THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 73 



which was then ruled by a king named Govinda-Candra. This king has been wrongly 



identified with a king named Govinda-Candra or Govi-Canda, 

 Conquest of Eastern aDO ut whom some songs are current in the State of Kuch- 



Bensial 



Bihar and the Rungpur district of Bengal. The king of 



that name mentioned in the Tirumalai inscription is expressly stated to be the King 

 of Eastern Bengal, and so there is very little chance of identifying him with the 

 local hero of Rungpur. After conquering Eastern Bengal, Rajendra Cola turned to- 

 wards the West and faced Mahipala, who had been rightly identified by the late Dr. 

 Kielhorn with the Pala king Mahipala I, who was defeated. The inscription is so 



worded that one at once understands that by defeating 



Defeat of Mahipala and Mahipala, the king was able to reach " Uttira-Ladam ' ' and 

 conquest of Northern * 



Radha. the Ganges. Uttira-Ladam for the same reasons as have 



been stated above in the case ( ' Takkana-Ladam ' ' should be 

 taken to be Northern Radha, which is actually mentioned as a mandala in the 

 Sitahati grant of Vailalasena Moreover there is no evidence to prove that Berar or 

 Virata was divided into two parts at any time. Again from Bengal Rajendra Cola 

 reached Uttara-Radha and after that the Ganges. It is a far cry from Berar to the 

 Ganges, but the sacred river which added lustre to the conquest of Rajendra Cola I 

 in the eyes of the Southern people actually forms the Northern boundary of Radha. 

 The divisions of Bengal across the great river are known as Mithila and Varendra, 

 the latter of which is mentioned in the Rama-carita, 1 and at least three copper-plates. 

 So now it is clear that the Ganges formed the Northern boundary of the conquest of 

 Rajendra Cola I. Curiously enough he did not attempt to cross the Ganges to the 

 other side. The Tirumalai inscription being a Pra^asti does not mention such 

 details. But the desired details are supplied by an ancient manuscript discovered 

 by Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasada Sastri and now in the library of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal. In 1893 the Mahamahopadhyaya published notes on a find of 

 ancient Sanskrit manuscripts among which was a drama named Canda-Kausika, by 

 Arya Ksemlsvara. This play was enacted before the king by his order, and it con- 

 tains a verse in which the king Mahipala I is compared with Candragupta and a 

 people named Karnatakas, to the Nandas. So this contemporary work gives the 

 credit of defeating the Karnatakas to Mahipala I. The Karnatakas seem to be 

 the southerners who invaded Bengal under Rajendra Cola I. It appears that though 

 Mahipala I was defeated by Rajendra Cola when he crossed into Radha from East 

 Bengal, he prevented him from crossing the Ganges into Varendra or Northern 

 Bengal, and so the Cola conqueror had to turn back from the banks of the Ganges. 

 The manuscript on which Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasada Sastri relies is not a 

 modern one, as it was copied in 133 1 a.d a The invasion of the Cola king did not 

 change the political divisions of the country, but it left one permanent mark in the 

 shape of a body of settlers, who occupied the thrones of Bengal and Mithila as the 

 Sena and Karnata dynasties during the latter days of the Palas. 



The Cola invasion took place, as has been stated above, before the thirteenth 



1 Mem. A S.B., Vol. Ill, p 55. 1 J.A.S.B., Vol. IyXII, 1893, p. 25c 



