Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/110

consequently we find Nāgāri from Benares westwards, and Bengali from Gayā towards the East. We have very few inscriptions of the western variety. The Pratīhāras still lingered at Kanauj, a helpless prey of the Muhammadan invader and the proud Caṇḍella Rajput. In Bengal the century saw the rise of a new Empire under Mahīpāla I, the invasion of the Southern Conqueror Rājendra Coḷa I, the fight for supremacy with the Cedī kings Gāṅgeya and Karṇṇa, the final break up under Vigrahapāla and Rāmapāla's attempt to recover the lost supremacy.

In the eleventh century A.D. we shall consider the alphabets of four different inscriptions:

1. The Sārnāth image inscription of Mahīpāla I, V. E. 1083=1026 A. D.^[1]

2. The Krishṇa-Dwārika temple inscription of Nayapāla—the year 15.^[2]

3. The Tetrāwān image inscription of Rāmpāla—the year 2.^[3]

4. The Deopārā inscription of Vijaysena.^[4]

Besides these there are a number of records which need not be taken into consideration at present. Of Mahīpāla I we have the Imadpur image inscription of the 48th year and the Bodh-Gayā image inscription of the 10th year.^[5] We have another inscription of 15th year of Nayapāla in the temple of Narasiṁha in the compound of the Viṣṇupād at Gayā.^[6] We have two certain inscriptions of the reign of Vigrahapāla III:—

---

1. Annual Rep. Arch. Survey, 1903-4. p. 222, pl. LXIV. No. 4.
2. Cunningham's A.S.R. Vol. III. pl. XXXVII. J.A.S.B. 1900. pt. I. p. 193; Memoirs, A.S.B. Vol. V. p. 77, pl. XXV
3. J.A.S.B. (N.S.) Vol. IV. p. 109 pl. VII.
4. Ep. Ind. Vol. II. p. 307. & plate.
5. Cunningham's A.S.R. Vol. III. p. 122 No. 9.
6. J.A.S.B. 1900. pt. I p. 190. note 1. Mem. A.S.B., Vol. V. p. 78, pl XXVI.