136 On the Sena Rdjds of Bengal. [No. 3, 



the viceroys (khalifa) of India. When the time for the birth of Lakh- 

 maniya approached near, and the mother felt the pains of delivery, the 

 astrologers and Brahmans were assembled together, so that they may 

 watch the auspicious moment of birth. They unanimously said that 

 should this boy be born immediately, it will be unfortunate in every 

 respect, and he will never attain to royalty. But should he be delivered 

 two hours hence, he will reign for 80 years. "When the mother heard 

 this from the astrologers, she ordered that she may be hung up by 

 her two feet as long as the auspicious moment should not come, and 

 that the astrologers should be in attendance to watch that moment. 

 When the proper time arrived and the astrologers said that it was 

 at hand, she was taken down. Thus was Lakhmaniya bom, but his 

 mother immediately died of the pains she had been subjected to. 

 Lakhmaniya was immediately placed on the throne, where he reigned 

 for eighty years." 



Three things may be taken for granted in this statement ; first that 

 the name of the last king of the Sena dynasty was Lakhmaniya ; 

 second, that he was a posthumous child ; and third, that he reigned for 

 eighty years. It must be admitted, however, that the word Lakhmani- 

 ya is very unlike a Bengali proper name. The only Bengali or San- 

 skrit word to which it bears any resemblance is the patronymic* Ldhsh- 

 maneya, "a son, grandson or descendant of Lakshmana," and if it be 

 admitted that the Lakhmaniya of the Mahomedan historians is a cor- 

 ruption of the Sanskrit Ldkshmaneya, it would not be too much to 

 assume that the prince under notice was the grandson of Lakshamana 

 son of Ballala. 



The reigns of Madhava and Kesava Sena were short and inconsequen- 

 tial, and it is very likely that the Lakhmaniya who succeeded Kesava, 

 and reigned in Bengal for 80 years, was taken by the Mahomedans 

 to be the immediate successor of Lakshmana, son of Ballala, who 

 had a long and prosperous reign of many years. I adopt this assump- 



* The affix dhah is ordinarily used after feminine nouns, ^t'KlT ^^i Panini 

 iv, I. 120, but under the especial rule s'ublwd-dibhyas'cha (P. iv, 1. 123.) Lakhsh- 

 mana of the Vasishtha gotra takes that affix. " Lakshmana sydmayorvdsish- 

 the." I know not whether the Senas were of the Vasishtha gotra, but such niceties 

 of grammar were so little attended to in the middle ages that I do not think that 

 anybody would have objection to its use in the case of persons not of the Vasish- 

 tha gotra. If such an objection be raised, we must take Lakshnianiya to be a 

 matronymic and assume the name of our j^'ince's mother to have been Laksh- 

 mana. 



