RAMACARITA. 
7 
Dharmapala’s brother Vakpala. 
Buddhism in Devapala’s time. 
Though the Khalimpur grant speaks of Tribhuvanapala as Yuvaraja, Dharmapala 
seems to have survived him. 
Dharmapala was very fortunate in his brother Vakpala who was always loyal to 
him and helped him materially in building up the Pala 
empire. In the Bhagalpur grant of Narayanapala he has 
been compared to Faksmana, the faithful younger brother of Rama. 
In the 26th year of Dharmapala’s reign, a four-faced Mahadeva was conse- 
crated and a big tank was excavated at the cost of 3000 Drammas by Kesava, 
the son of a sculptor named Ujjvala. From the very commencement of their 
reigns, the Palas were great patrons of works of public utility, both religious and secular. 
Dharmapala was succeeded by his son Devapala. He too was a pious but 
tolerant Buddhist. The extent of his empire too was 
Devarnk 
vast. In his Mungir grant 1 he is said to have ruled the 
whole of India from the Himalayas to the Setubandha and from sea to sea. The grant 
was made to a Brahman named Vihekarata of the Aupamanyava gotra and 
Asvalayana-Sakha, of a village in the province of Srinagar, by which Pataliputra seems 
to have been meant. 
The state of Buddhism in Devapala’s time may be inferred from the Ghosrawa 
stone inscription. 2 Viradeva, a learned Brahmana, in 
Nagarahara near Jelalabad, in modern Afghanistan, 
received his education in Buddhism at the Kaniska Vihara near Peshawar, entered the 
Buddhist order, was initiated by Sarvajna Santi, a learned monk, travelled all 
over North India on pilgrimage, came to Budh Gaya, and lived at Yasovantapura or 
Ghosrawa under the distinguished patronage of Devapaladeva. Viradeva erected a 
chaitya at Indrasila and was much respected for his learning. On the death of 
Satyabodhi, the chief of the Nalanda Vihara, Viradeva was elected in that high office 
by the monks, and he lived there for many years, teaching and preaching Buddhism. 
The Khalimpur grant is dated in the 32nd year of Dharmapala, the Mungir grant 
is dated in the 33rd year of Devapala, so these kings reigned during the greater part 
of the ninth century; and the flourishing state of Buddhism is shown by Haribhadra’s 
commentary and Viradeva’ s career as a learned monk. This only relates to the 
higher sides of Buddhism. 
Popular Buddhism, too, underwent a great change. Bengal tradition, as embodied 
in the works entitled Dharmamafigala, affirms that this 
Popular Buddhism Dharma- was ^ me w p en Dharma Thakure puja or the worship 
of Dharma, one of the Buddhist Trinity in the form of a 
god, was introduced in Bengal by Ramai Pandit in the southern districts of western 
Bengal under the patronage of Fausena, the son of Devapala’s sister-in-law, the 
ruler of May ana in the Midnapur district. Several works in Bengali are attributed 
to Ramai Pandita, one of which, the Sunyapurana, has recently been published, 
but unfortunately it has suffered much in the process of modernization, and the 
1 Ind. Ant., vol. xxi, pp. 253 — 258. 
2 Ind. Ant., vol. xvii, pp. 307 — 312. 
