Vijayasena wrests Varendra from the Palas

01The Deopara prashasti

The Deopara stone inscription, composed by the poet Umapatidhara, praises Vijayasena for defeating Nanya, Vira, Raghava and Vardhana, for attacking the king of Gauda, and for sending a fleet up the Ganga. The king of Gauda here is generally taken to be the Pala Madanapala, whose records end in north Bengal in these years. The inscription also records that Vijayasena built a great temple to Pradyumneshvara, a combined form of Shiva and Vishnu, with a lake beside it.

02The Sena kingdom

The Senas described themselves as Brahma-Kshatriyas from Karnata, and had served the Palas before rising against them. Vijayasena’s long reign made Bengal one kingdom again under a Hindu dynasty that patronised Sanskrit learning. His son Ballalasena and grandson Lakshmanasena held it, and at Lakshmanasena’s court Jayadeva sang the Gita Govinda. It was this kingdom that Bakhtiyar Khalji struck around 1204. Even then Lakshmanasena’s sons held east Bengal from Vikramapura for some decades more.

Dynasty · c. 750–1161 CEPala dynastyGopala was chosen king to end a time of anarchy in Bengal, and his house ruled the east for four hundred years. They built Vikramashila and Somapura, and their black-stone and bronze images set the style for the whole eastern world.Read →