The Pālas of Bengal
MEMOIRS
of the
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL
VOL. V, No. 3, pp. 43—113.
THE PĀLAS OF BENGAL.
by
R. D. BANERJI, M.A., Indian Museum, Calcutta.
CALCUTTA:
Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by
The Asiatic Society, 1, Park Street.
1915.
Price Rs. 5: or 7s.
20=8=15.
PREFACE.
The ground plan of a history of Eastern India from 800 to 1200 A.D. has already been sketched out by Mahāmahopādhyāya Hara Prasād Sāstrī in his short introduction to Sandhyākaranandi's Rāmacarita. At that time I intended to develop it and add all the available material in a fresh article. This article was finished in October 1911. It was revised by Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, Ph.D., then Officiating Director General of Archaeology, and submitted to the Society. For various reasons, the publication of this part of the Memoirs has been delayed, among which may be mentioned the loss of several impressions of inscriptions.
I have not been able to edit the inscriptions quoted in the body of this paper to my satisfaction, on account of want of time and space. The readings quoted are for the most part true readings. Pandit Binod Bihari Bidyabinod has helped me considerably in deciphering them. The majority of the new records were read by him, and the texts were then revised and modified by me. But in each case a mechanical estampage has been reproduced so that a worthier scholar may re-edit it from the plates. The historical information supplied by each record has been given in the form of a summary in the body of the text.
I am indebted to Mahāmahopādhyāya Hara Prasād Sāstrī, C.I.E., Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, Ph.D., Dr. D. B. Spooner, B.A., Ph.D., Prof. Jadu Nath Sarkar and Mr. K. P. Jayaswal, B.A., Bar.-at-Law, for many suggestions. To my friend Mr. Surendra Nath Kumar of the Imperial Library, Calcutta, I am indebted for translations of various passages in French or German. Dr. F. W. Thomas, Ph.D., of the India Office Library, and Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle kindly obtained for me photographs of the historical colophones of manuscripts preserved in the Bodleian or the Royal Asiatic Society's Library. Dr. Thomas obtained for me two impressions of votive inscriptions of Mahendrapāla in the British Museum. Mr. G. H. Tipper, M.A., F.G.S., then Honorary General Secretary of the Society, very kindly obtained photographs of the historical colophones of manuscripts preserved in the Cambridge University's Library and the Bengal Asiatic Society's collections. In fact, without his aid it would have been quite impossible for me to complete this work.
Indian Museum,
Calcutta, the 30th May, 1914.
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