16 
SANDHYAKARA NANDI. 
previous kings had so weakened the power of the Palas that Madanapala had to 
preserve the prestige of the Pala empire by a close 
Madanapala. alliance with Candra Deva, the founder of the Gahadavada 
kingdom of Kanauj . The alliance seems to have been an offensive and defensive one. 
For the Bengal army fought a battle against the enemies of Kanauj on the banks of 
the Yamuna. Candra Deva’s inscriptions range from 1090 to 1104. Madanapala 
lived about this time. One of his inscription was dated the 14th year of his 
reign. 
There is an inscription commemorating a grant of land made by Madanapala 
Deva in the 8th year of his reign 1 from the victorious camp at Ramavati to 
Batesvara Svami at Paundrabardhanabhukti for reciting the Mahabharata before 
the chief queen Citramalika. 1 Another inscription of the same king at Jayanagara 
near the Eaksmisarai station is dated in the 19th year of his reign.' 2 3 The letter 
for 9 is doubtful. It is most likely 4. So instead of nineteen we should rather 
say fourteen. .These two inscriptions plainly show that Madanapala’ s empire 
included East Bengal, North Bengal, and Behar. The 14th year of Madanapala 
would come close to the year 1119, the initial year of the Laksmana Sena Era. It is 
a curious fact, however, that no inscription of the Pala kings has yet been discovered 
in the Radha country, that is, the Burdwan Division of Bengal. The first inscription 
comes from Pataliputra, the second from Monghyr, the third and fourth from 
Bhagalpur, some from Dinajpur, and the last one from Dacca. 
There are two more inscriptions of a king named Mahendrapala — one dated in the 
8th, and the other in the 19th year of his reign Both 
p_M a h en d ra pal a and Govinda- are f rom (4 a y a an( 4 its vicinity. He may have belonged 
to the Pala dynasty, but there is nothing to show his 
connection with them. A second king, Govindapala, is mentioned in a Gaya inscrip- 
tion dated 1175, which states that he lost his kingdom 14 years ago, i.e., 1161. So 
the last vestige of the Pala Empire seems to have come to an end in that year. 
There are some MSS. from Nepal dated in the 37th, 38th and 39th year after the loss 
of Govindapala’s kingdom, i.e., 1198, 1199 and 1200 A.D. 
The Bhagalpur grant of Narayanapala records a grant of land at Tirabhukti at 
Mithila. With the rise of the Chedis under Gangeya 
and Karna, they seem to have lost their hold on that 
country. It then formed a part of the Chedi Empire, north of the Ganges, and they 
passed into the hands of the Karnatakas, who helped the Chedis in building up their 
empire. Nanya was the first Karnataka king. A manuscript copied during his reign 
is dated 1098 A.D Nanya Deva’s family reigned quietly at Mithila, sometimes 
paying tributes to the Palas, sometimes to the Chedies at Gorakhpur, sometimes to 
the Mahomedans at Delhi, till Harisinha of this family in 1325 rebelled against 
Emperor Ghyasuddin and defeated the Delhi troops. The event was signalised by 
History of Mithila. 
1 J.A.S.B., vol. lxix, p. 68. 
2 C.A.S.R., vol. iii, p. 125, and plate xlv, No. 17, 
3 Kpi. In., vol. i, p. 318, Note 157. 
