Pala and Sena Period Quiz: Clerkship History

Bengal was in matsyanyaya, a state of anarchy where the strong preyed on the weak. To end it the chieftains chose Gopala as king. He was not a hereditary heir, and there is no evidence of conquest or a marriage alliance.

Dharmapala founded Vikramshila, in the Bhagalpur region of present-day Bihar. Devapala patronised Nalanda but did not found Vikramshila, and Mahipala and Ramapala ruled much later.

Kannauj was the symbol of power in north India, so the Palas, Gurjara-Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas fought over it in the 8th and 9th centuries. Pataliputra, Ujjain and Mathura were not the focus of this struggle.

Sandhyakar Nandi was a court poet of the Pala king Ramapala and wrote the Ramacharita, a Sanskrit poem with double meanings that tells of Rama of the epic and of Ramapala together. Gita Govinda is by Jayadeva, and Danasagara and Adbhutasagara are linked to Ballalasena.

At Balaputradeva's request Devapala granted villages for his monastery, as the Nalanda copper plate of Devapala records. The Pala empire was at its largest under Devapala (about 810–850). Dharmapala, Gopala and Ramapala are not linked with this event.

The inscription found at Deopara in Rajshahi was composed by Umapatidhara and describes the king Vijayasena. Vijayasena (about 1095–1158) made the Sena kingdom independent and strong. Samantasena was the earliest ancestor of the line but is not the hero of the inscription.

Ballalasena (about 1158–1179) was a scholar-king. He wrote the Danasagara and began the Adbhutasagara, which his son Lakshmanasena completed. Tradition says he introduced the Kulin system in Bengal.

The Gita Govinda was written by Jayadeva, a court poet of Lakshmanasena, as a Sanskrit lyric on the love of Radha and Krishna. Dhoyi and Halayudha were also linked to that court but wrote other works, and Sandhyakar Nandi belonged to the Pala age.

Around 1204 CE Bakhtiyar Khalji attacked Nadia with a small force, and the aged Lakshmanasena was king. He withdrew to East Bengal, where Sena rule lasted for some time. Ballalasena and Vijayasena were earlier kings, and Madanapala belonged to the late Pala line.