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



Ddnasdgara ; but the second may be true, and if so, Vira Sena may 

 well be taken to be the same with Adis'ura. The name A'dis'ura does 

 not sort either with the Palas or with the Senas. The word s'ura 

 is a synonym of Vira a hero, and the ddi is indicative of the initial 

 position which Vira Sena occupies in the genealogy of the dynasty. It 

 is stated in the genealogical tables of the Kayasthas that when BalLla 

 established his system of Kula the original five Kayasthas of Ka- 

 nauj had multiplied to 56 families. Assuming that each generation 

 of the original Kayasthas had multiplied two-fold, five generations from 

 A'dis'ura to Ballala would give eighty individuals, who may well repre- 

 sent the alleged number of families. Of the Brahmans the total number 

 of families that lived at the time of Ballala is not known. But it is 

 evident that it was not large, for we find that he included only ten 

 families in the ranks of his nobles, viz. two of the descendants of 

 Bhattanarayana, two of those of Daksha, one of those of S'ii Harsha, 

 three of those of Chhandada, and two of those of Vedagarbha. They do 

 not suggest a longer period than would be covered by five generations_ 

 It should be noted that the editor of the Venisanhara,* Muktarama 

 Vidyavagis'a, in his genealogical table of the Tagore family makes 

 Halayudha minister of Lakshmana Sena, to be the 16th in descent 

 from Bhattanarayana ; but inasmuch as his statement has been con- 

 tradicted by the author of the Khitis a-vansdvali-charitaf who would 

 have him to be the third in descent from Bhattanarayana, and both 

 have been contradicted by Halayudha himself, who calls his father 

 Dhananjaya, whereas the one makes him the son of Nipu and the 

 other that of Ramarupa, we may well reject his testimony as inad- 

 missible. It must, however, be admitted that the identity I suggest is 

 a mere conjecture, and I hope it will be taken as such and no more. 



There is one more circumstance in connexion with the Senas to 

 which I wish to allude, before I conclude, — it is with reference 

 to their caste. The universal belief in Bengal is, that the Senas were 

 of the medical caste, and families of Vaidyas are not wanting in the 

 present day who trace their lineage from Ballala Sena. There is, 

 however, nothing authentic to justify this belief. It is well known 

 that a great many of the pedigrees given in Burke's Landed Gen- 

 try are utterly worthless, and it is notorious that many families of 

 * Ed. Calcutta, 1855. f Perfcche's Ed. p. xvi. 



