# Claiming Sovereignty on the Edge of the Imperial Kingdom: the Pālas of Kāmarūpa and the Candras of Vaṅga

Jae-Eun Shin

The University of Tokyo,
Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia

## 1. Introduction

The Pāla dynasty was one of the strongest polities of early medieval India, holding sway over northern and western Bengal and eastern Bihar and making occasional expeditions to neighbouring regions and beyond, for about three hundred and fifty years between the second half of the eighth and the end of the eleventh centuries. However, despite its dominant position, the existence of constant Pāla control over the eastern region is very difficult to justify, because the level of Pāla military supremacy and political influence was different in terms of time and space, and accordingly, the Pālas' relationship with other powers of the region has undergone substantial changes. Among several transitional phases of Pāla history, the beginning of the tenth century was of particular interest because of both internal and external events. While within the domain of the family, the Pāla royal succession shifted from the main line of rulers to a collateral line, in the adjoining areas of the Pāla territory, two new dynasties, the Pālas of Kāmarūpa and the Candras of Vaṅga, grew at the expense of the Pāla dominance. The relations between these fast-rising powers and the imperial Pāla kingdom were complicated given their geographical proximity. Not only did both conflict with the imperial Pāla dynasty, but they also took advantage of the latter's fame by appropriating its political idiom and vocabulary. This, however, does not mean that the two neighbouring dynasties contending against Pāla authority were each other's allies, nor does it imply that they had congenial relations. In reality, the two powers clashed with each other as each of them fought against the imperial Pālas.

The dominant scholarly concern of the past several decades was to unravel this tangled history with an accurate assessment of the political and military
events reflected in the epigraphical records of the three dynasties.<fnref n="1" /> This posi-
tivist historiography, despite its internal differences, seems so preoccupied with
reconstructing a sequence of events in chronological terms that it pays almost
no attention to a time discrepancy between the occurrence of an event and that
event being recorded. And also, it seldom addresses the question why a refer-
ence to self or others in previous political events and warfare assumed its im-
portance at a particular moment in the dynastic history. This lack of interest in
time is symptomatic of a wider problem, which might be glossed as an underes-
timation of the contextual articulation of self and others in epigraphic records.
In considering these issues, I focus on how the details of historical incidents de-
scribed in royal eulogies relate to their changing political and religious contexts
and how mutual perception and self-representation are expressed through
these details including the time of articulation, point of accentuation, and
choice of terms and expressions. The primary sources utilised here consist of
twenty-seven copperplate charters, of which nine were issued by the rulers of
the Kāmarūpa Pālas, eleven by those of the Candras and seven by those of the
imperial Pālas of Bengal, all belonging to a period between the beginning of the
tenth and the mid-eleventh centuries. By examining these records with a spe-
cific attention to time and comparing them in spatial terms, we can get some
idea of how the two lesser dynasties having uneven power relations with the
imperial Pālas recognised this strongest polity of eastern India and, conversely,
how they viewed themselves and others in a transitional period of history.

2. Self-representation in the changing political contexts

After the failed attempt to establish their control over Kannauj, the focal point
of the tripartite struggle in the late eighth to the early ninth century,<fnref n="2" /> political
activities of the Pālas were redirected to eastern India. Their military expedi-

<footnote n="1">1 For general historical writings on the Kāmarūpa Pālas and the Candras of Vaṅga which include this complicated history of conflicts and disputes, see Dani (1960, 36–44); Chowdhury (1967, 154–89); Sircar (2007, 140–71); Islam (2018, 551–690). For some examples of historiography more focused on their relationship itself, see Chowdhury (1978, 33–39); Choudhury (1988, 105–46); Ghosh (2010–11, 110–18).</footnote>

<footnote n="2">2 The tripartite struggle means the fight for control over Kannauj (Kānyakubja) between three major early medieval powers, namely, the Pālas of Bengal, the Gurjara-Pratihāras of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of the Deccan. For details, see Furui’s contribution in this volume, pp. 57ff.</footnote>
tions, which were carried out in the northeastern and southwestern directions from north Bengal, reached victorious outcomes and therefore the geographical limit of Pāla dominion extended to Kāmarūpa, Nepāla, and Utkala in the first half of the ninth century.<fnref n="3" /> However, over the next one hundred years, the situation changed considerably in two aspects, namely, a significant decline in Pāla military activities and increasing attempts to tighten control over Pāla subordinate rulers and rural society. The former is attested by the Pāla *praśastis* of the period which contain fulsome praise for the rulers’ valour and fame, while making no mention of any specific military campaigns. We are not yet sure whether such military stagnancy was directly related to the shifting of Pāla royal succession from the main line of rulers to a collateral line, i.e. to the family of Vākpāla, a brother of the second king Dharmapāla, in the late ninth century. An in-depth discussion of how such a political change affected the Pāla military power, which depended heavily on their subordinate rulers’ service, is beyond the scope of this paper. What is clear is that the political sphere of Nārāyaṇapāla (r. c. 878–932), the first king of the collateral line, was only limited to south Bihar and north Bengal,<fnref n="4" /> and his three successors, Rājyapāla II (r. c. 932–969), Gopāla III (r. c. 969–975), and Vigrahapāla II (r. c. 975–987), made no attempt to expand the zone of Pāla political control beyond the dynasty’s core territory. The reigns of these three rulers were therefore deemed “a period of inaction and stagnation” (Chowdhury 2018, 750). They rather sought to consolidate and

<footnote n="3">3 Devapāla’s (r. c. 812–847) victory against the kings of Kāmarūpa, Nepāla, and Utkala has been emphasised repeatedly in the records of his successors. There are three examples. The *Jagajjibanpur plate of Mahendrapāla, year 7* (r. c. 847–862) speaks (v. 10) of Devapāla’s dominion over Kāmarūpa obtained by the play of eyebrow and his acceptance of tribute from the inaccessible land of the Himālaya. Here the inaccessible land of the Himālaya probably refers to Nepāla in view of the *Mirzapur plate of Śūrapāla I, year 3* (v. 12), which mentions Devapāla as the conqueror of the lord of Nepāla (*nepāla-nātha-vijayi*). The *Bhagalpur plate of Nārāyaṇapāla, year 17* (v. 6) mentions that when his grandfather Jayapāla, by the order of Devapāla, set forth with the desire to conquer all around, the king of Utkala gave up his own city and the king of Prāgjyotiṣa (i.e. Kāmarūpa) surrendered to Jayapāla. However, in the same period, the Pālas did not or could not expand their political control to the eastern part of Bengal: Vaṅga, Samataṭa, and Harikela.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">4 This point is clear from the findspots of Nārāyaṇapāla’s inscriptions and the inscriptions mentioning his name. The *Gaya temple inscription* of his 7th year and the image inscription of his 9th year in the Indian Museum are believed to have been found in Bihar. See Sircar (1963–64, 225); Banerji (1915, 62 Pl. 31). The *Bhagalpur plate* of his 17th year, which was issued from Mudgagiri (Munger), proves that he was the master of Magadha (Patna and Gaya Districts) including Aṅga (Munger and Bhagalpur Districts), according to Chowdhury (2018, 749). The *Badal pillar inscription* discovered in Dinajpur proves his suzerainty over the northern part of Bengal.</footnote>
enhance royal power within their dominion with new measures which include (1) a decrease of royal grants to the religious institutions founded by subordination rulers and the increased implantation of Brāhmaṇas as agents of royal authority through grants, and (2) an imposition of land measurement and assessment of production in currency units for tightening control over rural society. The implementation of such measures had begun during the reign of Gopāla II (r. c. 874–878) and continued for over two hundred years and more, albeit not necessarily in a constant way (Furui 2017, 356, 349–52).

