Vol. VI, No. 11.] History of the District of Huqhli. mi 



[N.S1 



A.D. 1 But this identification appears to be doubtful, and in 

 the absence of authentic corroboration it cannot be accepted 



as 



During the first half of the 9th century, while Bhu-sura 

 was reigning in Gaura after the death of his father Adi-sura, the 

 country was invaded by Dharma-pala, king of Magadha. Gaura 

 was conquered, and Bhu-sura was obliged to take refuge in 

 Rada. Rada, though it formed a part of the kingdom of Gaura 

 was never under the sway of the Pala kings of Magadha. It 

 formed an independent kingdom under the Sura kings, 

 the descendants of Adi-sura, from Bhu-sura to Rana-sura, or 

 Anu-sura as he was called, for a period of over two hundred 

 years from a portion of the 9th century to the latter part of the 

 11th century A.D. 2 Bhu-sura's son, Kshiti-sura, gave fifty- 

 six villages to the sons and descendants of the five Brahmans 

 who had been invited to the court of Adi-sura. No event of 

 any importance occurred during the reigns of his two successors 

 Avani-sura and Dharani sura. Dharani-sura's successor Dhara- 

 sura, a son of Kshiti-sura, divided the Brahmans of the fifty- 

 six villages into three classes, called Mukhya-kulinas, Gauna- 

 kulinas and Srotriyas. We know very little of his successors 

 Barendra-sura, Pradyumna-sura, and others. Towards the 

 close of the 11th century Rada and Gaura again formed a 

 single kingdom under Vijaya-sena, the father of Ballala-sena of the 

 Sena dynasty. He conquered Gaura, 3 and perhaps Rada also along 

 with it. But it has been supposed that he might have acquired 

 the throne of Rada by inheritance, as his mother Yasodevi was 

 evidently the daughter of Rana-sura, the last king, who seems to 

 have died without leaving any male issue. 4 That Rada was 

 an independent kingdom in the 10th century receives an unex- 

 pected confirmation from the Khajuraho inscription, which 

 records that Dhanga Deva, the Chandratreya ( or Chandella ) 

 king of Jejabhukti (Bundelkhand), " was so powerful that the 

 rulers of Kosala, Kratha, Sinhala ( Ceylon) and Kuntala humbly 

 listened to his commands (v. 45 ), and so successful in his wars 

 that the wives of the kings of Kanchi, Andhra, Rada and Anga 

 fingered in his prisons (v. 46). " 5 Though the language of the 

 inscription appears to be hyperbolical, yet there can be no 

 doubt that Rada was an independent country at the time of 

 Dhanga Deva who reigned from 950 to 999" A.D. , that is in 



1 Dr. Stein's Rajatarangini, vol i. 



* Bansibadana Vidyaratna Ghatak's R&diya-kulavivarana ; Mahirna- 

 chandra Majumdar's Gauye Brahniana; P." Banerji's Bang41ar Pura- 

 vritta. 



3 Deopara Stone inscription of Vijaya-sena, v. 20 : Epigraplna 

 Indica, vol. i, p. 306 ; and see also Mr. Venis's remark in vol. ii, p. 860. 



* Ep. Ind., vol. i, pp. 312, 313 ; BangAlar Puravritta, pp. 243, 244 



* Khajuraho Inscription No. IV, Ep. Ind., vol. i, pp. 138, 145, v. 4*> : 

 it is the revised edition of an inscription " found near < hhatarpur " 

 transcribed in J.A.S.B., vol. viii (1839), p. 173. 



