasena or his successor.
To recapitulate: Vaidyadeva's grant furnishes some new historical material, vis, a trio of the royal line of Palas arranged in order of descent; it throws some more light on the relations existing between the rival Påla and Sena dynasties in Bengal during the 12th century A.D.; and its data, as confirmed by the history of the period, seem to point to 1142 A.D. as its probable date.
Text.
Plate I. (Inner side only.) Linc [ 1.) TT Had angaar u are wantitatem: n wercatiu: 1 F
ficam[ 2.) faahfa: perulat forfa (Verse 1) daer front à faire
जातवान पूर्व । विग्रहपा[3.] pufa: alfreifax: (2) de marea mafana -
a fa era: ( 4.) mati fan: (3). Apieauquel qua: irurgisharya: uregel
fant[5.] afast: manufaefahan I aa Ta Hu HHTGETTO: 974797
यकभीम.
• Read "मूर्ति: and हरियति • Metre of verses 1 and 2: Fathyáryá. . Read 1 994
• Read सव्वांकार 7 Metre: Sloka. (Pathyávaktra.)
Read वस्त्रीख
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