The Pālas' inward-oriented politics may have led to a change in the geo-political configuration of tenth-century eastern India, which was partly responsible for the emergence of the Pālas of Kāmarūpa ruling the lower Brahmaputra valley in the western part of present Assam and the Candras of Vaṅga ruling the Bengal Delta and the eastern fringe of Bengal including Samataṭa and Śrīhaṭṭa in present Bangladesh. The former was established with the rule of Brahmapāla (r. c. 900–920) and the latter with that of Trailokyacandra (r. c. 905–925). Both were contemporary with Nārāyaṇapāla (r. c. 878–932), the first king of the collateral line of the imperial Pāla rulers. Though Brahmapāla and Trailokyacandra achieved power through different political processes, the resemblance between the two kings is noteworthy. They both rose from a subordinate position to an independent, or semi-independent, status;<fnref n="5" /> consolidated their control of core areas with military strength and so laid the foundation of their families; and, eventually, paved the way for their sons' ascendency. Certain similarities continued with the next rulers of the two dynasties: Ratnapāla (r. c. 920–960), son of Brahmapāla, and Śrīcandra (r. c. 925–975), son of Trailokyacandra. Having

<footnote n="5">5 The ancestors of Trailokyacandra were probably landowners of Rohitagiri, i.e. Rāṅgāmāṭi in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, under the kings of Harikela of the Chittagong region and its adjacent areas. He rose from a subordinate position to the kingship of Candradvīpa, also known as Vaṅgāladeśa. The name Vaṅgāla, denoting the coastal regions of southeastern Bengal, gradually extended its meaning over wide areas of eastern Bengal with the expansion of Candra dominion towards the north, that is to say, the localities represented by the modern districts of Faridpur and Dacca. Trailokyacandra ultimately took possession of the citadel of Vikramapura. For the origin and early development of the Candra family, see Sircar (1959–60b, 135–36); Chowdhury (1967, 159–61). Similarly, Brahmapāla rose from a subordinate ruler of his overlord (the last king of the Mleccha dynasty) to the ruler of Kāmarūpa, but nothing is yet known about his ancestors. The name Kāmarūpa denotes the area lying on both the upper and lower banks of the Brahmaputra and also the surrounding hilly area. The Karatoya river of north Bengal remained as the western boundary of Kāmarūpa by the sixteenth century.</footnote>
assumed the imperial titles parameśvara-paramabhaṭṭāraka-mahārājādhirāja,<fnref n="6" /> both second-generation kings established a new capital within their respective domains, i.e. Durjayā in Kāmarūpa and Vikramapura in Vaṅga, due to the strategic importance of each location in the control of river traffic. Besides, both kings took an aggressive policy to expand their sphere of influence far beyond their respective political centres.<fnref n="7" /> The rulers of the three dynasties are listed with their approximate reign periods in Table 1.

<table><caption>Table 1. The Bengal Pāla, Kāmarūpa Pāla, and Candra dynasties in the 10th-11th centuries</caption><thead><tr><th>Bengal Pāla</th><th>Kāmarūpa Pāla</th><th>Candra</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Nārāyaṇapāla<br>(878–932)</td><td>Brahmapāla<br>(900–920)</td><td>Trailokyacandra<br>(905–925)</td></tr><tr><td>Rājyapāla II<br>(932–969)</td><td>Ratnapāla<br>(920–960)</td><td>Śrīcandra<br>(925–975)</td></tr><tr><td>Gopāla III<br>(969–975)</td><td>Indrapāla<br>(960–990)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Vigrahapāla II<br>(975–987)</td><td></td><td>Kalyāṇacandra<br>(975–1000)</td></tr><tr><td>Mahīpāla I<br>(987–1035)</td><td>Gopāla<br>(990–1015)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Harṣapāla<br>(1015–1035)</td><td>Laḍahacandra<br>(1000–1020)</td></tr><tr><td>Nayapāla<br>(1036–1051)</td><td>Dharmapāla<br>(1035–1060)</td><td>Govindacandra<br>(1020–1045)</td></tr></tbody></table>

In this context, the claim that their predecessors were “chosen by the people” took on a special significance. This reference was obviously an intertextual echo

<footnote n="6">⁶ The Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla, ll. 51–52; the Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra, year 5, ll. 26–27.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ For the political development of the Pālas of Kāmarūpa during the reign of Brahmapāla and Ratnapāla, see Sircar (2007, 140–47). For that of the Candras of Vaṅga during the reign of Trailokyacandra and Śrīcandra, see Chowdhury (1967, 154–79); Islam (2018, 616–25).</footnote>
of the foundation myth of the Pālas of Bengal, which had already been men-
tioned in two of their earliest charters, namely, the *Indian Museum plate* and the
*Khalimpur plate*, both issued by Dharmapāla (r. c. 780–812) in his regnal years 26
and 32, respectively. The two records trace the Pālas’ descent from Dayitaviṣṇu,
the progenitor of the lineage, and his successor Vapyaṭa, and then narrate the
installation of Gopāla, son of Vapyaṭa, as a king elected by the people. They both
read, “His son was the crest-jewel of the heads of kings, the glorious Gopāla,
whom the people (*prakṛtibhir*) made take the hand of Fortune, to put an end to
the rule of fishes.”<fnref n="8" /> However, neither of them gives any details of the situation
which was designated such an anarchical world or the people who took part in
the installation of Gopāla as the first Pāla king. Considering the complete ab-
sence of this statement in the *Nalanda plate of Dharmapāla*, which predated the
other two charters aforementioned, it is highly probable that Gopāla was not
born into any distinguished royal family and the Pāla foundation myth was set
up in the latter part of Dharmapāla’s reign. As Sanyal (2014, 174) argues, this
myth only became relevant “when he had to draw on legitimacy of his para-
mount status from his predecessor as he was aspiring to figure in the larger
power-axis of northern India.”

About a century later, the eulogists of the Kāmarūpa Pālas drew upon this
political rhetoric of the Bengal Pālas for asserting the dynasty's supposed his-
torical facts. The best example of this is the *praśasti* for Brahmapāla in the cop-
perplate charters issued by his son Ratnapāla. Having mentioned Śālastambha
— the founder of the previous dynasty of the region — as the supreme lord of
barbarians (*mlecchādhinātha*), who had taken the throne of Kāmarūpa in a state
of confusion,<fnref n="9" /> this *praśasti* explains how Brahmapāla, the predecessor of Ratna-
pāla, gained the royal seat.

When the twenty-first king of the line [of Śālastambha], named Tyāgasiṁha,
retired to heaven without an heir, his people, thinking that “a Bhauma
should be our lord once again,” made Brahmapāla, capable of shouldering

<footnote n="8">8 The Khalimpur plate of Dharmapāla, v. 4; the *Indian Museum plate of Dharmapāla*, year 26, v. 4: *mātsya-nyāyam apohitum prakṛtibhir lakṣmyāḥ karaṇ grāhitah śrī-gopāla iti kṣitīṣa-śirasām cūḍā-maṇis tat-sutaḥ*. Here the rule of fishes (*mātsya-nyāya*) means political disorder or an-archical condition of the society. For further details of this concept in the political context of early medieval eastern India, see Pal (2008, 21–36).</footnote>

<footnote n="9">9 Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla, v. 9; Śaratbāri plate of Ratnapāla, year 12, v. 9.</footnote>
and protecting the earth, [their] king, because he was a kinsman [of the Bhaumas].<fnref n="10" />

Here Bhauma means one belonging to the bhaumānvaya or the lineage of Bhūmi's son Naraka who was deemed the mythical progenitor of the first dynasty of Kāmarūpa known as the Varmans in the fifth to seventh centuries. But it is difficult to believe that Brahmapāla was actually a descendant of one of the members of the previous Varman family, because, in that case, his claim would have been expected to be more specific, as Sircar (2007, 141) points out.<fnref n="11" /> Rather, this praśasti was intended to give Brahmapāla credit for being eligible to be a new king, and the eligibility condition was drawn from his supposed connection with the first ruling family of the region. Intriguingly, the people who made him a new sovereign are represented as 'his people' (tat-prakṛtayo), that is to say, the local elites and administrative officials of Tyāgasiṁha, the last ruler of the second dynasty called the Mlecchas. This, along with the detailed reference to the Mleccha genealogy, does raise the possibility that Brahmapāla was one of the subordinates owing allegiance to the Mleccha ruler, but succeeded in taking possession of the throne after the demise of his overlord. Ratnapāla, who commissioned this praśasti, sought to borrow legitimacy from his father Brahmapāla by casting him as the ruler raised by the people, as Gopāla was deemed the people's chosen leader in the records of Dharmapāla. With self-conscious adaptation of the family name 'Pāla' from the Pālas of Bengal,<fnref n="12" /> Ratnapāla seems to have connected himself to a tradition that extended beyond the purely regional one. This concern was expressed in the poetical description of distant places and people, such as Śaka, Gurjjara (Gurjara-Pratihāra), Gauḍa, Kerala, Vāhika (Bāhīka of Punjab), Tāyika (Tājika, i.e. Arabs) and the Deccan, whose rulers had heard about the invincible city Durjayā of Kāmarūpa and feared its king Ratna-

