صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

His conquests, according to the chronicler, extended from the source of the Ganges to Adam's bridge, including the Vindhya and Kámboja countries; but probably it did not in reality stretch much beyond the Vindhyan range. The conquest of Kámboja evidently had no firmer basis than the imagination of the poet. When encamped at Mudgagiri, modern Mungher, this prince, on the 21st day of Márgaśirśa, (November-December,) in the 33rd year of his reign, bestowed the town of Misika in Krimila, a department of Srinagara, modern Patna, to one Bodha Bhikshurata Miśra. The imprecations against the resumption of the grant are given in the usual Puráņic style.

Soon after, a second monument of that dynasty was found at Budál in Dinajpur, and also translated by Sir Charles Wilkins. It was a record inscribed on a stone pillar, by order of a minister of one of the Pála Rájás. As in the last case so in this the translation was published in the' Researches,' (Vol. I, pp. 131 et seq.,) without any text. But a plate was added, giving a front and a side view of the pillar and a specimen of the character of the inscription. Sir William Jones was not satisfied with either of the translations, and appended to them some explanatory notes. A revised transcript and translation of the last, however, has since been published by Bábu Pratápachandra Ghosha,* and all doubts regarding the original have now been removed. This inscription was put up by a minister of Náráyaṇapála who recorded the merits of his ancestors, who seem to have been all officers of the Pála family. Trusting to the wisdom of one of them, the chronicler states, "The king of Gauda for a long time enjoyed the country of the eradicated race of Utkala (Orissa), of the Hunnas of humbled pride, of the kings of Drávida and Gurjara, whose glory was reduced, and the universal sea-girt throne." Bábu Pratápachandra Ghosha has thus summarised the historical results of this record.

I. Sándilya.

II. Viradeva.

III. Pánchála.

IV. Garga, married Ichchhá.

V. Sri Darbhapáni, minister of Deva-pála, married Sárkara.

VI. Someśvara Miśra, married Taralá.

VII. Kedárnátha Miśra, married Badhvá of Devagráma, Sura-pála, contemporary.

VIII. Gurava Miśra, minister of Náráyana-pála.

The third record was found at Sárnáth, near Banáras. It was inscribed on a stone, and a facsimile transcript and a translation of it were published in the fifth volume of the 'Asiatic Researches.' It contained the

* Ante XLIII, pt. I. pp. 356f.

names of four members of the dynasty under notice, viz., Mahi-pála, Sthirapála, Vasanta-pála, and Kumára-pála; but the record was throughout so corrupt, and the reading so manifestly incorrect, that no reliance whatever could be placed on it for purposes of historical deduction. The stone was not forthcoming early in this century; but General Cunningham pointed out to Major Kittoe, the probability that the original stone would be found somewhere about the tank of Diwán Jagat Siñha in the city of Benáres, which was constructed entirely of stones removed from Sárnáth. After a short search the latter found it. "The inscription was recorded", says General Cunningham, " on the base of a squatted figure of Buddha, which was broken at the waist. Kittoe sent me a tracing of his sketch of the statue, and a copy of the inscription, with transcript in modern Nágari. This differs very much from Wilford's version, as will be seen in the following translation."

"Adoration to Buddha. Having worshipped the lotus foot of Sri Dhama-rási, sprung from the lake of Varánasí, and having for its moss the hairs of prostrate kings, the fortunate Mahi-pála, King of Gauda, caused to be built in Kásí hundreds of monuments, such as I'śána and Chitraghanta.

"The fortunate Sthira-pála and his younger brother, the fortunate Vasanta-pála, have renewed religion completely in all its parts, and have raised a tower (śaila) with an inner chamber (garbha-kuți), and eight large niches. Samvat 1083, the 11th day of Pausha."*

The learned antiquarian does not mention where the stone now is, nor the name of the person who translated the record. He has also not given a facsimile or transcript of it. Under the circumstances no critical enquiry can be made as to the correctness of the reading and the translation. This is much to be regretted, as the document is the only one which has a really intelligible and useful date in it.

It is to be regretted also that the next record to which I have to refer, a copper-plate inscription found at Amgáchhi in Dinajpur, appears also to be defective. Colebrooke, who translated it, published only an abstract. According to Colebrooke's abstract the first prince mentioned in it is Loka-pála, and after him, Dharma-pála. The next name has not been deciphered, but the following one is Jaya-pála, succeeded by Deva-pála; two or three subsequent names are yet undeciphered; then follow Rájapála, Pála Deva, and Vigraha-pála, and subsequently Mahi-pála Deva, Naya-pála and Vigraha-pála. The date appears to be of the last king's reign, the 9th day of Chaitra (March-April), Samvat 12.

The next record, in order of discovery, was found by Captain Marshall in 1864, but not published in any form. Mr. Broadley noticed it in 1872. It was found inscribed on the jamb of the entrance to the Nálandá temple. It occurs at the foot of an ornamental scroll, and measures 8 inches by 5. * Arch. Survey Report III, p. 121.

