1900.] Hara Prasad Shastri — On the MS. of Eamacarita. 71 



of Vigraha Pala III. He was the youngest and ablest of three brothers 

 Mahipala, 9iii*^pala and himself. The manuscript treats of Ramapala's 

 wars with the rebellious Kaivartta King of Varendra named Bhima 

 Divoka. In one sense the manuscript is a very difficult work as it is 

 written throughout in double-entendre. Explained one way every verse 

 gives some portion of the Story of Rama of the Ramayana. Explained 

 another way the same verse gives the history of Ramapala Deva. Had 

 it not been accompanied with a Commentary it would have been almost 

 impossible to understand the work. Unfortunately, however, the Com- 

 mentary breaks off almost at the beginning of the second Canto and I 

 purpose in this abstract to give the history of Ramapala's reign as far 

 as it can be gleaned from the portion of the work covered by the com- 

 mentary. The manuscript has been obtained from Nepal. It now 

 belongs to the Government collection. 



The manuscript of the Text is written in old Newari but the Com- 

 mentary is written in old Bengali, — much older than the character as 

 revealed in the Bengali manuscripts written in 1198 and described in 

 Professor Bendall's catalogue of manuscripts in Cambridge. The 

 Author of the Text is Sandhyakara Nandi, the son of Prajapati Nandi 

 the Minister of Peace and War of Ramapala Deva. The Author lived 

 at the capital of the Varendra country, conquered by Ramapala, namely, 

 in the city of Paundravardhana, which Dr. Blochmann identified with 

 Pandua ; but the identification has not yet been accepted as final. So 

 the Author had very great opportunities of knowing what he writes 

 about. The name of the Author of the Commentary is not given. 



We come to know for the first time from this MS. that the Pala 

 Kings considered themselves as descendants of the Ocean God — a fact 

 which shows that they came from the sea-shore. We have Bengali works 

 which state that Dharmapala and his descendants had relatives in 

 the districts of Midnapore and Howrah. 



Yigrahapala, the father of Ramapala, made a successful war against 

 Karna King of Dahala who belonged to the Chedi race and had his Raj 

 in what is now known as the Rewa territories. Karna was worsted in 

 war and had to make peace by giving his daughter in marriage to his 

 conqueror Vigraha who, thereupon, reinstated him. Now Karna of 

 Dahal is known to us from inscriptions. He is said to have established 

 a new capital for his Raj in a more inaccessible part of the Vindhya 

 Mountains, owing it appears to the constant trouble he had from his 

 powerful neighbours, the Palas. 



Mahipala, the elder brother of Ramapala, was a weak and impolitic 

 Prince. His high-handed proceedings led the Kaivartta King of 

 Varendra to rebel. His successful rebellion led to much loss of territory 