<footnote n="10">10 Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla, v. 10; Śaratbāri plate of Ratnapāla, v. 10: nirvańśaṁ nṛpam ekaviṁśatitamaṁ śrī-tyāgasiṁhābhidhan| teṣām vīkṣya divaṁ gataṁ punar aho bhaumo hi no yujyate| svāmīti pravicintya tat-prakṛtayo bhū-bhāra-rakṣā-kṣamaṁ sāgandhyāt paricakrire narapati-śrī-brahmapālaṁ hi yaṁ||.</footnote>

<footnote n="11">11 Here the implication of the term sāgandhya is that Brahmapāla was not really a Bhauma, but he “smacked of one” and was thus acceptable in absence of the real thing. I would like to thank Dániel Balogh for pointing out the importance of this term.</footnote>

<footnote n="12">12 This developed further with new epithets in the following period. For instance, Harṣapāla (r. c. 1015–35) and Dharmapāla (1035–60) were described as “the light of the Pāla family” (pāla-kula-pradīpa) and “the sun to the lotus of the Pāla lineage” (pālānvayāmbuja-ravi). See the *Puspabhadra plate of Dharmapāla*, vv. 5, 8.</footnote>
pāla.<fnref n="13" /> That was obviously an exaggeration, yet it offered a new vision of trans-
regional political space.<fnref n="14" />

Like the rulers of both the Pālas of Bengal and Kāmarūpa, Śrīcandra, the con-
temporaneous Candra king, also used similar political idioms (with the word
prakṛti) for representing his predecessor. The praśasti for Suvarṇacandra
(r. c. 876-904), the grandfather of Śrīcandra, reads, "It [gold] was not purified in
fire, not put on a balance, but connected with heaviness by nature."<fnref n="15" /> The sub-
textual meaning embedded in this suggestive statement is that Suvarṇacandra
was neither born into the Agnikula (one of the distinguished Kṣatriya lineages)
nor performed tulāpuruṣa (the ritual weighing of a king against gold and its dis-
tribution among Brāhmaṇas), but was imbued with dignity by the prakṛti
(people). It is a subtle way of saying that Suvarṇacandra, the son of the Candra
progenitor Pūrṇacandra, was not a member of any dignified royal family but
earned the support of the people. This statement is, however, conspicuously ab-
sent from the new format of praśasti that was produced three years after the
Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra, year 5. The first example of the new format is the
Dhulla plate of Śrīcandra, issued around 933. Based on a distinct Buddhist narra-
tive associated with their lineage name Candra, the moon, the new praśasti re-
counts a different family history for Śrīcandra. His grandfather Suvarṇacandra
is thus recast as the son of Pūrṇacandra, the ruler of Rohitagiri, belonging to the
majestic lineage of the moon, and as a Buddhist born into the family of the moon
which devotedly carries in its curve the Buddha's hare birth story (buddhasya ...
śaśaka-jātakam)<fnref n="16" /> in the form of a mark. This change indicates that the narrative
framing of the Candras as a devout Buddhist family was made retrospectively,
that is<fnref n="17" /> eight years after Śrīcandra's accession to the throne. By connecting his

<footnote n="13">13 The *Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla*, ll. 34–36.</footnote>

<footnote n="14">14 For more details of how a new idea of kingship developed by the Bengal Pālas found an echo among the Kāmarūpa Pāla rulers, see Shin (2022a, 601-3).</footnote>

<footnote n="15">15 The *Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra*, v. 3, and the *Kedarpur plate of Śrīcandra*, v. 3: nāgnau viśuddho na tulādhirūḍhaḥ kintu prakṛtyaiva yuto garimṇā.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">16 The Śaśajātaka (Cowell 1897, 34–37) was one of the representative stories exemplifying dānapāramitā (the Buddhist Perfection of Generosity), and was thus often depicted in Buddhist art and architecture since the third-fourth centuries CE. However, its presence in a royal eulogy was rare and its association with a royal lineage was rather unusual. The Candras’ conscious identity-making based on this Jātaka story should therefore be understood in the historical context of the time of Śrīcandra when they first claimed their lineage. For more details, see Shin (2022b, 1–8).</footnote>

<footnote n="17">17 See the *Dhulla plate of Śrīcandra*, vv. 2–3. This format continued till the end of Śrīcandra’s reign, as seen in the *Rampal plate of Śrīcandra*. vv. 2–3; the *Bogra plate of Śrīcandra*, vv. 2–3;</footnote>
lineage name Candra to the moon with the hare mark of the Jātaka story, Śrī-
candra could locate this rising political power within the ambit of the Buddhist
world of eastern India. Otherwise, he might have faced difficulty in legitimising
his rule due to the low status of his grandfather, even though the latter appears
to have gained the support of the people.

The conscious adaptation of the Bengal Pālas' political idiom by both these
fast-rising rulers, Ratnapāla and Śrīcandra, to the eulogy of their predecessors
ran in parallel with their challenge to the former's imperial authority. However,
valuable information about this challenge is not supplied by their own records
but by those of their successors. The *Gachtal plate of Gopāla* (r. c. 990-1015), a
great-grandson of Ratnapāla, refers to the victory of Ratnapāla precisely against
Gauḍarāja Rājyapāla, that is to say, Rājyapāla II (r. c. 932-969).

When he (Ratnapāla) with his two arms defeated Rājyapāla — the Gauḍa king churlish on account of (the strength of) his arms — in (several) battles, he transformed, so to speak, the Mandākinī (Gaṅgā, known to have clear water) into the daughter of Kalinda (Yamunā, known for its dark water), thickening its water with moonlike spots of ichor from his lordly elephants.<fnref n="18" />

Its vivid description of the Gaṅgā whose colour was changed by the ichor of
Ratnapāla's elephants may suggest the advance of his troops into the heart of
the Bengal Pāla territory. The absence of Kāmarūpa/Prāgjyotiṣa from the list of
groups and regions that submitted to Rājyapāla II implies Ratnapāla's success in
a feat against the imperial Pālas of Bengal, who had subdued the king of Prāg-
jyotiṣa about one hundred years earlier.<fnref n="19" />

<footnote>the *Bangladesh National Museum plate of Śrīcandra*, vv. 2-3; the *Madanapur plate of Śrīcandra*, vv. 2-3.</footnote>

<footnote n="18">18 The *Gachtal plate of Gopāla*, v. 15, ll. 28–29: *dor-darppa-durllaḍitam ājiṣu gauḍa-rājam yo rājyapālam avajitya bhuja-dvayena| manye gajendra-mada-candraka-sāndra-toyāṁ mandākinīm api kalinda-sutāñ cakāra||*.</footnote>

<footnote n="19">19 According to the *Bhaturiya stone inscription of Yaśodāsa* from the time of Rājyapāla II (v. 8), when Yaśodāsa was occupying the post of the *tantrādhikārin*, his master Rājyapāla II’s command was obeyed by the Mlecchas, Aṅgas, Kaliṅgas, Vaṅgas, Oḍras, Pāṇḍyas, Karṇātas, Lāṭas, Suhmas, Gurjaras, Krītas, and Cīnas. Though employing an utterly conventional expression, it gives a glimpse of groups of people who served Rājyapāla II and his sphere of influence. Kāmarūpa/Prāgjyotiṣa is conspicuous by its absence in the list. The subjugation of Kāmarūpa/Prāgjyotiṣa is mentioned only as the achievement of his great-great-grandfather Jayapāla, a cousin of Devapāla (r. c. 812–847), in the *Bharat Kala Bhavan plate of Rājyapāla, year 2*, v. 6, which merely repeats the *Bhagalpur plate of Nārāyaṇapāla*, v. 6, q.v. footnote 3. This indicates that the Pālas had lost their grip on the northeastern frontier by the mid-tenth century.</footnote>
Likewise, Śrīcandra’s success against the Bengal Pālas is also described in the records of his son and grandson, Kalyāṇacandra (r. c. 975–1000) and Laḍahacandra (r. c. 1000–1020). The *Dacca plate* of the former mentions that Śrīcandra installed Gopāla, i.e. Gopāla III (r. c. 969–975), as a king, and a plate of the latter speaks vaguely of Śrīcandra’s victory against a Gauḍa king.<fnref n="20" /> However, due to the conspicuous lack of any historico-referential information in the *Jajilpara plate of Gopāla III* from his 6th year, which is the only known copperplate charter of Gopāla III to date, it is difficult to assess Śrīcandra’s political impact on the Bengal Pālas accurately. The tenth verse of this record describing the victorious campaign of Gopāla III in the four cardinal directions (Misra and Majumdar 1951, 142) is nothing but the conventional *digvijaya* over the *cakravarti-kṣetra*, because it is also applied to Vigrahapāla II (r. c. 975–987) and Mahīpāla I (r. c. 987–1035).<fnref n="21" /> What is assumed is that during the second half of the tenth century, Pāla control over northern and western Bengal was increasingly contested by the rise of the Kāmbojas and the attack of the Candellas (Chowdhury 2018, 754–55). Śrīcandra seems to have intervened militarily in the political turmoil hitting the Pālas, and to have restored Gopāla III to the throne, probably in the last phase of his reign. The strongest contenders for the Pāla kingship at that time were probably the Kāmbojas, whose ruler even assumed the title *gauḍapati* or Lord of Gauḍa.<fnref n="22" /> This being the case, the Gauḍa king who is stated to have

