46 R. D. BANERJI ON THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 



the king Vigrahapala III was born in the race of the Sun. L The Ramacarita and 

 the Bengali poem Dharmmamarigala of Ghanarama give a different account alto- 

 gether. This account is given very fully in the Kanurpala of Ghanarama' s work, 

 according to which the kings of the Pala dynasty after Dharmmapala were really 

 the descendants of the Sea-god. This tradition is not very coherent as Maha- 

 mahopadhyaya Hara Prasada Sastri has shown. In the Ramacarita, king Dharm- 

 mapala is mentioned as "the light of the race of the Sea."' 2 Thus the Rama- 

 carita corroborates the tradition embodied in Ghanarama' s work to some extent. 

 It shows that the origin of the new line of kings was remembered by the people 

 long after their accession and even after their fall. The descent from the Sea most 

 probably indicates that the forefathers of this line of kings came from the Sea and 

 in the absence of a plausible account of their ancestry became known as the chil- 

 dren of the Sea-God. 



1 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 350. 2 Mem, A.S.B., Vol., Ill, pp. 2-3 and 20. 



