130 On the Sena Rajas of Bengal. [No. 3, 



Of the dedicator of the temple, Vijaya, the record is, as usual in such 

 cases, the most lavish in its praise. According to it, he was the great- 

 est of kings that ever held sway on earth ; the most valiant, the most 

 charitable, and the most virtuous. While describing the hero as a 

 devout follower of Mahadeva, it does not hesitate to make him even 

 superior to that dread manifestation of the divinity, for the one, says it, 

 destroys all alike, while the other, killed his enemies and cherished 

 his friends. There is, however, very little in the verses devoted to his 

 glorification which may be taken for facts. The time of his reign is not 

 given, nor the name of his caste, nor that of the place where he caused 

 the temple to be erected. He is related to have invaded Assam 

 (Kamariipa) and the Coromandel Coast between the Chilka Lake and 

 Madras (Kalifiga), and to have sent a fleet of war-boats up the Granges 

 to conquer the Western kings ; but nothing is said of the results of 

 these invasions : the last is, in a manner, acknowledged to have proved 

 a failure ; for the only thing noticeable in it, was the stranding of one 

 of the boats on a sand-bank, poetically described as " the ashes on the 

 forehead of S'iva, changed to mud by contact with the water of the 

 Granges." 



The genealogy of the king includes three names, those of Hemanta 

 Sena, Sumanta Sena, and Vira Sena. The last was evidently the 

 founder of the family, for he appears as a descendant of the moon, 

 without any reference to his immediate progenitors. All the three were 

 kings of Gour, but their names occur nowhere in history. Vijaya 

 the last of the series was, according to tradition, known by the name 

 of Suklia Sena, and under that name he occurs in the Aym Akbary, as 

 the father of Ballala Sena. His name occurs in the Bakerganj plate 

 as the first of a series of four kings, the last of which was Kesava 

 Sena. Vijaya there appears as the father of Ballala Sena. Again, in 

 a manuscript of the Ddnasagara, a treatise on gifts attributed to 

 Ballala Sena, the author describes himself as the son of Vijaya Sena 

 and the grandson of Hemanta Sena. These facts justify the assump- 

 tion that the three records allude to the same family, and that Sukha 

 Sena was an alias of Vijaya Sena. If this be admitted, the Sena 

 dynasty of Bengal will have to be extended by the addition of the 

 three names which occur in the inscription now under notice. 



Of the descendants of Vijaya, the most distinguished was, no doubt, 



