10 
SANDHYAKARA NANDI. 
Popularity of Mahipala. 
Rajendracoda’s raid. 
Buddha. The brothers were pious Buddhists and very learned, constructed hundreds 
of precious monuments for the glorification of their king at the holy city. 1 
Mahipala seems to have reigned long, and many works of great public utility are 
associated with his name at different parts of Bengal. 
He was so popular that songs were composed to celebrate 
the work of his life — songs which used to be sung in many parts of Bengal up to recent 
times, and which are still sung in remote corners like Mayurabhanja and Kuch-Behar. 
If a man, engaged in one work, pays attention to another unconnected with it, 
a proverb is often repeated “ Dhan bliante Mahipaler gita,” that is, singing the praises 
of Mahipala while engaged in thrashing corn. 
At this time Rajendracoda, the king of KancI invaded Bengal. The date of his 
invasion is about 1033 A.D. Rajendra found Ranasura in 
southern Radha, Mahipala in northern Radha, Govinda- 
candra in Banga and Dharmapala in Dandabhukti, the modern city of Behar in 
Patna district. Mahipala was the king, and the others were apparently his feudatories. 
The districts of Murshidabad and Burdwan are always known as northern Radha. 
Not very far from the city of Murshidabad, there are extensive ruins of a city known 
as Mahipala. The kings of the Pala dynasty had no fixed capital. Gauda was 
nominally their head-quarters. The kings were fond of pitching their camps where- 
ever they pleased and of raising the place to a city. It is supposed that Mahipala 
principally resided at a place known by his name. Rajendracoda’s boast, that he 
had conquered all these kings, does not seem to rest on the foundation of sure facts. 
For Arya-Ksemisvara, the author of Candakausika, a drama in five acts, gives the 
credit of destroying the Karnatakas to Sri Mahipala Deva. The drama was enacted 
under orders of the king, and before him. The poet writes a verse in which Mahi- 
pala is compared to Candra Gupta, and the Karnatakas to the Nandas. 
Ranasura of southern Radha seems to have belonged to the Sura dynasty of 
Bengal who are said to have brought the five Brahmanas from Kanauj. That they 
were dispossessed of the greater part of their dominions by the Palas is also asserted 
by the Bengal genealogists. 
Govindacandra is here said to be the king of Banga. But in the tradition of 
Rangapur we know of a dynasty of kings with their names ending in Candra. We 
have palseographic evidence of the existence of this family, and songs to glorify many 
of them are still to be heard in the districts of North Bengal.* 
That Dandabhukti is the district round the modern city of Behar in Patna 
district, is known from the fact that the city was known by the name of Odantapuri 
by the Singhalese, by Otantapuri by Tibetans, and the Odanan Behar by Maho- 
medans, and by Uddandapura in the inscription of the 2nd year of Surapala Deva, 
p. 108, J.A.S.B., new series, vol. iv. Babu Nilamani Cakravarti reads it Uddanda- 
cuda, which should be Uddandapura. In the Ramapalacarita, too, Dandabhukti is 
connected with Magadha and Pithi. Rajendracoda either came on pilgrimage to these 
1 Ind. Ant., vol. xiv, p. 139. 
* Hunter’s Gazetteer of Rangpur. 
