Vol. Il, No. 5.] Sanskrit Literature in Bengal. 157 
[N.S.] 
22. gates it Literature in Bengal — the Sena rule.-—By 
NMOHAN Caakravaetl, M.A., AS, 
Under the last gare Sena kings the pene - age in 
al a mpul The 
engal receiv 
The Augustan i and an fairy ‘of ae d 
‘perio 
agit re Sanskrit little known and less understood. 
some of has main causes may be dimly 
guessed at 
Duri ring the —— cme ‘twelfth centuries a general revival 
nskrit learning is noticeable in Hin 
Causes. dé ae The courts of Kasmir, Katianj, 
1. The Age Cedi and Dhara were influential centres 
A 
Se ewe ne of scholars and Brahminical _ schools. 
Mithi 
r 
one fol to ie other. All this encouraged the study of Sanskrit 
Suhm 
@ Wieaieuns Vanga, Varendra and Radha were united 
the liberality of under one rule by Vijayasena and his two 
Sena. successors. ‘he union of so many fertile 
kings. tracts added wealth and splendour to 
the Bengal courts and permitted liberal 
en rabies ay. and gifts on the part of their kings. The available 
references, though very scanty, sufficiently indicate the taste and 
the liberality of the later Sena kings. Ballalasena, Lakgsmana- 
sena, Kegavasena, and Madhavasena (probably of the royal family) 
themselves composed verses and compiled other works with the 
a x oy auris. (Raverty’s translation, 556. he poet 
Dhoyika speaks of having — gifts of elephants and golden- 
handled fly-whiskers (the Pavana-diitam, verse 101). The Sena 
kings called themselves Parama-vaisnava; and, feels it might 
have been a part of their policy to encoura rahmanas an 
Sanskrit studies in So to the Buddhistic tendency 
of their pee vs the Pala kings. 
In consequence a band of Sanskrit writers flourished in 
the latter part of the Sena rule. Many fols also seem to hay 
been established in, and near Nadiah, the sh To these fos 
Smrti writers. In the Sena period, however, the 
confined themselves chiefly to rituals and pee: the two sub- 
jects in which the kings ok special interest 
