THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 59 



inscription is dated Vikrama Samvat 918=861 a.d., states that his father Kakka 

 gained fame in a fight with the Gaudas at Mudgagiri : — 



Tatopi Sriyutah Kakkah puttro jato mahamatih. 



Ya§o Mudgagirau labdham, yena Gaudaih samam vane. — verse 24. 1 



Kakka seems to have accompanied Bhoja in his expedition against Bengal. As 

 his son Bauka was alive in 861 a.d., 2 Bhoja I and Kakka must have invaded Bengal 

 a few years earlier, and this invasion must have taken place during the earlier years 

 of Narayanapala. 



The statements of the Gwalior inscription of Bhoja I and the Mandor inscription 

 of the Pratihara Kakkuka lead one to believe that there was a great war between 

 the first Pratihara Emperor Bhoja I and the Pala Emperor Vigrahapala I or 

 Narayanapala of Gauda and Vanga. This fact coupled with the discovery at least 

 of three inscriptions mentioning the reign of the Emperor Mahendrapala, the son of 

 Bhoja I. in Magadha of Southern Bihar and one copper-plate in Tirhut, proves that 

 the Province of Magadha was for a time added to the vast Empire of the Pratl- 

 haras, either during the war of Bhoja I or after it. 



We have positive evidence of the fact that the city of Gaya was in the possession 

 of Narayanapala up to the seventh year of his reign, because in that year a man 

 named Bhandadeva erected a monastery for ascetics in that city. Up to the seven- 

 teenth year of Narayanapala, Mudgagiri was in his possession as his grant was issued 

 from that place in that year. From this grant we learn that at least a part of 

 Tirabhukti or Mithila continued to be in the possession of Narayanapala. 3 The 

 Pratihara Kakka most probably gained renown during the siege of the famous fort 

 of Mudgagiri or Mungir. 



It appears that during the long reigns of Amoghavarsa I and Bhoja I, — and they 



were to some extent contemporaries,— the Gurjaras had not 



come into collision with the Rastrakutas. In the Sirur and 



Nilgund inscriptions of Amoghavarsa I, that monarch claims to have been worshipped 



by the kings of Vanga, Ahga, Magadha, Malava and Vengi : — 



Ari-nrpati-makuta-ghattita-caranas = sakala bhuvana bandita s'auryyah. 



Vang- A nga-M agadha-Malava-V enigis'air = arccito = ti&ayadhavalah.* 

 -verse 6 Nilgund inscription and verse 5 Sirur inscription} 



The kings of Vanga, Ahga and Magadha were most probably one and the same 

 person, one of the Palas, either Vigrahapala I or Narayanapala. Amoghavarsa I 

 must have invaded Magadha and Vanga through Orissa , or otherwise he must have 

 come into conflict with the Gurjaras who were then occupying most of Northern 

 India, but of this no record has been discovered up to date. 



But as we have seen above, the Gurjaras succeeded in annexing Magadha and 

 most probably Tirabhukti or Tirhut permanently to their dominions and succeeded 

 in keeping them till the rise of the Cedis under Karnnadeva, when Mahlpala I 



1 J.R.A.S.. 1894, pp. 3 & 7. 2 ibid., r895, p. 5 [5. 3 i n d. Ant., Vol. XV, p. 306,1. 30. 



♦ Epi. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 103. 6 ibid., Vol. VII, p. 205. 



