Vol. VII, No. 9.) Dinajpur Pillar Inscription. 617 
[N.S.] 
Dinajpur grant of Mahipala I, whose Sarnath eee is 
dated in Sam. 1083 (a.p. 1026), it is said of the donor 
“saannfaaa aye argeut- 
zafuna-faqe tia aratg faaa | 
fafea-aeauat azai afy awitl- 
3 zuazataura: Stare araea: |) (verse 11).” 
‘From him (Vigrahapala II) has sprung the protector of 
the earth, the illustrious Mahipaladeva. In the pride of his 
heads of sean 
The ‘‘ peo iahaaiie no claim’’ who deprived Mahipala’s 
father or eiaia tiie of his kingdom, was no other than the 
Lord of Gauda of the Kamboja family mentioned in the 
or eee — inscription. In the Pala period of the history 
m about 4.D. 800 _to 1100, i 
> 
Ht 
ie 
7) 
Lj 
_ 
ie] 
° 
Ea 
<i 
° 
=} 
oO 
(North Bengal). Before this ton reigned in succession the 
first five Pala Kings—Gopala I, Dharmapala, Dévapala, Vigra- 
hapala I (alias Surapala) and Narayanapala. Of Bengal, before 
Gopala I and of that king himself, Taranath ers a by 
Cunningham, Arch. Sur. Ind., Vol. XV, p. 148 
‘In Orissa, Bengal, and five other provinces of the East, 
every Ksatriya, Brahmana and merchant (Vaisya) made him- 
self the chief of the districts; but there was no king ruling 
the whole country. 
e widow of one of these departed chiefs used to kill 
every night the person who had been chosen as king, until 
after several years Gop4la, who had been elected king, managed 
to free himself and obtained the kingdom. He _ began to reign 
in Bengal and afterwards conquered adha 
A line in Dharmapala’ 8 Khalimpur grant (verse 4) con- 
firms Taranath’s version of the way in which Gopala obtained 
the kingdom. The line runs :— 
“peaqaanted vatafraam at otfea: |” 
‘*He was elected king by the people to put an end to 
anarchy (the condition of the fishes).’” This confirmation of 
Faranath’s account of the rise of the Pala dynasty by an 
almost contemporary record warrants us to hold that the 
uncorroborated portion of his siabasive. that Gopala ‘‘ began to 
reign in Bengal and afterwards conquered Magadha,’’ may not 
