JOURNAL 
OF TIIE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL 
Part I.—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 
No. III.—1878. 
The Song of llanik Chandra.—By G. A. Grierson, C. S. 
Introduction. 
In my notes on the Rangpur dialect, I promised to give an account of 
the song whose name heads this article, and that promise I shall now do 
my best to redeem. I find, however, that the task has been more difficult 
than I anticipated. I do not doubt but that king Manik Chandra, and 
his terrible wife did once exist; but the traditions current concerning him run 
so counter to ascertained history, that I have been able to discover very few 
grains of truth amongst the legendary chaff that has accumulated about his 
name. 
To begin with; the first name we meet with is a crux. Manik 
Chandra’s brother was a Bala king. 
Manik Chandra himself was certainly not a Bala , for he was a 
baniyd by caste, while Abul-Fazl describes the Bdlas as Kay as Bias * 
Moreover, I know of no dynasty of Bala kings, containing names ending 
in “ Chandra,” like Manik Chandra, Gopi Chandra, or Bhava Chandra. 
The brother’s name was Dharma Pal. 
The following account has been drawn from various sources. I have 
consulted Buchanan throughout, and wherever his story differs from mine 
in important particulars I have recorded the points of disagreement. 
* Cf. however, Mr. Westmacott’s article on the Pal Kings, in Yol. LIX of the 
Calcutta Review , on which I have drawn freely, and gratefully, while treating- on the 
present subject. 
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