Its language is Sanskrit, and its extent 12 lines, of which the second breaks off in the middle after the word Samvat, and the third begins so as to leave some space at the beginning. This was done probably with a view to leave room enough for the date in figures or words; but they were never put in. The jamb being made of hard basalt, and having been placed on the door side, deep behind a broad portico or veranda, suffered not at all from the influence of the weather when in situ; and, since the destruction of the temple, having remained buried under a large mass of rubbish, between 20 and 30 feet deep, looks as fresh as when it was first turned out of the sculptor's atillier.

The subject of the record is a donation to the temple, but the nature of the gift is not apparent. The words used for the purpose are deya dharmoyam"this is a religious gift," and the pronoun therefore may apply to the stone on which it occurs, or to the gate of which the stone forms a part, or to the portico, or to the entire temple. The words, however, are generally used as a formula for expressing a gift, and the gift might be other than the substance on which they occur. Looking to the nature of the temple,—a brick structure cemented with clay and plastered with stucco, which had undergone several repairs, the plastering in many places being not in keeping with the mouldings formed of bricks, and the door-ways, apart from the stone-facings, being perfect and bearing marks of plastering under the stones-there is no doubt now that the temple existed from long before the time of the Pála Kings of Bengal, and the formula therefore does not apply to it. General Cunningham takes the temple to date from the 1st century B. C. The donor was one Báláditya, a native of Kauśámbi in the Doab of the Ganges, the son of Gurudatta, and grandson of Haradatta. He was a Buddhist by religion, a follower of the Maháyána school, and a devout worshipper. He belonged to a clan of oil-sellers named Tailádhaka. He had no pretension to royalty, but in religion, whether Hindu or Buddhist, it was not necessary for a devout person to have high social position, to make a religious gift in an ancient public temple. He claims no merit to himself for the gift, but desires that the fruit of it may promote "the advancement of the highest (religious) knowledge among the mass of mankind."*

[ocr errors]

When I first read the inscription from a facsimile, I was disposed to take the date of this inscription to be the Samvat year 913 = A. D. 856. A. D. 856. I made out the figures from three symbolical words: the first-agni, "fire," being equal to 3, the second rágha, “power,' to 1; and the third dvára, ‘door' 9. This would be equal to 319; but the practice invariably followed in explaining symbolical figures is to transpose them according to the wellknown rule, ańkasya vámá gatí, “figures run to the left," and I had no

=

*Ante XLI, pt. I, p. 310.

hesitation, therefore, in adopting it, particularly as the character of the writing, the Kutila, which had a range of between four or five centuries from the 8th to the 12th, fully justified my course. The symbolical meanings of the first and the last words are well known and undoubted. The second, however, was not in common use, at least I had never found it used in that sense. Its first letter rá was unmistakable, but the second could be a compound of d and ya, which would produce ádya or one, the r being taken for the visarga after agni. This would lead to the same result. Inasmuch however as the first word cannot take the nominative case-mark in the midst of a compound term, I preferred the reading adopted. Soon after communicating my translation to Mr. Broadley I paid a visit to Behar, and, on examining the stone, I found the second letter to be clearly a dh, and the word rádha being equivalent to the Hindu month Vaiśákha(April-May), I came to the conclusion that the first two words meant the 3rd of Vaiśákha, the subsequent word dvára tate meaning "spread on the door", i. e., the gift whatever it was given at the gate.* This explanation left the figures of the Samvat unprovided, but the blank space after the word Samvat I supposed was the locale of the figures or symbolical words which were never engraved. Professor Ráma Krishna Gopál Bhandárkar of Bombay, to whom a facsimile had been communicated by Mr. Broadley, took the two upright strokes after the word Samvat to be equal to 11.† I could not, however, subscribe to this opinion. In the Kuțila character the figure for 1 is not an upright stroke, and there was no reason to suppose that a departure had been made in this case. The blank spaces after the word at the end of the first line and at the beginning of the second line would under the supposition also be unaccountable. In Sanskrit inscriptions and MSS. it is not usual to break the matter into paragraphs, and the blank spaces cannot but imply a deliberate act intended for something to be put in afterwards, the matter not being ready at hand at the time of the incision.

Mr. Broadley found an inscription of Go-pála at the same place, two of Madana-pála and Vigraha-pála respectively at Behár; three of Mahi-pála, and one each of Ráma-pála and Deva-pála at Ghosrawáñ and Titrawáň. The Ghosrawán inscription was first noticed by Major Kittoe. ‡

With a view to complete the summary of the references to the history of the Pála Kings, it is necessary further to refer to the list of the Pálas given in the Ain-i-Akbari (vol. I, p. 413) and in Táránáth's work. They have been entirely superseded by the inscriptions, but they afford curious. illustrations of the changes which had been effected by the traditions. current in the time of Abul Fazl. Abul Fazl's list has been reproduced in

Pere Tieffenthaler's work.

The Genealogical lists derived from these several sources may be thus tabulated:

*Ante, XLI, pt. I., p. 310.

+ Loc. cit. + Ante XLV.

[merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic]
« السابقةمتابعة »