On a Verse of the Pala Inscription

Summary

Reassessing a verse from a Pāla inscription, this note argues that earlier interpretations misidentify the geographical reference 'Malaya' and the figure celebrated in the verse. The Sanskrit verse describes a hero who crossed the Himalaya, conquered Kanchipura, Lanka and Ilam and subdued the Kambojasfile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdf#:~:text=On%20a%20Verse%20of%20the,water%20discharged%20from%20the%20elephants%E2%80%99. Previous scholars read 'Malaya' as the Malaya mountain in south India and assumed the hero was Samudra Gupta. The author contends that 'Malaya' could refer to a Himalayan region, perhaps modern Nepalfile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdf#:~:text=of%20the%20,%E2%80%98weakens%20the%20force. He further suggests that the hero was a general of King Dharmapala rather than the king himselffile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdf#:~:text=A,king%2C%20Vigrahapala%20I%2C%20whosc%20kingdom. The note uses stylistic and contextual analysis to show that Pāla inscriptions often employ poetic hyperbole; interpreting 'Malaya' as a local region aligns the verse with known Pāla campaignsfile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdffile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdf#:~:text=ply%20mean%20chat%20these%20kings,one%20hand%2C%20add%20to%20our. The article concludes by cautioning historians against literal readings of panegyric inscriptions and emphasises the need to reexamine geographic names in epigraphsfile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/article_05.pdf#:~:text=thing%20but%20weaklings%2C%20each%20of,war%2C%20cither%20on%20the%20defensive.