Political History of Northern India

Author(s): Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

Page 85

THE DYNASTIES OF EASTERN INDIA
yield any information. Dharmapala was contemporary of king Ama, the son and successor of Yašovarman. He is mentioned in the Bappabhatti carita by different names as Dharma, Dharmabhupa or Dharmabhūpāla which are certainly the names of Dharmapala of Bengal. He is said to have long cherished a feeling of enmity with the king Ama of Kanauj, which became an undying passion. This indicates that he made several aggressive attempts on Kanauj and was baulked in his efforts. The reason for this undying enmity was obvious. It is noted above that one Gauda king was killed by the father of king Ama. It was probably this disgrace to his family that was rankling in the heart of the Bengal ruler, contemporary of Ama. We already know from other sources that Dharmapala's efforts to overthrow the Kanauj ruler and bring Kanauj under his influence was more or less a permanent factor of his foreign policy. But, if the Bappabhatti-carita is to be believed, he was not able to carry it out during the life time of Ama. We have already identified this Ama with king Indrarāja of the Bhagalpur copper plates of Dharmapāla.2
How long the Päla kings ruled is a matter of controversy. According to the Tibetan lists, Gopala reigned from 660 to 705 A.D., Devapāla 705753 A.D., Rasapala 750-765 A.D. and Dharmapala 765-825 A.D. According to Dr. H. C. Ray, Gopala reigned from 765 A.D. to 769 A.D., Dharmapāla from 769 to 801 A.D., and Devapäla from 801 A.D. to 840 A.D. Dr. R. C. Majumdar in his History of Bengal assumes that Gopala reigned from 750 A.D. to 770 A.D., Dharmapala 770-810 A.D. and Devapāla 810-850 A.D. But all these are based on assumptions, which may not be correct, because there are no contemporary records to check them. The ground of assumption is mostly some of the dated records of other dynasties and undated records of the Päla dynasty.
Regarding the period of the reign of Dharmapala we may safely deduce from the above mentioned Jain work that he ruled almost as long as king Ama of Kanauj (752 A.D.-833 A.D.). According to the Tibetan. historian, Täränäth, he ruled for sixty-four years, while the Kalimpur copper-plates show that he reigned for at least thirty-two years.
From the Pala and other contemporary inscriptions it appears that Dharmapala must have been a powerful ruler of the time. Fortunately, we have got an independent positive evidence in support of the view that
SJGM, XIII, p. 85. V. 168 परं मेऽख्यामराजेन दुर्प्रहो विग्रहाग्रहः । तदावानात् यदा पश्चाद् याति तन्मे तिरस्कृतिः ॥
See supra, pp. 26-27.
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