Pala Empire

The Pala dynasty ruled Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century CE. Founded by Gopala, it lasted for eighteen generations of kings and presided over a period in which Bengal’s Buddhist monastic institutions became centres of learning acknowledged across Asia. The dynasty’s chronology, its extent and the identification of several of its later rulers are all matters on which the sources used here differ.

Foundation

Gopala, the founder, ruled about 25 years from c. 756 to 781 CE; before his rise Bengal had been in an unsettled condition for about a century, described in the Khalimpur copperplate of Dharmapala as a state of matsyanyayam ¹².

The region in which the Palas first established themselves is disputed: the Ramacharitam refers to Varendra, in northern Bengal, as the janakabhu of the Palas, while the Arya-Manjushrimulakalpa refers to the rise of Gopala in the region of Gauda and north-west Bengal where the later Guptas held sway ². See Disputed points.

Dharmapala and Devapala

Dharmapala (c. 781–821 CE) was the second ruler and is described as the greatest of the dynasty; his reign inaugurated the period of ascendancy, and its most important event is recorded as the tripartite struggle for supremacy over madhyadesha with the Rastrakutas of the Deccan and the Gurjara-Pratiharas ³. He succeeded in placing his protege Chakrayudha on the throne of Kanauj, possibly for a short time ³. The Khalimpur copperplate records in its twelfth verse that with a sign of his eyebrows he installed the king of Kanyakubja, accepted by the Bhoja, Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara and Kira kings — a passage the entry cautions is likely poetic exaggeration ³.

Devapala (c. 821–861 CE), the third ruler, continued the ascendancy and is recorded to have fought successful battles against the Utkalas, Hunas, Dravida and Gurjara rulers and the ruler of Pragjyotisa ⁴. He granted five villages to be endowed to the monastery built at Nalanda by Balaputradeva, the Shailendra king of Java and Sumatra, and was patron of Viradeva, whom he appointed to preside over the Nalanda monasteries ⁴.

Fragmentation and recovery

After Devapala’s death the Pala records name three kings in confused succession: Surapala, Vigrahapala and Mahendrapala; all kings who ruled after Vigrahapala were descendants of the line of Vakpala, brother of Dharmapala ¹.

Mahipala I (c. 995–1043 CE) is considered the second founder of the dynasty. He recovered Varendra, referred to in his Belwa and Bangarh copperplates as his paternal kingdom (rajyam-pitryam), and re-established Pala authority over northern and western Bengal from the Kambojas ⁵. He is associated with numerous towns and tanks bearing his name, and his name survived in the ballads and folklore of rural Bengal ⁵.

Ramapala (c. 1082–1124 CE), the last important Pala king, recovered Varendra from the Kaivartas, who had ruled it successively under Divya, Rudoka and Bhima, and founded a new city called Ramavati, which remained the Pala capital until the reign of Madanapala; his reign lasted 42 years ⁶.

Monastic institutions

Dharmapala is credited with the foundation of the Vikramashila monastery, one of the most important Buddhist seats of learning from the 9th to the 12th centuries CE ³. According to Tibetan tradition it was founded by Dharmapala, and its location is now established archaeologically at Antichak in Bhagalpur district, Bihar ⁷. Excavations there exposed a monastery about 330 metres square with approximately 208 monastic cells; the Mahavihara is recorded as having consisted of 58 sangsthas, in which 108 pandits lived, with six gates each guarded by a scholar ⁷. According to Taranatha, one thousand monks permanently resided there, and it was particularly known for studies in Tantric Buddhism ⁷.

The Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur was built by Dharmapala; clay seals from the ruins bear an inscription naming Shri-Somapure-Shri-Dharmapaladeva-Mahavihariyarya-bhiksu-sangghasya ⁸. The monastery was repaired and renovated during the reign of Mahipala I, gradually declined, and was finally abandoned during the 13th century ⁸. The Nalanda inscription of Vipulashrimitra records that Somapura was destroyed by fire during an invasion by a Vangala army, possibly of the Varman rulers of Vanga, and was restored about a century later ⁸. Atish Dipankar Srijnan stayed at Somapura for many years ⁸.

UNESCO describes the Paharpur complex as the most spectacular and important pre-Islamic monument in Bangladesh, recording its first builder as Dharmapala Vikramshila (770–810 CE), king of Varendri-Magadha, and describing the monastery as a large square quadrangle measuring approximately 920 feet, with 177 cells in its last building phase ⁹.

Somapura and Vikramasila were acknowledged in the Buddhist world as two important centres of Buddhist learning between the 9th and 12th centuries CE; Buddhism spread to Tibet, Java, Sumatra and Malaysia during the Pala period, and the Palas’ viharas also helped propagate Buddhism in Nepal, Tibet and Sri Lanka ¹.

Could not verify

The retrieved Banglapedia entry for Somapura does not give a cell count, while UNESCO records 177 cells in the monastery’s last building phase ⁸⁹; the two figures come from different sources and are not reconciled here. No monastic entry titled "Vikramapura Mahavihara" exists — Vikramapura is the name of a city and capital, and the monastic entry is "Vikramashila Mahavihara".

Related articles

Ancient Bengal · Sena Dynasty · History of Bangladesh

Disputed points

The positions below are reported as their holders state them. This reference does not take a position on the disagreement, and none of the positions is presented as the default.

Dating of Dharmapala. Banglapedia’s own entries differ: "Somapura Mahavihara" gives Dharmapala as c. 781–821 CE ⁸, while "Vikramashila Mahavihara" gives c. 775–810 CE ⁷. The two figures are not reconciled by the retrieved pages. [disputed]

The Pala succession after Devapala. The retrieved entry states that the succession presents a fairly complicated problem: the Badal inscription gives no indication of the relationship between Surapala, Devapala and Narayanapala, and the entry reads the three names as evidence of a dynastic trouble ¹. [disputed]

The extent of Dharmapala’s empire. The entry states that the vision of an empire reaching the north-western corner of the subcontinent seems more reasonable as a poetic dream than as a fact, and that Dharmapala’s supremacy is not confirmed by other sources ³. [disputed]

The founder of Somapura. Clay seals and the weight of Tibetan sources point to Dharmapala, but Taranatha and other Tibetan sources state that Devapala built it after his conquest of Varendra; the entry proposes that what Dharmapala undertook may have received finishing touches under Devapala ⁸. [disputed]

The original kingdom of the Palas. The Ramacharitam refers to Varendra as the janakabhu of the Palas, while the Arya-Manjushrimulakalpa refers to Gopala’s rise in the Gauda region and north-west Bengal; the entry calls the question as difficult as the problem of their ancestry ². [disputed]

The last rulers. The connection of Govindapala and Palapala, the last names found in Bihar inscriptions, with the imperial Palas cannot be proved on the retrieved evidence ¹. [disputed]

Sources

9 sources cited. Tiers: T1 official or primary, T2 scholarly or curated, T3 media of record.

1. Pala Dynasty — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Pala_Dynasty
2. Gopala — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Gopala
3. Dharmapala — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Dharmapala
4. Devapala — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Devapala
5. Mahipala I — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Mahipala_I
6. Ramapala — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Ramapala
7. Vikramashila Mahavihara — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Vikramashila_Mahavihara
8. Somapura Mahavihara — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Somapura_Mahavihara
9. Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/322/

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Every factual claim above is attributed to a numbered source. Figures marked “as of” were retrieved on that date. Not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.