<footnote n="20">20 The details of two copper plates of Kalyāṇacandra have yet to be published. Dani (1960, 41) and Sircar (1967–68, 299) give only a partial quotation from the *Dacca plate of Kalyāṇacandra*, according to which Śrīcandra was soft in removing the fears of other kings (or of a ruler named Pṛthvīpāla) and harsh in destroying Govarṇa, and he initiated rejoicing by installing Gopāla on the throne (*mahotsava-gurur gopāla-saṁropaṇe*). For the reference to Śrīcandra’s victory over a Gauḍa king whose name is not mentioned, see *Laḍahacandra’s first grant, year 6, v. 5*.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">21 It reads, “Whose war elephants, like clouds, having drunk clear water in the eastern country, which abounds with water, after that having roamed according to their own wills in the sandal forests of the valley of the Malaya [country], [and] having caused a coolness in the Maru lands by throwing dense sprays [of water emitted from their trunks], enjoyed the slopes of the Himālaya.” See the *Bangarh plate of Mahipāla I, year 9, v. 11*.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">22 The *Dinajpur pillar inscription*, dated to the second half of the tenth century (also known as the Bangarh pillar inscription), records the erection of a temple of Śiva by a lord of Gauḍa belonging to the Kāmboja line (*kāmvojānvaya-jena gauḍa-patinā*). Chowdhury (2018, 813) conjectures on the basis of the Irda and Kalanda plates that Rājyapāla and his two sons, Nārāyaṇapāla and Nayapāla, who ruled over the southern portion of west Bengal in succession during the tenth century, belonged to the Kāmboja family. These plates call this Rājyapāla *kāmboja-varṇśa-tilaka*. In the stagnant period of Pāla history, they could spread their influence in northern and western Bengal, while Pāla dominion was possibly limited</footnote>
been defeated by Śrīcandra in Laḍahacandra's first grant may have been a Kāmboja ruler, even though we have only limited evidence on Kāmboja presence in the heart of the Pāla territory of north Bengal.

However, the question that should be asked here is not whether this political scenario is true, but why the reference to military or political success of the two neighbouring rulers — Ratnapāla and Śrīcandra — against the imperial Pālas took on its particular significance between the late tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries, that is to say, during the reign of Mahīpāla I (r. c. 987–1035) of Bengal. Another pertinent question is how the aspirations of the Kāmarūpa and Candra rulers changed at that time. To answer these, it is important to remember that, in his four grants, Mahīpāla I is credited with having obtained his father's kingdom or the kingship of his paternal kingdom, which had been snatched away by unentitled people.<fnref n="23" /> The enemies who dispossessed Mahīpāla I of his paternal kingdom are identified with the Kāmbojas, and the area which he retrieved is considered to be Varendra or northern Bengal (Sircar 1951-52, 3; Chowdhury 2018, 760). The first appearance of this verse in the *Belwa plate*, dated to the second regnal year of Mahīpāla I,<fnref n="24" /> attests to his success against his enemies in the very early part of his reign, and its repeated occurrence in several other land grants, such as the *Amgachi plate of Vigrahapāla III* (r. c. 1050–1076) and the *Manahali plate of Madanapāla* (r. c. 1144/45–1165), shows the importance of his achievement. Mahīpāla I reestablished Pāla authority over northern Bengal and some part of western Bengal, and held sway over southern Bihar. Towards the close of his reign, he succeeded in ensuring Pāla control over northern Bihar. The absence of any serious trouble from outside, except for Rājendra Cola's invasion in 1021, helped him to consolidate Pāla power in eastern India (Chowdhury 2018, 766).

Such were the political circumstances confronting both the Kāmarūpa Pāla and the Candra rulers between the late tenth and the beginning of the eleventh centuries. Unlike Ratnapāla and Śrīcandra, who had taken advantage of the political turmoil and military stagnancy of the Bengal Pālas to expand their

<footnote>to Aṅga and Magadha. It was against this backdrop that the Kāmboja rulers adopted names identical to those of the Bengal Pāla kings and one of their consorts. They modelled their genealogy on the Pāla one. This is another example of the political adoption of the Pāla idioms by neighbouring lesser powers in eastern India.</footnote>

<footnote n="23">23 anadhikṛta-viluptaṁ rājyam āsādya pitryam, in the *Belwa plate of Mahīpāla I, year 2*, v. 11; the *Rangpur plate of Mahīpāla I, year 5*, v. 12; the *Dinajpur plate of Mahīpāla I, year 9*, v. 12; the *Biyala plate of Mahīpāla I*, v. 11.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">24 As to the date of the *Belwa plate*, I adopt the modified date of year 2 suggested by Furui (2011a, 242 n. 4), based on his reading from a digital photograph.</footnote>
activities far beyond their respective core regions in the first half of the tenth century, the descendants of both the rulers saw the Pālas recovering from their political instability. It was, therefore, not wholly a coincidence that a heroic vision of their dynasties' past was cherished by both the Kāmarūpa Pāla and Candra rulers during the long-term stable reign of Mahīpāla I, when they could not make actual military expeditions into the Bengal region. In this vision of the past, the success of Ratnapāla and Śrīcandra against the Bengal Pālas was represented as a political event that was worthy of being remembered with historical accuracy. The plates of Gopāla and Kalyāṇacandra, both referring to specific Bengal Pāla sovereigns by name, demonstrate a keen awareness of their forefathers' opponents.<fnref n="25" /> Though this specificity gives way to the vague expression of "a Gauḍa king" in the grants issued by Laḍahacandra (r. c. 1000–1020) and Govindacandra (r. c. 1020–1045) in the last phase of the Candra dynasty, their forefather's victory against the imperial Pālas remained a political event to be cherished and valued. Such historical retrospection certainly involved political overtones in the reign of Mahīpāla I who reconsolidated the Pālas' hold on power in eastern India.

In sum, the array of Kāmarūpa Pāla and Candra epigraphic records bears witness to the self-images of kingship those rulers sought to project under changing political circumstances. At a time of their ascendency, the first half of the tenth century, the Kāmarūpa Pāla and Candra rulers drew upon the political idiom of the Bengal Pālas to compensate for their obscure origin and establish their image as successors of kings chosen by the people. However, when the Pālas of Bengal reassumed their sway over much of eastern India from the late tenth century, they rather emphasised the facticity of past military action or political intervention over some previous Pāla kings of Bengal. As a point of reference, the Pālas were used continuously in making the consummate self-images of their contenders, and in doing so, the Pāla sphere of influence in representational practices actually expanded when this strongest polity of eastern India became an empire in decline.

<footnote n="25">25 For the *Gachtal plate of Gopāla* mentioning Ratnapāla's victory against Rājyapāla (i.e. Rājyapāla II), see footnote 18. For the *Dacca plate of Kalyāṇacandra* referring to Śrīcandra's restoration of Gopāla (i.e. Gopāla III), see footnote 20.</footnote>
### 3. Presentation of others in a changing religious landscape

The two neighbouring powers contending against Pāla authority were unlikely to ally themselves to each other, due to the Candras' several attempts to take over Kāmarūpa.<fnref n="26" /> The first one was made by Śrīcandra, who led further military expeditions into the northeastern corner of the subcontinent, following his father Trailokyacandra's subjugation of Samataṭa. The *Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra*, year 5, the earliest known charter of this king, gives an account of his military campaign against Kāmarūpa.

