________________
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[APRIL, 1918
seated in the arddha-paryanka posture. The inscription is incised on the back of the throne of the image. It reads:
Om Deya-dha [rmmey] am Śri-Narayanapâla-deva-rajye Samvat 54, Sri-Uddandapura-vâstavya Râņaka Uchaputra Thârukasya.
110
Translation.
"The pious gift of Tharuka son of the Rânaka Ucha (Utsa), (dedicated) in the year 54 of the reign of the illustrious Nârâyaṇapâladeva."
This new inscription proves that Narayanapâla reigned for at least fifty years and that in the 5th year of his reign Uddandapura or Bihar was included in his dominions. The characters of the two Pratîhâra inscriptions discovered in the Gayâ District show a marked resemblance to the characters of the Vishnupâda inscription of the year 7 of Narayanapâla and therefore it would be safer to place these two records after the Visņupâda inscription but before the Bodhagayâ-pedestal-inscription of the reign of Gopala II. This proves that after the 7th year of Nârâyaṇapala Gaya and Western Magadha were occupied by Gurjaras, but Uddandapura or Bihar Town and Eastern Magadha continued to be ruled by the kings of the Pâla dynasty.
The Guneriya inscription of Mahendrapala, a tentative reading of which was published by me in my monograph on the Palas is being republished now. I edit it from a photograph kindly lont to me by Dr. D. B. Spooner, B.A., PH.D., F.A.S.B., Superintendent, Archæological Survey, Eastern Circle:
Text.
1. Samvat 9 Vaisakha.
2. Sudi 5 Sri-Guna.
3. carita Sri-Mahendrapâ
4. -la-deva-rajye deva-dha
5. rmm[olyam Paramôpasaka
6.
vanika Haridatta putra Sri (?) pa.
Translation.
"In the year 9 on the 5th day of the bright half of Vaisakha, in the reign of the illustrious Mahendrapâlá, at the illustrious Gunacarita, the pious gift of Sripâ (? la) son of the merchant Haridatta."
The record is incised on the pedestal of an image of Buddha which has been placed inside a modern shrine near Guneriya.
The continued occupation of Eastern Magadha by the Pâlas during their struggle with the Gurjjara Pratîhâras can now be proved from a number of records :
1. The Vishnupâda inscription of the 7th year of Nârâyaṇapâla.
2. The Bihar inscription of the 9th year of Narayanapâla. 2 This inscription was found among the specimens collected by the late Mr. A. M. Broadley in the subdivision and therefore it proves that Eastern Magad. was in the possession of Nârâyaṇapala upto the 9th year of his reign.
Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. V, p. 63; pl. XXXI.
