402 SANSCRIT INSCRIPTIONS 



mere or Meywar, Marwar, &c. was the original seat of the Hindu tribe at 

 the time of the Mohammedan invasion, we may suspect that Yasovioraha 

 was a military adventurer from that quarter. It is clear that he was not 

 king of Kanoj, for that city, it is said in the inscription;, was the conquest 

 of his grandson Chandra- deva; neither was he king of Benares for we 

 find a Bauddha prince named Mahipdla reigning there, as included within 

 the limits of the kingdom of Gaur, in the year 1027, and his sons Sthirapala 

 and Kamapala constructing edifices dedicated to Buddha of which there- 

 mains are yet conspicuous at Sarnatha (A. R. v. 433 and ix. 203.) Capt. 

 Fell suggests the possibility of his being the same with Yasopala a prince 

 of Kausambi who is mentioned in a grant found at Khara in the Doab 

 (A. R. ix. 433;) this seems not improbable, the date A. D. 1037, would 

 bring the prince rather later than above computed, but not so much as to 

 affect the average materially: the imperfect state of the Khara inscription 

 however throws no light upon the history of this prince, or records any 

 thing of Yasopala except his name and date : the chief difficulty is therefore 

 the difference of the latter member of the name, enhanced by this conside- 

 ration, that, Pdla, though not invariably, is often a family appellation and 

 that the family denomination of this dynasty appears to be Chandra. Whe- 

 ther however he be the same with this prince is of little importance : it is 

 scarcely doubtful that he was the first of the family who attained any con- 

 sequence, as besides the evidence to this effect furnished by the genealogy, 

 the phraseology of the inscription implies the same when it specifies that 

 he " was or existed after the lines of princes had gone to heaven :" he was 

 therefore in all likelihood either a military feudatory, or a martial adven- 

 turer, who availed himself of the disorganization of the petty principalities 

 of the Doab, consequent upon the devastations of Mali mud to lay the foun- 

 dations of a royal dynasty. 



Tl>e second in descent from Yasovigraha appears to have been the first 

 of the race who acquired a right to the title of royalty, and established 

 his family on the throne of lianoj'.* the exaggerated language of flattery 