His soldiers at the (time of the) conquest of Kāmarūpa, it is said, lingered in the woody regions of the Lohitya river darkened by black aloe trees, with its flocks of pigeons taking wing, monkeys roaming about bowers of plantain trees yellow with ripening fruit, and the eaves (of the forest) frequented by yaks falling asleep in the lethargy of their rumination. “This is Citraśilā, the Painted Rock, bedecked in a delightful efflorescence of rock tar! This is the river Puṣpabhadrā whose banks rustle with the fair leaves of palmyra trees!” — such [verses] were recited eagerly and at length by the scholars of his army in a lesson at the time of the conquest of the Northern Region, after attending to the deities of the locality on the Snow Mountain.<fnref n="27" />

This interesting account seems to contain an admixture of actual observation and literary convention: the former is evident in the specific names of a rock and a river found in Kāmarūpa, whereas the latter is noticeable in the stereotypical description of Kāmarūpa's flora and fauna and its location of being assigned to the Northern Region (*uttarāpatha*), just as in Kālidāsa's *Raghuvaṁśa*, which refers to this place as the last country to be subdued by Raghu's northern expedition.<fnref n="28" /> While showing great concern for the space, both experienced and

<footnote n="26">26 Kāmarūpa was much coveted by the rulers of Gauḍa and Vaṅga because of its resources, including the areca nuts, betel leaves, aloe wood, silk cotton trees, and gold from the aluvial deposits of the Brahmaputra, and its location on the important horse trade route. For more details, see Ghosh (2010–11, 116–17).</footnote>

<footnote n="27">27 The *Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra*, year 5, vv. 12–13: *yat-sainyaiḥ kila kāmarūpa-vijaye rohat-kapotī-ghanā nirvviṣṭāḥ phala-pāka-piṅga-kadalī-kuñja-bhramad-vānarāḥ| romanthālasa-vaddha-nidra-camarī-saṁsevita-prāntarā lohityasya vana-sthalī-parisarāḥ kālāguru-śyāmalāḥ|| saiṣā citraśilā manorama-śilā-puṣpa-pratānācitā tālī-sacchada-marmmaraiḥ parisaraiḥ sā puṣpa-bhadrā nadī| ity utkaṇṭhulam uttarāpatha-jaye yat-sainika-śrotriyair adhyāye paṭhitāś ciraṁ himagirau dṛṣṭvā sthalī-devatāḥ||.</footnote>

<footnote n="28">28 *Raghuvaṁśa* 4. 81–84. The northern region called *udīcya* or *uttarāpatha* comprises the region between the eastern Punjab and the Oxus in the northwest as well as the entire Himālayan region.</footnote>
imagined, this earliest Candra record of Kāmarūpa pays less attention to the his-
torical event itself. What is noticeable is the Candra soldiers' eagerness to con-
quer Kāmarūpa, as seen in verse 13 of the record. The mention of the
Puśpabhadrā river, which has been identified with a small stream to the north
of the Brahmaputra near Guwahati (M. M. Sharma 1978, 255), suggests that the
Candra military expedition penetrated the area around Durjayā, Kāmarūpa's
then political centre. However, the account mentions neither the name of Śrī-
candra's adversary nor the extent of his success.<fnref n="29" /> The Kāmarūpa Pāla armies
also do not figure in this account. Śrīcandra's direct control appears to have ex-
tended to Sylhet, as the land donation was made in Śrīhaṭṭa maṇḍala, but his
subjugation of Kāmarūpa remains uncertain. Given the complete silence on this
expedition in his seven other records, Śrīcandra's raid was probably short-lived
and the effects of Candra presence were restricted to only a small portion of
Kāmarūpa.

About five decades later, Śrīcandra’s son Kalyāṇacandra (r. c. 975–1000) led another military campaign against Kāmarūpa whose then ruler was Indrapāla (r. c. 960–990). A generation after this invasion, the *Gachtal plate of Gopāla* (r. c. 990–1015), Indrapāla’s son, gives a direct reference to their clash and Kalyāṇacandra’s defeat by Indrapāla in a naval war.

Strong Kalyāṇacandra, Śrīcandra’s son, the king of Vaṅga, he of the invinci-
ble arms [demonstrated] in his clash with the frenzied Gauḍas, was himself
overtaken (by the army of Indrapāla) at the border of the battlefield. De-
feated by him (Indrapāla), he slunk miserably away to somewhere, abandon-
ing with fearful mind his fleet of boats beautifully festooned with fluttering
golden medallions as well as his glory.<fnref n="30" />

What makes the reference noteworthy is the way it portrays Kalyāṇacandra. He
is credited with having demolished the frenzied Gauḍas with his undefeatable
arms. Here the expression, “the frenzied Gauḍas” (*mādyad-gauḍa*) alludes to the

<footnote n="29">29 Dani (1966, 34), on the other hand, on the basis of his revised reading of the *Dacca plate of Kalyāṇacandra*, suggests that the Kāmarūpa ruler who was defeated by Śrīcandra was Ratnapāla. His new reading sounds plausible since both the rulers were contemporaries. However, Śrīcandra’s victory over Ratnapāla was very unlikely to lead to the annexation of Kāmarūpa. For more details, see Islam (2018, 622).</footnote>

<footnote n="30">30 The *Gachtal plate of Gopāla*, v. 20, ll. 36–38: *mādyad-gauḍa-vimardda-durddama-bhujah śrīcandra-sūnuḥ svayaṁ prāptaḥ saṁgara-sīmni vaṅga-nrpatiḥ kalyāṇacandro vali| caṇcat-kāñcana-cakra-cāru-racitaṁ nau-cakram uttrasta-dhīs tyaktvā yad-vijitaḥ sahaiva yaśasā dīnaḥ pralinaḥ kvacit||.</footnote>
Pālas of Bengal renowned for their war elephants rutting in battlefields.<fnref n="31" /> The portrayal of Kalyāṇacandra as the vanquisher of the Gauḍa army indirectly inflates Indrapāla’s superiority, because this Kāmarūpa ruler becomes the annihilator of the Candra king. By accentuating the military achievement of their adversary, the Kāmarūpa Pālas could successfully cast themselves as the strongest power in eastern India.

In contrast, the records of Kalyāṇacandra’s successors, Laḍahacandra (r. c. 1000–1020) and Govindacandra (r. c. 1020–1045), refer to Kalyāṇacandra’s triumph in Kāmarūpa in a very metaphorical way: “he caused shedding of big tears in the eyes of the *mleccha* women”<fnref n="32" /> and “he made double the waters of the Lohitya river by means of the tears from the eyes of the *mleccha* women, which had been caused by him through killing their husbands.”<fnref n="33" /> We cannot in actual fact be certain about the result of their clash, since both dynasties claimed to be the victor. Nevertheless, the fact that the Candra accounts make no direct reference to the war itself throws doubt on their claims. Considering the difficult mountainous terrain and overflowing rivers in Kāmarūpa, which gave all Bengal armies including the Bengal Sultans and Mughals in the later period little chance of success, Kalyāṇacandra may also have faced the hard reality of ultimate defeat. It is therefore understandable why the later Candra records are eager to project a successful image of Kalyāṇacandra with such a conventional poetic expression.

