72 R. D. BANERJI ON 



after which he turns back to the West to defeat Mahlpala in North Bengal and 

 again rushes to North Gujarat or Berar to conquer it. The more natural explana- 

 tion is that Rajendra Cola defeated Ranasura, the ruler of Southern Radha and 

 then passed on through that country to invade Vahga. From very early times a 

 part of Bengal has been called Radha. It occurs in a dated inscription of the Indo- 

 Scythian period as Rara. This inscription is at present in the Indian Museum, in 



Calcutta, but it was discovered in Mathura in the United 



Radha as an ancient name -,-, • „ /rvi A ,• ,, .. . _ . 



Provinces. The record mentions the erection of a Jama 



image in the year 62 of the Kusana era = 150 a.d. at the request of a Jaina monk 



who was an inhabitant of the country of Rara. 1 In comparatively modern times 



the name has been found on two copper- plate inscriptions : — 



(1) The newly discovered grant of the Sena king Vallalasena, found at Sitahati, 



near Katwa, in the Burdwan district of Bengal, where we find that the 

 village granted, Vallahitti, was situated in the North Radha (Uttara- 

 Radha-mandalc).' The very name Uttara-Radha occurs in the Tirumalai 

 inscription as we shall see later on. Besides this, the kings of the Sena 

 dynasty seem to have ruled in the Radha country : — 



I amSe tasy = abhyudayini sadacara-carya-nirudhi-prandham 

 Radham-akalita-carair -bhusayantomnbhavaih, 



Sa&vad = vi&v-abhay a-vitaran a-sthula4 iksyavalaksaih kirtty-nllolaih snapita-viyato 

 jajhirc rajapuirah. — verse 3/ 



There being a Uttara-Radha we can say from immediate inference, that there was 

 a Daksina- Radha, which in Tamil becomes " Takkana-Ladam. " 



(2) Besides this the Kenduapatna plates of Narasirhhadeva II of Orissa, dated 



Saka 1217 = 1296 a.d., show very clearly that Radha and Varendri were 

 well-known names of divisions of Bengal: — 



Radha-Varendra-yeivanl-nayan-an}an-a^YU-puvena dura-vinives'itakalima-s'rlh, 

 Tad-vipralambha-karan-adbhiita-nistaranga Gahgapi nunam-amuna Yamun = 

 adhun = abhfri. — verse 84. 4 



At the time of the Cola invasion a king named Ranasura was ruling Southern 

 Radha. In Bengal there is a tradition that a dynasty of kings with the affix Sura 

 ruled in Bengal before the Palas. We have no reliable evidence for this. But three 

 kings of this family, at least with the word Sura affixed to their names, have been 

 mentioned in epigraphs. These are: Ranasura, of the Tirumalai inscription ; Laksmi- 

 sura, a king of a division of Bengal named Apara-Mandara, a contemporary of Rama- 

 pala, who was the headman of all feudatories of Forest lands (samastatavika-samanta- 

 cakra-cudamanih) ; a man named Damasura, who is mentioned in a newly-discovered 

 inscription of the time of Gopala III, found at Manda in the Rajshahi district of 

 Bengal. After conquering Southern Radha, the Cola king did not proceed to subdue 

 the northern portion of it, but on the other hand, passed eastwards towards Vahga, 



1 J.A.S.B., N.S., Vol. V, p. 239. 5 Vahgiya Sahitya Parishad Patrika, Vol. XVII, p. 235. 



S Ibid., p. 235. 4 J.A.S.B., Vol. LXV, 1895, V 2<-o. 



