Pala Empire

• 1. Introduction

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  The Pala Empire was built not on royal blood but on a democratic act. In 750 CE, the feudal chiefs of Gauda chose Gopala as their king, lifting a man of disputed ancestry to the throne of a fractured Bengal. The region had been in what contemporary writers called matsya nyaya, or "fish justice", where the big fish eat the small. No central authority existed. Petty chieftains warred constantly. Into that chaos stepped Gopala, and from that single election sprang a dynasty that would rule for nearly four centuries, shape the course of Buddhism across Asia, and leave behind some of the finest sculpture and scholarship the Indian subcontinent has ever produced. How did a family of uncertain origins build the dominant power in northern India? How did they hold together an empire that stretched from the Bay of Bengal to the edges of the Himalayas? And what finally undid them? The answers reach from the courts of Nepal to the monasteries of Tibet, from the Arab merchant ships of the Bay of Bengal to the war elephants that made every neighboring king nervous.

• 2. An Elected Dynasty

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  Gopala's father Vapyata was remembered as a Khanditarati, a "killer of enemies", and his grandfather Dayitavishnu was described in a copper plate eulogy as "all-knowing". Yet for all this flattering genealogy, the sources disagree sharply on what family Gopala actually came from. A contemporary source records that he was born into a family of Dasajivinah. Tibetan Lama Taranatha wrote, nearly eight hundred years later, that Gopala was born of the seed of a tree-god from the womb of a Kshatriya woman. Historian Niharranjan Ray connected that story to totemic lore outside Puranic Brahmanism. Other sources called the Palas low Kshatriyas; still others labeled them Shudra or Kayastha. André Wink concluded that Gopala was "definitely not of royal blood but probably of a line of brahmans which transformed itself into kshatriyas". An Arabic source cited by Wink said plainly that the Pala was "not a king of noble origin".

  Later Pala court texts attempted to solve this problem by tracing the dynasty to the Solar dynasty of legendary kings. Author Nitish Sengupta viewed those claims as an attempt to cover up humble origins. The Khalimpur copper plate, however, recorded something more reliable: the prakriti, meaning the people, made Gopala their king. His ascension in 750 CE consolidated power over Bengal including Gaur, Varendra and Banga, and extended into parts of Magadha, all without military conquest. According to R. C. Majumdar, Gopala ruled until 770 CE, passing a stable kingdom to his son.

• 3. Empire at Its Height

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  Dharmapala, Gopala's son, built the empire that the dynasty is remembered for, though his path to supremacy was winding. He was initially defeated by the Pratihara ruler Vatsaraja, then both were beaten by the Rashtrakuta king Dhruva. When Dhruva returned to the Deccan, Dharmapala moved into the vacuum. He defeated Indrayudha of Kannauj and placed his own nominee, Chakrayudha, on that throne. The Khalimpur copper plate records the imperial court Dharmapala convened while installing Chakrayudha: rulers from Bhoja, Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara, and Kira attended, "bowing down respectfully with their diadems trembling". The poet Soddhala of Gujarat called him Uttarapathasvamin, Lord of the North.

  Dharmapala's son Devapala extended these gains further. The Badal Pillar inscription credited him with subjugating the Gurjaras, Dravidas, Utkalas, Pragjyotisas, Hunas and Kambhojas. His Monghyr Plates claimed the Digvijaya of the whole of Bharatavarsha. Historians debate how much of this was political exaggeration; both Pramode Lal Paul and Ratikanta Tripathi argued that the claim about tribute from all lands bounded by the Vindhyas, the Himalayas, and the eastern and western seas was an actual fact, not merely bombast. Devapala also corresponded with Balaputradeva, the Sailendra king of Java, granting five villages for the construction of a monastery at Nalanda. He appointed the Brahmin Viradeva of Nagarahara, present-day Jalalabad, as head of that monastery.

• 4. War Elephants and Open Water

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  Arab merchant Sulaiman left one of the most vivid outside accounts of the Pala military. He wrote that the Pala army was larger than those of the Balhara, possibly the Rashtrakutas, and the king of Jurz, likely the Gurjara-Pratiharas. He also reported that the Pala king led 50,000 war elephants into battle, and that 10,000-15,000 men were employed solely for fuelling and washing clothes for the army. Ibn Khaldun placed the elephant figure far lower, at 5,000. Sulaiman's numbers were likely exaggerated, but the underlying point was confirmed by the Palas' neighbors: contemporary accounts agreed that the Rashtrakutas had the best infantry, the Gurjara-Pratiharas had the finest cavalry, and the Palas had the largest elephant force.

  Because Bengal lacked a good native horse breed, the Palas imported cavalry horses from the Kambojas and others. The highest military officer in the empire was the Mahasenapati, or commander-in-chief. The Palas recruited mercenary soldiers from kingdoms including Malava, Khasa, Huna, Kulika, Mithila, Karnata, Lata, Odra and Manahali. Their navy served double duty in the Bay of Bengal, supporting both trade and defense, which allowed Islam to arrive in Bengal during this period through flourishing mercantile and intellectual contacts with the Middle East.