Support for this supposition also comes from the term *mleccha*, which is applied to describe the people of Kāmarūpa. Scholars including Sircar (1973, 49) have been quite explicit that the *mlecchas* figured in later Candra records mean the second ruling family of Kāmarūpa known as the Mleccha dynasty. However, this is very unlikely to be the case in view of two facts: first, the period of Kalyāṇacandra’s campaign simply did not match up with that of the Mleccha rule which flourished in the eighth-ninth centuries in the mid-Brahmaputra valley with present Tezpur of Assam as its political centre; and second, a dynamic name is not a common feature of presenting others in the epigraphic practice of early medieval eastern India, which almost always uses a name of a region in referring to another political power, such as Gauḍa, Vaṅga, Samataṭa, Harikela and so on. The Candra records, too, use Kāmarūpa or Prāgjyotiṣa to denote both

<footnote n="31">31 For the abundance of elephants in the Pāla army described in an Arab account of the ninth century, see Ahmad (1989, 43–44).</footnote>

<footnote n="32">32 *Laḍahacandra’s first grant*, v. 8a: *mlecchīnān nayaneṣu yena janitaḥ sthūlāśru-kośa-vyayo*.</footnote>

<footnote n="33">33 *Govindacandra’s grant*, year 6, v. 7: *yenāsau dviguṇikṛtaḥ pati-vadhād udvejitānām ghanair mlecchīnān nayanāmbubhir vigalitair lohitya-nāmā nadaḥ*.</footnote>
the polity and the people of the northeastern region at the beginning of the
tenth century.

If so, how do we explain the appearance of this new nomenclature, *mleccha*,
in the eleventh-century Candra charters? To answer this question, we must first
recognise that it arose in the context of increasing Brahmanical influence on
the last two Candra rulers: Laḍahacandra and Govindacandra. Though both con-
tinued to use the Buddhist symbol of the *dharmacakra* as the emblem on their
seal and the Buddhist epithet *parama-saugata* as one of their titles, their dona-
tions were neither made in the name of the lord Buddha, nor contained any
other Buddhist elements. On the contrary, Laḍahacandra granted lands in the
name of Viṣṇu, a form of whom was even named after himself, and Govinda-
candra did the same in the name of Śiva, to whose son Mahāsena he was consid-
ered to be equal.<fnref n="34" /> Laḍahacandra was a Vaiṣṇava and Govindacandra had obvi-
ous Śaiva leanings. The Candras' self-image was also redesigned in accordance
with the new genealogical claim tracing their descent from the moon god
Candra, the light sprung from the sage Atri's eye (*atri-netra*).<fnref n="35" /> This claim cer-
tainly drew on the origin myth of the Candravamśa well known in Epic-Purāṇic
traditions.<fnref n="36" /> Given a long absence of Kṣatriya identity-making based on the

<footnote n="34">34 The two charters of Laḍahacandra record grants of land in the name of Vāsudeva-bhaṭṭāraka (the lord Vāsudeva, i.e. Viṣṇu) in favour of Laḍahamādhava-bhaṭṭāraka (the lord Laḍahamādhava) installed by the king. See *Laḍahacandra’s first grant*, ll. 53–54; *Laḍahacandra’s second grant*, ll. 20–21. As Mādhava is a well-known name of the god Viṣṇu, Laḍahamādhava was undoubtedly a form of Viṣṇu named after the king Laḍahacandra himself. His strong attachment to the Brahmanical creed is also attested in his pilgrimage to Vārāṇasī and Prayāga, where he made an offering to his ancestors and offered gifts of gold to numerous Brāhmaṇas. See *Laḍahacandra’s first grant*, vv. 16–18. *Govindacandra’s grant*, on the other hand, records a donation which has been made in favour of the dancing form of Śiva called Naṭṭeśvara-bhaṭṭāraka, in the name of Śiva-bhaṭṭāraka (the lord Śiva). It also refers to this king as an equal to Mahāsena (i.e. Skanda, Kārttikeya), and his parents to the latter’s parents, Śiva and Śivā. See *Govindacandra’s grant*, ll. 46–47, v. 13. Despite its beginning with a prayer to Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, Govindacandra’s charter concludes the record of donation with a prayer to the gods Svayambhū, Hari, and Hara. See *Govindacandra’s grant*, v. 16.</footnote>

<footnote n="35">35 *Laḍahacandra’s first grant*, v. 1; *Govindacandra’s grant*, v. 2.</footnote>

<footnote n="36">36 As one of the seven great sages who were all born from the god Brahmā's mind, Atri figured prominently in the Vedic-Epic-Purāṇic corpus. He was married to Anasūyā Devī and had three sons, namely, Dattātreya, Durvāsas, and Candra. The *Bhāgavatapurāṇa* 9.14.1–9.24.67 tells us that the god Brahmā had a son called Atri, and the latter had a son called Soma (i.e. Candra), who was born out of his tears of joy. Soma had a son, Budha (i.e. Mercury), by his spouse Tārā, and Budha had one offspring, Purūravas, by his consort Ilā. It</footnote>
Lunar/Solar lineages in eastern epigraphic records, the Candras' conscious attempt to link themselves to the prestigious Candravamśa is even more noteworthy.

Seen in this context, the emergence of the Candras' Kṣatriya consciousness and the rise of their contemptuous attitudes towards the neighbouring Kāmarūpa people were processes which unfolded simultaneously over the first half of the eleventh century. This simultaneity suggests that boosting their self-image was bound up with demeaning the image of others. Often translated as 'barbarian,' the term *mleccha* used to refer not only to aliens from outside of the subcontinent, but to tribes who were not part of the agrarian *varṇa* society of Indic civilisation. In general, these groups were recognised as perpetual outsiders and potential contesters of Brahmanical norms and, therefore, often mentioned in unfavourable terms in Sanskrit literature (Talbot 1995, 698; Parasher-Sen 2006, 435). Labelling the Kāmarūpa people as *mlecchas* may have been instrumental to the primary goal of providing the Candra rulers with a self-image as the upholder of law and society. A strong tribal substratum, which left the northeastern region with much less Brahmanical influence than its neighbours, was another important factor in accentuating the otherness of the Kāmarūpa people. What is also noteworthy is that the term *mleccha* is never applied to the people of Gauḍa, the nuclear area of the Bengal Pālas, though they were also the Candras' adversaries.<fnref n="37" />

However, we should not take that as an indication of a regionalist view. In Kāmarūpa too, rulers similarly employed the Brahmanical concept of *mleccha* for political rivals within their region, as it was one of the most resonant images of the other. For instance, the first known charter of the Kāmarūpa Pālas refers to the founder of the previous dynasty with discernible disdain as the supreme lord of barbarians (*mlecchādhinātha*).<fnref n="38" /> Though not in epigraphic records, the negative image of the Kirātas, a local tribe vanquished by Naraka, the son of the Varāha incarnation of Viṣṇu, is well reflected in the *Kālikāpurāṇa* of the first half of the eleventh century, probably composed during the reign of Dharmapāla of the Kāmarūpa Pālas. Here the Kirātas embody the Brahmanical notion of the tribal other, devoid of culture and civilisation. Naraka's victory against this

then gives us a long list of the descendants of Purūravas, all of whom comprised the renowned Lunar Dynasty called Candravamśa/Somavamśa. For further details of changing genealogical claims of the Candras, see Shin (2022b, 1-8).

<footnote n="37">37 For instance, the later Candra plates proclaim Kalyāṇacandra's great victory over the people of Gauḍa or Gauḍa king, but they never use the term *mleccha* in this context. See *Laḍahacandra's first grant*, v. 8; *Govindacandra's grant*, v. 7.</footnote>

<footnote n="38">38 The *Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla*, v. 9; the *Śaratbāri plate of Ratnapāla*, v. 9.</footnote>
"strong, cruel and foolish people" is deemed a preamble to a Brahmanical kingdom in Kāmarūpa, renowned for its sages, Vedic studies, and practice of varṇa order and dāna (Kālikāpurāṇa 38.101, 128-130). It is noteworthy that the Kāmarūpa Pālas, being discounted as mlecchas by the Candras, in turn discounted their local people as the typical tribal other. The new royal epithet śrī-vārāha, the one born in the family of illustrious Varāha, was used in a figurative way to represent the Kāmarūpa Pāla kings' descent from Naraka, emphasising their Vaiṣṇava patrimony (Shin 2022a, 583-617). The considerable importance attached to this epithet in the time of Gopāla (r. c. 990-1015) and Dharmapāla (r. c. 1035-1060) suggests that the making of a Brahmanical vision of kingship in contrast to the barbarian other was not limited only to the eleventh-century Candras.

