The document provides background on the ancient kingdoms and dynasties that ruled Bengal before the arrival of Islam. It discusses the Janapadas (tribal kingdoms), Mauryan rule in the 3rd century BC, the Gupta Empire in the 4th century AD which unified Bengal, and the rule of Sasanka in the 6th century AD who made Gauda an independent kingdom. It then describes the period of anarchy following Sasanka's death, followed by the Pala Dynasty from the 8th-12th century AD which was a period of stability and Buddhist patronage, and the subsequent Sena Dynasty which saw a revival of Hinduism.

1. Ancient Bengal
Hindu – Buddhist Dynasties

2. Background
• The reconstruction of the history of Bengal in the pre-Muslim period
is difficult due to paucity of sources. The difficulty is felt more acutely
for the earlier period from the earliest time to the 4th century A.D.
when Bengal came under the Imperial Guptas;
• In the earliest period Bengal was known to be inhabited by different
groups of people, whose names came to be associated with the area
inhabited by them.
• The historic term ‘Janapada’ means human settlement. The sources
of ancient Bengal suggest that, in the earliest period Bengal was
divided among various tribes or kingdoms which are known as the
Janapadas. The ancient Janapadas are as follows:

3. • Vanga – southern and south-eastern districts of present Bangladesh: this is
an area where finest quality white & soft cotton fabrics were produced;
• Pundra – northern Bangladesh and parts of north Bengal of the Indian
province of West Bengal: also known as Pundranagar, was the earliest
urban center in Bangladesh;
• Gauda – mid-West Bengal: its core area was Murshidabad. In the 13th
century, under the Sultans, Gauda denoted the entire area of the Muslim
sultanate. Its capital also called Gaur or Lakhnaboti, located at present
Chapai Nawabgonj district;
• Radha – southern part of present West Bengal;
• Samatata – trans-Meghna region of Bangladesh in its south-eastern part:
The archaeological discoveries in the Lalmai-Mainamati area ensures that
Samatata was formed at Comilla-Noakhali areas and the adjacent parts of
hilly Tripura;
• Harikela – The Chittagong area;

4. • An inscription written in the Brahmi script found in excavation in the
site of the old Pundranagar, now represented by the ruins of
Mahasthangarh in Bogra district, bears testimony of Maurya rule in
parts of Bengal in 3rd century B.C.
• The Mauryan Empire unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one
state for the first time and was one of the largest empires in
subcontinental history. The empire was established by Chandragupta
Maurya. Under Mauryan rule, the economic system benefited from
the creation of a single efficient system of finance, administration,
and security;
• The fragmentary Brahmi inscription refers to relief measures, such as
distribution of paddy and money, to be undertaken by the
administration during the time of calamities caused by nature and
collection of the distributed amount of paddy and money when good
days return;

5. Gupta Rule (Hindu Rule)
• The history of Bengal from the fall of the Mauryas (2nd century B.C.) to the
rise of the Guptas (4th century A.D.) is obscure.
• The establishment of the Gupta empire marks the end of the independent
existence of the various states that flourished in Bengal at the beginning of
the fourth century A.D. With the exception of Samatata, the rest of Bengal
was definitely incorporated in the Gupta empire by the time of
Samudragupta;
• Samatata was a tributary state, acknowledging the suzerainty of the Gupta
Emperor, but with full autonomy in respect of internal administration.
• Although Samatata was a semi-independent feudatory state in the time of
Samudragupta, it seems to have been gradually incorporated into the
Gupta empire. Maharaja Vainyagupta was the ruler of this region.

6. Gupta Rule
• Well structured local administration: representatives of the local
people had the opportunity of playing an important role; the earliest
instance of local self-government in Bengal;
• Strong benevolent central government;
• Enjoyed the benefit of being a part of the All-Indian empire;
• Efficient administration and political stability;
• Prosperity through trade and commerce (existence of Gupta coins)
• Religious tolerance and coexistence of religious beliefs;
• Artistic excellence: Gupta school inspired the Bengal school of
sculptural art.

7. Sasanka (Hindu Rule)
• The break up of the Gupta empire, the invasions of the Hunas and the
sudden entry and exit of Yasodharman on the political stage of northern
India gave great shocks to eastern India;
• Bengal also took advantage of the political situation to shake off the
foreign yoke and two powerful independent kingdoms i.e. Vanga and
Gauda were established there in the sixth century A.D.
• Gauda emerged as an independent kingdom under Sasanka;
• A number of independent rulers flourished in Bengal in the intervening
period between the decline of Guptas and the rise of Sasanka, and their
existence is known from a few inscriptions and gold coins;
• Sasanka was the first important king of ancient Bengal, occupies a
prominent place in history of the region. It is generally believed that he
ruled approx. between 600 A.D. to 625 A.D. He is also the first known king
of Bengal who extended his suzerainty over territories far beyond the
geographical boundary of that province.

