1898.] Dr. Hoernle —Two Copper-plate Grants of Ratnapala. 
108 
becomes possible to arrange a fairly connected dynastic history of 
Isam. All the grants agree in beginning with Hari (Visnu), his son 
Naraka, his son Bhagadatta, his younger brother Vajradatta. They 
further agree 4 in stating that Vajradatta was succeeded by several 
members of his dynasty, after which Naraka’s dynasty was displaced by 
(Jala Stambha, described in the Bargaon grant as a Mleccha 6 or ‘ foreign' 
conqueror. According to that grant, pala Stambha was succeeded by 
twenty other foreign kings, of whom Vigraha Stambha was the first, 
and Tyaga Simha the last; and the grant adds that after Tyaga 
Simha the ancient dynasty of Naraka was restored in the person of 
Brahma Pala. Unfortunately the Tejpur grant is unsatisfactorily record¬ 
ed in volume IX of this Journal , both with respect to the original text 
and its English translation. But this much seems to be clearly stated 
in it that a series of rulers, commencing with pala Stambha, ended with 
pri-Harisa, after which a king called Pralambha of Naraka’s 1 race 
succeeded to the throne. On the first view this would seem to show 
that Tyaga Simha and pri-Harisa were the same persons, and so also 
Brahma Pala and Pralambha. The latter identification, of course, is 
impossible, because Brahma Pala and Pralambha gave rise to two 
distinct dynasties, as the Bargaon and Nowgong grants show. But it 
is still possible that these two dynasties might have ruled contempo¬ 
raneously, in different parts of the country, on (Jala Stambha’s dynasty 
becoming extinct with Tyaga Simha alias pri-Harisa. This supposi¬ 
tion would seem to derive some confirmation from the fact that the 
Bargaon and Gauhati grants are given from the town of Durjaya, alias 
Pragjyotisa, while the Nowgong grant is given from the “ ancestral 
camp ” of Haruppeyvara. Against this, however, is to be set the fact 
that Bala Varman (of the Nowgong grant) of the Harjara or Pralambha 
dynasty is also described on his seal as belonging to the dynasty of the 
kings of Pragjyotisa, so that Pragjyotisa would seem to have been the 
capital of his country, though he usually or occasionally resided in his 
“ ancestral camp ” Haruppeflvara. But the circumstance which most 
strongly makes against the identification of Tyaga Simha with pri- 
Harisa, is the palaeography of the Nowgong grant. The author of 
that grant, Bala Varman, is the fourth in descent from Harjara, and 
the fifth in descent from Pralambha, i.e., about 100 years after the 
commencement of his dynasty, while Ratna Pala, the author of the 
Bargaon grant, is first in descent from Brahmapala, i.e., perhaps 20 
i Except the Gauhati grant, which, however, allows an “ undefined period.” 
6 The term Mleccha indicates a Non-Hindu, though the name Qala Stambha has 
a distinctly Hindu (Sanskrit) ring; so have the other names of his dynasty. They 
may be birudas or laudatory names. 