Behind this development of a new type of representation worked deeper political, social, and religious changes in eastern India. First, the strong grip of Mahīpāla I (r. c. 987-1035) and Nayapāla (r. c. 1036-1051) on Bengal probably curbed the military activity of both the later Candra and Kāmarūpa kings (Islam 2018, 628). This is clear from the complete absence of verses praising the military achievement of Laḍahacandra and Govindacandra in their charters, and also from the very poetical exaggeration of Dharmapāla's valour in his praśasti. When they did not or could not have any martial accomplishment to celebrate and commemorate, their self-promotion was made either at the expense of others or on the basis of an inflated genealogical claim, or sometimes both. In this context, Vaiṣṇavism with its Brahmanical orthodoxy proved attractive to both the Candra and Kāmarūpa Pāla rulers. A clear shift in the religious affiliation of Laḍahacandra and Dharmapāla towards Vaiṣṇava faith at the personal level contributed to reinventing their images as an embodiment or a descendant of the god who ruled the cosmos and the world by taking on many different forms.<fnref n="39" />

Migrant Brāhmaṇas, hailing from north Bengal and induced to settle in Vaṅga and Kāmarūpa by land grants, probably played an important role in the creation of a “Vaiṣṇava” lordship of both the rulers. The installation of Laḍahamādhava, Viṣṇu named after Laḍahacandra, may have been induced by the Brāhmaṇas from north Bengal where the prevalence of the same habit is

<footnote n="39">39 The two charters of Laḍahacandra begin with an invocation to Vāsudeva: oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. See Laḍahacandra’s first grant, v. 1; Laḍahacandra’s second grant, year 6, v. 1. The last charter of Dharmapāla of Kāmarūpa also begins with a salutation to Viṣṇu in his Varāha form: svasti śrīmān sa kroḍa-rūpo jayati. See the Puspabhadra plate of Dharmapāla, v. 1.</footnote>
attested by several pieces of epigraphic evidence.<fnref n="40" /> The worship of Laḍaha-
mādhava at Paṭṭikeraka, established by Laḍahacandra, remained as a symbol of
royal authority till the late thirteenth century, as the *Grant of Vīradharadeva* at-
tests.<fnref n="41" /> In the case of Kāmarūpa, it is evident that Brāhmaṇas with a Vaiṣṇava
orientation migrated from north Bengal to the region upon the direct interven-
tion of Dharmapāla, who donated the largest plot of land to a Brāhmaṇa in over
two hundred years of Pāla history.<fnref n="42" /> The last, but not least, point concerns the
close ties between this religious change and self-projection: the singular devo-
tion to Viṣṇu was developed in parallel with overt emphasis on the Kṣatriya
origin of both the Candra and Kāmarūpa Pāla rulers, and this lineage-based self-
representation was followed by new dynasties including the Varmans
(r. c. 1050–1125) ruling southeastern Bengal, and another Candra line
(r. c. 1120–1200) holding sway over the lower Brahmaputra valley in the twelfth
century.<fnref n="43" /> The rulers of India’s easternmost region finally fell within the ambit
of the early medieval convention of making Kṣatriya identity, which, in con-
trast, was never attempted by the imperial Pālas till the end of their days. The
two lesser powers were more adaptive and responsive to new modes of political
representation. Those modes were followed by the Senas, who eventually over-
powered the imperial Pālas.

<footnote n="40">40 According to Furui (2013, 397), a number of Viṣṇu images are inscribed with names ending with his epithets like Mādhava and Nārāyaṇa, which are prefixed with male or female personal names. For instance, a form of Viṣṇu called Sonnakādevī-Mādhava was named after a woman called Sonnakā or Sonnakādevī. For the presence of Brāhmaṇas hailing from north Bengal in the Candra kingdom, see Fleming (2010, 225).</footnote>

<footnote n="41">41 The *Grant of Vīradharadeva* of the later Devas was made in favour of the lord Vāsudeva named Laḍahamādhava. For palaeographic reasons, his plate is assigned to the thirteenth century by S. C. Bhattacharya (1983, 20, 23).</footnote>

<footnote n="42">42 For instance, Madhusūdana, a Brāhmaṇa donee attached to the worship of Mādhava from his boyhood, is said to have originated from a village called Khyātipali, an abode of pious and learned Brāhmaṇas as well as a place of sacrifice and Vedic study, probably situated in Varendra of Bengal. Madhusūdana was the only Brāhmaṇa who was granted land yielding as much as 10 000 (droṇas of) paddies during the rule of the Pālas. See the *Puspabhadra plate of Dharmapāla*, v. 18; vv. 9–11; v. 21. For more details, see Shin (2022a, 605).</footnote>

<footnote n="43">43 The Vaiṣṇava Varmans traced their origin from Yadu and claimed their status as the kinsmen of Hari (Kṛṣṇa). See the *Belava plate of Bhojavarman*, vv. 1–4. The Candras, whose charter begins with a salutation to the lord Vāsudeva and invokes Varāha-Viṣṇu, also claimed Candravaṁśa origin. See the *Assam plates of Vallabhadeva*, vv. 1–3.</footnote>
4. Conclusion

In this article, I have argued that the epigraphic representation of self and oth-
ers should be viewed as contextual articulation. Only through understanding
the changing context of politics, society, culture, and religion can one account
for the diversity in the representational practices of the Pālas of Kāmarūpa and
the Candras of Vaṅga, the two lesser powers flourishing on the edge of the Pāla
empire of Bengal in a transitional phase.

First, their self-image as leaders chosen by the people appeared at the time
of their ascendency, the first half of the tenth century, when the Kāmarūpa Pāla
and Candra rulers consciously adopted the political idiom of the Bengal Pālas to
disguise their obscure origin and to secure legitimacy. However, when the Pālas
reassumed their sway over much of eastern India from the late tenth century, a
heroic vision of the past surfaced in the two dynasties' records, with detailed
references to their military action or political intervention directed at earlier
Pāla kings. As a point of reference, the Pālas were used continuously in making
the consummate self-images of their contenders, and in doing so, the Pāla
sphere of influence in representational practices expanded even as this strong-
est polity of eastern India became an empire in decline. Second, while repre-
senting themselves in relation with the imperial Pālas, the two powers defined
their political rivals as *mleccha*, clearly connoting a lack of culture and civilisa-
tion. By the first half of the eleventh century, the Candras applied this term to
the Kāmarūpa Pālas, and the latter did the same to the previous dynasty of their
region, which had arisen from local tribal people. Their contemptuous attitudes
towards others, whether within or outside a region, coincided with their grow-
ing consciousness of the Vaiṣṇava divine kingship and Kṣatriya genealogical
claim, in which migrant Brāhmaṇas from north Bengal played an increasingly
important role. This pejorative characterisation of the others was, therefore, a
by-product of the process of their identity formation, and in the course of which
the other was always defined in an uneven power relation.

Located on the periphery of the imperial Pāla heartland, the two lesser pow-
ers constructed their image through a twofold process: adapting political idioms
and religious attributes from north Bengal on the one hand, and distancing
themselves from others, whose deficiency in Brahmanical norms is highlighted,
on the other. Self-representation and the presentation of others were not ef-
fected in isolation: they were reflective and reciprocative.
## Primary sources

See page xvi about references to primary sources in general, and page xvii about DHARMA digital editions with a corpus ID and a number.

* Amgachi plate of Vigrahapāla III: Banerji (1919–20).

* Assam plates of Vallabhadeva: Sharma (1978 № 22).

* Badal pillar inscription: Kielhorn (1894).

* Bangarh plate of Mahīpāla I, year 9: Banerji (1917–18).

* Bangladesh National Museum plate of Śrīcandra: Mills (1993).

* Bargaon plate of Ratnapāla: Sharma (1978 № 13).

* Belava plate of Bhojavarman: Basak (1913–14a).

* Belwa plate of Mahīpāla I, year 2: Sircar (1951–52 № A).<fnref n="44" />

* Bhagalpur plate of Nārāyaṇapāla, year 17: Bengal Charters 00091.

* Bhāgavatapurāṇa: Tagare (1950).

* Bharat Kala Bhavan plate of Rājyapāla, year 2: Furui (2016).

* Bhaturiya stone inscription of Yaśodāsa: Sircar (1959–60a).

* Biyala plate of Mahīpāla I: Furui (2010, 104).

* Bogra plate of Śrīcandra: Fleming (2010).

* Dacca plate of Kalyāṇacandra: partial citations in Dani (1960, 41) and Sircar (1967–68, 299).

* Dhulla plate of Śrīcandra: Sircar (1959–60b).

* Dinajpur pillar inscription: Chanda (1911).

