CHAPTER II.
Gopāla I and Dharmmapāla.
Gopāla I was most probably an elderly man when he was called to the throne. Nothing is stated definitely about him or the events of his reign in any of the numerous Pāla inscriptions. In the Khalimpur grant of his son Dharmmapāla we find that he married Deddadevī, the daughter of the king of the Bhadra country.[1] The Bhadras have been variously placed in Middle, Eastern or Southern India in the Bṛhat Saṁhita.[2] The Mungir grant of Devapāladeva mentions him as the type of a well-conducted king.[3] In the rest of the copper-plates of the Pāla dynasty the verse quoted below is used about Gopala I:—
Jitvā yaḥ kāma-kārī-prabhavam = abhibhavaṁ śāśvatīṁ prāpa śāntiṁ,
Sa śrīmān lokanātho jayati Daśabaloऽnyaś = ca Gopāladevaḥ.
We find this verse in the Bhagalpur grant of Nārāyaṇapāla, Dinajpur grant of Mahīpāla I, Amgachi grant of Vigrahapāla III, and the Manahali grant of Madanapāla. No inscriptions of this king either on stone or on plates of copper have been discovered as yet, as has been stated by Mr. V. A. Smith.[4] According to Mr. V. A. Smith, Gopāla I was the king of Bengal, who was defeated by the Gurjara king Vatsarāja. But in my humble opinion the Gurjara and Rāṣṭrakūṭa invasions must have taken place before the accession of Gopāla I. In the next reign we find that the king of Bengal was acknowledged supreme by all kings of Northern India. Now Gopāla was elected king by the people of Bengal and his position consequently was not very strong within his own possessions. He was the son of a military adventurer, and he must have wanted a long and peaceful reign to consolidate his power. The Gurjara king Vatsarāja must also have reigned for a pretty long time as he is mentioned in a Jaina work, which we shall examine later on, to be the contemporary of a king who was overthrown by the son of Gopāla. Most probably Gopāla I had a shorter reign than Vatsarāja, who had overrun Bengal before the accession of the former, but lived long enough to see the former's son conquer his former possessions.
Length of reign and successor.According to Tārānātha, Gopāladeva is said to have reigned for 45 years and Mr. V. A. Smith puts accession to the year 732 A.D.,[5] but as we shall see later on when we come to the first definite date of this dynasty, that this is a little premature. Gopāladeva ascended the throne about 750 a. d. and was most probably succeeded by his son Dharmmapāladeva after a very short reign.