• 5. Patrons of Buddhism

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  Dharmapala made the Buddhist philosopher Haribhadra his personal spiritual preceptor. He established the Vikramashila monastery and the Somapura Mahavihara, and Taranatha credited him with founding fifty religious institutions in total. Devapala restored and enlarged the structures at Somapura Mahavihara, which incorporated sculptural themes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Mahipala I ordered construction and repair work at Sarnath, Nalanda and Bodh Gaya. The Mahipala geet, a set of folk songs about him, remain popular in rural Bengal to this day.

  Nalanda, considered one of the first great universities in recorded history, reached its peak under Pala patronage. Buddhist scholars from the Pala period included Atisha, Santaraksita, Saraha, Tilopa, Bimalamitra and many others. Atisha preached in Tibet and Sumatra and is regarded as one of the major figures in the spread of eleventh-century Mahayana Buddhism. The Pala empire's influence on Tibetan Buddhism is still visible today. The Somapura Mahavihara in present-day Bangladesh is now a World Heritage Site. Its complex covers 21 acres with 177 cells, numerous stupas, temples and ancillary buildings. Vikramashila, Odantapuri and Jagaddala were among the other grand monasteries the Palas built.

  At the same time, the Palas were not exclusively Buddhist. Epigraphic evidence shows that Mahipala I and Nayapala were initiated as Shaivites by their royal preceptors. A 1026 CE inscription at Sarnath records that Mahipala I built hundreds of temples to Shiva, Chitraghanta and other deities in Varanasi. Devapala built a temple to Shiva's consort. The Pala court accommodated both traditions, and images of Vishnu, Shiva and Sarasvati were constructed alongside Buddhist imagery throughout the dynasty's rule.

• 6. Art, Learning, and Language

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  The Pala school of sculpture is recognized as a distinct phase of Indian art, influenced by the earlier Gupta tradition. Deity figures in this style often stand with straight legs close together, heavily adorned with jewellery, and frequently possess multiple arms to hold attributes and display mudras. The typical temple image was a slab with a main figure in very high relief, larger than half life-size, surrounded by smaller attendant figures. Critics noted a tendency toward over-elaboration, but the quality of carving was consistently high, with crisp, precise detail. In east India, facial features became notably sharp.

  Smaller bronze groups from this period survived in greater numbers than from earlier eras, made primarily for domestic shrines and monasteries. Gradually, Hindu figures came to outnumber Buddhist ones in this output, tracking the wider decline of Indian Buddhism. The Pala style was inherited by the Sena Empire and proved widely influential in Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Java.

  In literature, the Pala period saw the development of the Gauda riti style of Sanskrit composition. Notable scholars included Chakrapani Datta, who authored Chikitsa Samgraha, Ayurveda Dipika, Bhanumati, Shabda Chandrika and Dravya Gunasangraha. Jimutavahana contributed Dayabhaga, Vyavohara Matrika and Kalaviveka. Sandhyakar Nandi's semi-fictional epic Ramacharitam, written in the twelfth century, remains a key historical source for the later Pala period. The Charyapadas, composed by Buddhist Mahasiddhas of the Tantric tradition in a form of Proto-Bengali, laid the foundation for several eastern Indian languages.

• 7. Rebellion, Revival, and Ruin

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  The Varendra rebellion of the eleventh century exposed the dynasty's deepest structural weakness. Mahipala II imprisoned his brothers Ramapala and Surapala II on suspicion of conspiracy. His Kaivarta vassal Divya then led a samanta rebellion, killed Mahipala II and seized the Varendra region. Divya's successors Rudak and Bhima held it after him. Historian Ryosuke Furui noted that the Kaivarta rebellion decisively weakened Pala control over subordinate rulers, paving the way for the Senas to rise.

  Ramapala, who had escaped to Magadha, launched a major offensive against Divya's nephew Bhima. He was supported by his maternal uncle Mathana, his cousin Sivarajadeva of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and feudatory chiefs from south Bihar and south-west Bengal. Ramapala defeated and killed Bhima along with his family. He then ruled from a new capital at Ramavati, reduced taxation, promoted cultivation and recovered Kamarupa and Rar. He kept the Senas in check, maintained friendly relations with the Chola king Kulottunga against the common threat posed by the Ganas and the Chalukyas, and secured a matrimonial alliance with the Gahadavala ruler Govindachandra by marrying off his cousin Kumaradevi to him.

  After Ramapala's death, the dynasty could not hold. His son Kumarapala's minister Vaidyadeva crushed a rebellion in Kamarupa and won a naval war in southern Bengal, but then practically created a separate kingdom of his own after Kumarapala died. Vijayasena of the Sena dynasty defeated Madanapala and took control of southern and eastern Bengal. Two rulers, Govindapala and Palapala, governed the Gaya district from around 1162 CE to 1200 CE, but no clear evidence connects them to the imperial Pala line. The Pala dynasty was replaced by the Sena dynasty, and its descendants, who claimed Kshatriya status, merged almost imperceptibly into the Kayastha caste.