* Dinajpur plate of Mahīpāla I, year 9: Kielhorn (1892c).

* Gachtal plate of Gopāla: Sharma (1978 № 17); Sircar (1973–74 № 3).<fnref n="45" />

* Gaya temple inscription of Nārāyaṇapāla, year 7: Sircar (1963–64 № 1).

* Govindacandra's grant, year 6: Sircar (1969–70 № 3).

* Grant of Vīradharadeva: S. C. Bhattacharya (1983).

* Indian Museum image inscription of Nārāyaṇapāla, year 9: Banerji (1915, 62 Pl. 31).

* Indian Museum plate of Dharmapāla, year 26: Furui (2011b).

* Jagajjibanpur plate of Mahendrapāla, year 7: Bengal Charters 00073.

* Jajilpara plate of Gopāla III, year 6: Misra and Majumdar (1951).

* Kālikāpurāṇa: Shastri (1991–92).

* Kedarpur plate of Śrīcandra: Bhattasali (1923–24).

* Khalimpur plate of Dharmapāla: Kielhorn (1896–97a).

* Laḍahacandra's first grant, year 6: Sircar (1969–70 № 1).

* Laḍahacandra's second grant, year 6: Sircar (1969–70 № 2).

* Madanapur plate of Śrīcandra: Basak (1949–50).

<footnote n="44">44 Sircar's reading of year 5 has been revised on the basis of Furui (2011a, 242 n. 4).</footnote>

<footnote n="45">45 Revised by Ryosuke Furui from digital photographs taken by him at the Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Assam, in 2016.</footnote>
*Manahali plate of Madanapāla*: Vasu (1900).

*Mirzapur plate of Śūrapāla I, year 3*: BengalCharters00107.

*Nalanda plate of Dharmapāla*: BengalCharters00095.

*Paschimbhag plate of Śrīcandra, year 5*: BengalCharters00008; Sircar (1967–68).

*Puspabhadra plate of Dharmapāla*: Sharma (1978 № 20).

*Raghuvamśa*: Devadhar (1985).

*Rampal plate of Śrīcandra*: Basak (1913–14b).

*Rangpur plate of Mahīpāla I, year 5*: Furui (2011a).

*Śaratbāri plate of Ratnapāla, year 12*: Sircar (1973–74 № 2).
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Self-Representation
and Presentation of Others
in Indic Epigraphical Writing

Edited by
Dániel Balogh and Annette Schmiedchen

2024

Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden

DOI: 10.13173/9783447122306

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The present publication is a result of the project DHARMA ‘The Domestication of “Hindu” Asceticism and the Religious Making of South and Southeast Asia.’ This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no 809994). The papers in this book reflect only the respective authors’ view. The funding body is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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# Table of Contents

## Introduction

Annette Schmiedchen and Dániel Balogh with Natasja Bosma

1. Preface...................................................................................................................ix

2. Editorial conventions .........................................................................................xvi

## Portrayal of the Forest People:
the “Other” in the Epigraphic Records of Early India

Suchandra Ghosh and Soumya Porel

1. Introduction........................................................................................................1

2. A few references in literary texts ....................................................................2

3. Epigraphic mentions: changing positions of the forest people....................5

4. Conclusion............................................................................................................9

Primary sources........................................................................................................10

## The Position of Tīvaradeva in the Light of
Panegyric Passages in Inscriptions of Dakṣiṇa Kosala

Natasja Bosma

1. Introduction........................................................................................................13

2. Panegyric passages in the corpus of Dakṣiṇa Kosala....................................15

3. Statistical analysis............................................................................................22

4. Discussion............................................................................................................25

Primary sources........................................................................................................28

## Use and Functions of the Coronation Name
During the Somavaṁśin Dynasty

Amandine Wattelier-Bricout

1. Introduction........................................................................................................29

2. The corpus of the Somavaṁśin dynasty........................................................30

3. Reassessing the identities of issuers ............................................................35

4. Use of the coronation name in grants issued by the Somavaṁśin kings ........39

5. Use of the coronation names in non-royal grants........................................48

6. Conclusion............................................................................................................52

Primary sources........................................................................................................54
# Struggle Over Kannauj and Beyond:
the Pālas, the Gurjara-Pratihāras, and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas

Ryosuke Furui

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>57</td></tr><tr><td>2. Reconstruction of events</td><td>58</td></tr><tr><td>3. The Pālas: focus on one event</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>4. The Gurjara-Pratihāras: valour and achievement</td><td>62</td></tr><tr><td>5. The Rāṣṭrakūṭas: insignia and imperial vision</td><td>65</td></tr><tr><td>6. Concluding remarks</td><td>69</td></tr><tr><td>Primary Sources</td><td>70</td></tr></table>

# Claiming Sovereignty on the Edge of the Imperial Kingdom:
the Pālas of Kāmarūpa and the Candras of Vaṅga

Jae-Eun Shin

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>71</td></tr><tr><td>2. Self-representation in the changing political contexts</td><td>72</td></tr><tr><td>3. Presentation of others in a changing religious landscape</td><td>83</td></tr><tr><td>4. Conclusion</td><td>90</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>91</td></tr></table>

# The Portrayal of Underlings
in Eastern Cālukya Copper Plates

Dániel Balogh

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>93</td></tr><tr><td>2. Method</td><td>107</td></tr><tr><td>3. Discussion of results</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>4. Concluding thoughts</td><td>152</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>162</td></tr></table>

# Juxtaposed Genealogies
of the Hoysaļas and their Subordinates

Samana Gururaja

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>165</td></tr><tr><td>2. Standard expressions of loyalty in Kannada epigraphy</td><td>167</td></tr><tr><td>3. The Hoysaļa genealogy</td><td>170</td></tr><tr><td>4. Subordinates with generational ties to the Hoysaļas</td><td>175</td></tr><tr><td>5. The Huliyar Family: Service to multiple royal families</td><td>180</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>6. Conclusion</td><td>184</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>185</td></tr></table>

## The Central Indian Yādava Dynasty: Epigraphic Self-Representation versus Hemādri's Account

Annette Schmiedchen

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>187</td></tr><tr><td>2. Epigraphic versus non-epigraphic praśastis</td><td>190</td></tr><tr><td>3. Eulogies of subordinate rulers under the late Yādavas</td><td>195</td></tr><tr><td>4. Post-Hemādri panegyrics</td><td>200</td></tr><tr><td>5. Conclusion</td><td>204</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>205</td></tr></table>

## On the Bilingual Inscriptions of the Fārūqī Sultans of Khandesh

Luther Obrock

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>207</td></tr><tr><td>2. The Fārūqī Sultanate</td><td>209</td></tr><tr><td>3. Contextualising the Fārūqī Sultan's bilingual inscriptions</td><td>212</td></tr><tr><td>4. The Arabic inscriptions</td><td>216</td></tr><tr><td>5. The Sanskrit inscriptions</td><td>217</td></tr><tr><td>6. Conclusion</td><td>224</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>227</td></tr></table>

## A Tale of Two Courts: Records of Kachavāhā mahārājas in Digambara Jaina memorials

Tillo Detige

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>229</td></tr><tr><td>2. Bhaṭṭārakas: Digambara renouncers</td><td>229</td></tr><tr><td>3. Bhaṭṭārakas: Digambara lords</td><td>231</td></tr><tr><td>4. Digambara memorial inscriptions</td><td>232</td></tr><tr><td>5. Dhūṇḍhādaśākhā memorial inscriptions attesting Kachavāhā rulers</td><td>234</td></tr><tr><td>6. Other Digambara memorials attesting rulers</td><td>253</td></tr><tr><td>7. Conclusions</td><td>255</td></tr><tr><td>8. Inscriptions</td><td>257</td></tr></table>
# Jaina Ideologies of Kingship:
Perceptions from Early Medieval Švetāmbara Narratives

Christine Chojnacki

<table><tr><td>1. Introduction</td><td>261</td></tr><tr><td>2. The Jinasena model</td><td>263</td></tr><tr><td>3. Praising the path of royal renunciation</td><td>263</td></tr><tr><td>4. The conservatism of the Švetāmbara sources</td><td>273</td></tr><tr><td>5. Conclusion</td><td>280</td></tr><tr><td>Primary sources</td><td>281</td></tr></table>

## Bibliography

<table><tr><td>References</td><td>283</td></tr></table>