Eastern Indian Dynasties - Palas and Sena ~ Indian History Articles

Eastern Indian Dynasties - Palas and Sena

For 350 years Palas were rulers of Bihar and Bengal for next 100 years thereafter Sena's were rulers of Bihar and Bengal.

It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala, which means protector. The Palas were often described by opponents as the Lords of Gauda.
Gopala was the first ruler of the dynasty. He came to power in 750 in Gaur by a democratic election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Maha Janapadas. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of the Bengal.
These were the patronizers of Vajrayana Buddhism. These are the last rulers of India to patronize Buddhism. These ruler's propagated Buddhism in Tibet.
One king `Dharmapala' - He built Vikramashila University', Bihar. This is a Vajrayana University.
His son and successor `Devapala' was next king. He shifted the capital from Pataliputra to Monghyr - Nalanda copper plate inscription. The context says, "A Vihara at Nalanda was built by Balaputradeva (A Buddhist Indonesia King). For its maintenance, Devapala donated five villages to this Vihara.

- Padmasambhava

- Atisadeepankara

- Shantarakshita

The last king 'Madanapala' was assassinated by Kannadiga Senapati 'Vijayasena'. Then he founded Sena dynasty.

The dynasty's founder was Hemanta Sen, who was part of the Pala dynasty until their empire began to weaken. He usurped power and styled himself king in 1095 AD.
Capital was `Laknauti'

Very important and as well as last king of this dynasty was 'Lakshmana Sena'.
A Vaishnava saint was in court called 'Jayadeva'. He wrote a Sanskrit book called 'Geetagovindam' (For Vaishnaivism this book is considered as authoritative).
He was the last Hindu ruler of Bihar and Bengal.
1194 — Bhaktiyar Khilji (One of the officers of Md Ghori) marched into Laknauti and scored an easy victory because Lakshmana Sena didn't offer any resistance.
Bhaktiyar Khilji after conquering he destroyed all the universities in Bihar(both Nalanda and Vikramashila). Not only destroyed but massacred the Buddhist monks taken shelter in those universities. This brought an end to Buddhism in India.This is often referred by Historians as a deathly blow to Buddhism and deems Khilji as the person who nailed the last into the Buddhist coffin.
By the end of 12th C Buddhism completely disappeared froth India. After Palas, no other kings in India patronized Buddhism.