* 
1920.] Colophons of Four Ancient Sanskrit Manuscripts. 303 
Mr. Banerji, although it is shared to some extent by Dr. 
Barnett. The colophon of a MS. of the Astasahasrika prajna- 
paramita in the British Museum runs thus :—‘‘ Parameévara- 
LL oe heed “3 4 pF Biel Soften dh ang ¢ Mek Choe, ay 
paladeva - pravarddhamana - kalyana - vijaya - rajye - tyadi_samvat 
15 Aévine dine 4 Srimad-Vikramasila-deva-vihare likhit-eyam 
bhaqavatt. r. Barnett remarks on this MS :—‘‘ Now this 
volume very closely resembles the MS. Or. 3346, especially in 
its colophon. The latter was written in the reign of Vigraha- 
i~-= 
ascription to Mahipiila I of a MS. or Ashtasahasrika Prajfiapa- 
ramita in the University Library, Cambridge, referred to by 
Mr. Bendall in his catalogue, p. 101. Its colophon runs thus: 
ce Dp - EL Atinenern t 
—s— 
naharaid- 
CMMI) 
— “ Param Pp tt p 9 ni 
dhiraja-Sriman-Mahipaladeva-pravarddhamana-vijayarajye sam- 
vat 5 Aévine krsne.” *There is thus nothing to show whether 
the king Mahipala referred to above is the first or the 
second king of that name. It is true that Mr. Bendall referred 
it to Mahipala I, but he wrote in 1883 when the existence of 
therefore perfectly justified in assigning the work to the only 
Pala king of that name known to him. But to-day, when a 
second Mahipala is known to us, an author can hardly be 
excused if he blindly copies the remarks of Mr. Bendall in 
1 
deducing historical information from the colophons of MS. is 
not very scientific, and is calculated to lead some scholars 
astray. “I have come across a paper on Pala chronology where 
the elaborate and painstaking calculations of the author have 
been rendered quite valueless by his tacit acceptance of the 
data of colophons as interpreted by Mr. Banerji. 
1 J.RA.S. 1910, pp. 150-151. es 
2 Palas of Bengal, p. 65. 3 Ibid., p. 74. 
