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EARLIEST SEAT OF THE SENAS
271
DECEMBER, 1915]
Now, let us consider the exact historical value of these genealogical works on which Mr. Vasu places so much reliance. The palm leaf manuscript, above referred to, gives the following account :
A king, called Syâmalavarma, "brought down several sâgnika Brahmans from Karnavâti (sic) with a view to perform a yajña called the Sâkunasatra."2 The elder brother of this king was called Mallavarmâ. Both these Varmans are said to be the sons of one Vijayasena. And from another genealogical work, Mr. Vasu declares that "the aforesaid Vijayasena conquered Gauda, and was the father of the highly famous Vallâlasena."3 But this theory of the conquest of Gauda by Vijayasena was afterwards probably given up by Mr. Vasn; otherwise, he could not have maintained, in a recent article, that Syamalavarman was the first Sena King of Bengal.
Recently, a copper plate Grant of Bhojavarman has been discovered at Belâbo and published in the J. A.-S. B., n. s., X, 121 ff., and in the E. I., XII, p. 37ff. This grant has brought to light new facts and yielded a new genealogy of the Varmans. According to this grant, Bhojavarman had the following lineage:
Vajravarman I Jâtavarman J Sâmalavarman T Bhojavarman
Thus, we find that Bhojavarman's father was one Sâmalavarman, or more correctly Syâmalavarman. This record plainly states that Vajravarman, and so his descendants, belonged to the Yadava clan of the Lunar race.
From this, Syâmalavarman does not seem to be connected in any way with the Senas of Bengal. His father's name was Jatavarman; he defeated Karpadeva of the KalachuriChedi dynasty and got one of his daughters in marriage.
After the discovery of this inscription, two alternatives were open to Mr. Vasu :
(1) that this Syamalavarman was a different person from the one referred to in the genealogies of the Paschâtya Vaidikas;
(2) that they were one and the same person.
Mr. Vasu chose the latter. In doing so, he found that in the face of this admission, it would, no longer, be possible to maintain the infallibility of his "three-hundred-years-old " palm leaf manuscript, on which he had so boldly based his account of the lineage of Syâmalavarman some eight years ago. In a Bengali journal of some note, Mr. Vasu has admitted the identity of the father of Bhojavarman and the Syâmalavarman of the Kulapañjikâs. But he would still uphold his original theory of the descent of Syâmalavarman from Vijayasena on the statement of the Kulasâstras. And in support of his views, he says that he has found in one of the Kulapañjikâs, which he has got in his possession, a copy of a grant of Syâmalavarman. Mr. Vasu, in quoting from this copy of the grant, admits that it is of the same type as that of Viśvarûpasena. But by actual examination of the reproduction of the grant we are led to think that the genuineness of the record is rather difficult to maintain. We believe it to have been interpolated by some clever Brahman with an ulterior motive of self-interest. The manuscript, thus mutilated, came into the hands of Mr. Vasu, who, we think, a little too credulously and without bestowing sufficient consideration on the matter, has jumped to a conclusion, which cannot stand the test of scientific criticism. Mr. Vasu thinks it to be of the "same type as the Grant of Visvarûpasena," but we find it to be 3 Ibid. 4 Bhiratavarsha, I. 18. 5 J. A. S. B.
2 Mayurbhanj A. S. R. by N. N. Vasu. pp. 122 ft.