8. Sasanka
• Of his early life and the circumstances under which he came to occupy the throne
of Gauda we possess no definite information. All that we definitely know is that
some time before 606 A.D. Sasanka became the king of Gauda with his capital at
Karnasuvarna, which has been identified with Rangamati, six miles south-west of
Berhampur in the Murshidabad district;
• He made himself master of western and northern Bengal and conquered territory
as far as the Chilka Lake in Orissa; Parts of Bihar were within his empire;
• It seems that the keynote of Sasanka’s foreign policy was to secure his dominions
from the aggressive designs of the Maukhari rulers who had for three generations
carried on a bitter struggle with the Later Guptas for the possession of Magadha
and Gauda;
• He was a staunch Shaivite (follower of Shiva) and a strong anti-Buddhist; many
acts of vandalism and enmity against Buddhists are ascribed to him;
• The date of his death cannot be exactly determined, but it must have taken place
after 619 A.D. and before, probably very shortly before, 637 A.D.; his body
produced sores and his flesh rotted off, and after a short while he died.

9. Matsyanyayam
• The Kautiliya Arthasastra explains the term as follows: when the law
of punishment is kept in abeyance, it gives rise to such disorder as is
implied in the proverb of fishes, i.e., the larger fish swallows a small
one, for in the absence of law enforcing authority, the strong will
swallow the weak;
• The death of Sasanka was followed by a period of anarchy and
lawlessness; for more than a century, roughly from 650 A.D. to 750
A.D., the history of Gauda is obscure in the extreme;
• In this century, Bengal saw very little of stable government and the
whole country was torn by internal strife and disturbed by invasions
from outsides;

10. Pala Dynasty (Buddhist Rule)
• The dynasty founded by Gopala in mid 8th century A.D., ruled Bengal for
about four hundred years;
• Period of Ascendancy (781-861 CE)
• Period of Stagnation ((861-995 CE)
• Period of Decline and Disintegration (1082-1124CE)
• Period of Ascendancy – this time is remembered as the vigorous rule of
Dharmapala and Devapala. These two rulers consolidated their empire in
northern and western Bengal and Bihar. Dharmapala’s name stands out in
the annals of the Pala dynasty as a great conqueror under whose
leadership Bengal’s influence came to be felt in northern India for quite
some time;
• Dharmapala was a devout Buddhist and a great patron of Buddhism. He is
credited with the foundation of the Vikramasila monastery. Sompura
Mahavihara at Paharpur is another monumental architectural work of
Dharmapala;

11. Pala Dynasty
• Sompura Mahavira, included in the ‘Heritage of Man’ of UNESCO, is
the largest Buddhist monastery in the Indian subcontinent and the
second largest in the world;
• Devapala, the son and successor of Dharmapala, maintained the
aggressive policy of his father and during his reign the struggle for
supremacy of northern India continued;
• Under their rule, Bengal, for the first time in her history, came to be
reckoned as a powerful force in north Indian politics. Bengal could
hold its own against powerful rivals.

12. Pala Dynasty
• Period of Stagnation – continued for more than hundred years covering reigns of
five generations of kings.
• In this period the energy and vigor, which were so manifest during the reigns of
Dharmapala and Devapala, were totally absent.
• Hardly was there any attempt at expansion; rather the Pala kings were not
powerful enough to check incursions from outside and uprisings from inside;
• The reign of Mahipala I brought back some vitality and gave a second lease of life
to the Pala empire. He succeeded in bringing back the lost territories in norther
and western Bengal and restored the position of his dynasty to a firmer footing;
• Period of Decline and Disintegration: The vigor and energy of Ramapala was the
last significant flicker in the life of the Pala dynasty. But his success was short lived
and his successors were too weak to check the gradual decline.
• Vijaysena, possibly a feudatory ruler in the Pala empire, found opportunity to
gather strength, and at the 3rd quarter of the 12th century a.d. the Palas were
ousted from their possessions in Bengal.

13. Pala Dynasty
• Maintained Stable Government
• Established a sound administrative structure
• Land base empire and agrarian in nature
• Trade and commerce was not important factor
• Environment of religious coexistence with Hindu-Buddhist amity
• Various achievement in the field of arts: the Buddhist Vihara , the
terracotta art of Bengal etc.
• No real development in literary works.

14. Sena Dynasty (Hindu Rule)
• Towards the end of 12th century A.D., Vijayasena founded the Sena empire;
During the period of decline of the Palas after Pala emperor, Rampala,
Vijayasena rose into prominence and gradually grabbed power;
• He defeated the Varmans in southearstern Bengal and then ousted his
empire in northern Bihar and adjacent territories;
• The Senas held sway over Bengal for more than a century in which five
generations of kings ruled;
• It should also be noted that Vijayasena, after having ousted the Varmans
and the Palas, succeeded in bringing the whole of Bengal under one unified
rule which continued upto 1204 A.D.;
• The Sena rulers were hindus and their rule is considered to be a period of
revival of Hinduism in Bengal

15. Sena Dynasty
• Vallalasena is known to have attempted the establishment of orthodox
Hindu social order with caste rigidity;
• It was an attempt to bring back Hindu orthodoxy in a society that had long
lived in a social milieu of religious toleration and Hindu-Buddhist amity;
• The decline of Buddhism in Bengal may be ascribed to this change in social
order;
• This period saw development of Sanskrit literature in Bengal; it was partly
the direct patronage of the Sena kings and partly to the environment
created by them; By far the most important contribution of Bengal to the
poetic literature in Sanskrit is the Gita govinda of Jayadeva, who was one of
the ornaments of the court of Laksmanasena. Vallalasena and
Laksmanasena were royal authors of merit;
• Another arena of the artistic achievements of the period was in the field of
sculptural art. Bengal school of sculptural art reached its high water mark
in the Sena period.