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No. 26] THREE INSCRIPTIONS FROM VALGUDAR
143 for a long time. It therefore seems that Govindapāla succeeded Madanapāla on'y over some districts of South Bihar, though even there the later Pālas were struggling for their existence with the Gā hadavālas of the U. P. The Maner plates' of 1124 A. C. show that the Gahadavālas had already advanced as far as the Patna District where the Gahadavāla king Govindachandra (circa 1114-55 A. C.) granted in that year a piece of land not far from Patna. The Lar plates? of 1146 A. C. show that the same Gāhadavāla king was during that year staying at Mudgagiri or Monghyr. These records suggest that the later Pālas, who were Buddhists, were ousted from the Patna and Monghyr Districts by the Brahmanical Gāhadavālas. But the Valgüdar inscription of 1161 A. C., referring to the Krimilā vishaya, situated between Patna and Monghyr, as a part of Madanapāla's dominions, no doubt points to the success of this king against the Gāhadavāla rulers'. Whether, however, Madanapāla's successor Govinda pāla was ruling only over the Gaya District and the adjoining area or whether his dominions also included the whole of the Patna and Mongbyr Districts cannot be determined in the present state of our knowledge. The Bodhgayā inscription of Gābadavāla Jayachchandra (circa 1170-93 A. C.), however, shows that it was the Gāhadavālas who overthrew the Pālas even from the Gaya District. The date of the Bodhgayā inscription falls between Vikrama Sarvat 1240 (1183-84 A. C.) and 1249 (1192-93 A. C.), but probably towards the earlier part of this period. The Sihvar platego bearing an earlier date (1175 A. C.) appear to refer to a grant of land made by king Jayachchandra in the Patna District.
As already noticed above, the Pālas dated their charters according to their regnal reckoning. This is also the case with the private records of their time. The use of the Vikrama Samvat in the Gayā inscription of Govindapāla, which is not an official record of the king, may be explained by the fact that this era, which was quite popular in the U. P.,' may have infiltrated itself in South Bihar especially when the Gáhadavālas succeeded Govindapāla. The Gáhadavāla inscriptions, discovered in Bihar, are dated in the Vikrama Sarvat and the Gayā inscription referring to Govindapāla's lost sovereignty belongs apparently to this period of Gähadavāla occupation of South Bihar. Of course, the Buddhists of Banaras may also have been partially responsible for carrying the use of the Vikrama era to the Buddhist sites of Bihar. But even if thus the use of the era of Vikrama in Govindapāla's Gayā inscription can be rather easily explained, it seems difficult to explain the dating of the Valgüdar inscription of Madanapāla in the Saka era. This era was adopted by the imperial Gangas of Orissa about the end of the tenth century probably from their southern neighbours, the Eastern Chālukyas of the Andhra country. With the expansion of the Ganga power about the beginning of the twelfth century towards the north-east up to the Bhagirathi or the present Hooghly river, the use of the Saka era must have been known in the south-western fringe of Bengal. But the popularity of this era in Bengal seems to have been actually due to the establishment of the power of the Sēnas who hailed from a country where the era was popular. The fact that the Sēnas followed their predecessors, the Palas, in dating their
1 See I. H.Q., Vol. VII, pp. 519 ff.
J.A..B., Vol. XVIII, p. 81. 3 Above, Vol. VII, p. 98.
4 There is another image inscription, dated in the 3rd year of Madanapala's reign, corresponding to 1146-47 A. C., which was found at Bihar in the Patna District. The Jaynagar image inscription, referred to above, is dated in his 14th regnal year, corresponding to 1157-58 A.C. The village of Jaynagar is known to be near Luckoesarai (in the Monghyr District), but is placed in the Gaya District, (sce Cunningham, A.S.R., Vol. III, p. 25) apparently through mistake.
6 Bhandarkar, List, No. 401. • Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 129; Ray, op. cit., pp. 537-38.
* The popularity of the Vikrama Sarvat in the U. P. was due especially to the Gurjara-Prathara emperors, Although it was used in an earlier age by the Maukharis and the Malayakitus (Bhandarkar, List, Nos. 10, 34). The dating of the Sarnath inscription of the time of Mahipala I was due to this local influence.
