90 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1914. 



t 



The history of the Chandra Dynasty of Arracan is very 

 imperfectly known. Mr. Phayre in his " History of Burma," 

 p. 45, has recorded what little can be known of the kings of that 

 dynasty from the Arracanese chronicles. They reJate that King 

 Maha-taing-tsandra was the first king of the dynasty. He 

 ascended the throne in a.d. 788 and built a new Capital 

 Wethali, i.e. Vaisali, soon after his accession. Nine kings of 

 this dynasty reigned in this city in succession up to a.d. 957. 

 The names of these kings are given in full in " Numismata 

 Oriental*," Vol. II, Part I, p. 42, by Phayre, transcribed from 

 the original Arracanese. These names sound so strange that it 

 is difficult to say what their Sanskrit originals were. 



Some coins of the Chandra Kings have also been found in 

 Arracan, but it is very strange that the names found on them 

 do not at all correspond to any of the names on the Arracanese 

 lists. The names of Barmina Chandra, Priti Chandra and Bira 



an 



resemblance to any name on the lists.' 



Under these circumstances it is very difficult to identify 

 the Layahachandra of the Comilla inscription with any name of 

 the Arracanese list. But the last king Tsu-la-taing-tsandra 



i C 



who reigned from a.d. 951 to 957 may be Srilayahachandra or 

 the Comilla inscription, and the date of the king also is in 

 keeping with the evidence of paleography. 



If the identification be right, it may be surmised that the 

 descendants of Rajabhatta continued to reign for 100 years 

 more in Karmmanta and were at last swept away by the rise 

 of the Chandra Kings of Arracan by the end of the eighth 

 century a.d. They placed their minion on the throne of 

 Karmmanta who began to rule as a vassal of the kings of 

 Arracan. Mr. Phayre has suggested that the Chandra Kings 

 were perhaps of foreign origin and that they brought about 

 changes in religion by discarding the popular Buddhism and 

 and embracing Shaivism as is shown by the couchant bull and 

 trident symbol on their coins. 51 We suspect that they came 

 from Vaisali of India from their naming the new capital 

 Vaisali, and the suspicion is confirmed by the fact that the 

 mother of Kyansittha, King of Pegu, was said to have been a 

 daughter of the King of Vaisali. 3 The north-western origin 

 of the Chandra King is also hinted at by their over-lordship 

 over the Kings of Karmmanta. The couchant bull symbol ot 

 the Chandra Kings is strikingly similar to the couchant bull 

 symbol of the Asrafpur plates, and this may point to some 

 unknown relationship between the two dynasties. The suppo- 

 sition that the Chandra Kings were Shaivas is corroborated 



i " Numismata Orientala," Vol. II. Part I, pp. 28-29. 

 * «« Numismata Orientala." Vol. II, Part I, Intro., p. 1- 

 3 Phayre's 4i History of Burma/' page 88. 



