The Pal Dynasty

 The Pal Dynasty was an important dynasty of medieval India.  This dynasty ruled Bihar and undivided Bengal from about 750 AD to 1174 AD.  The empire of this dynasty extended to Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh and North India.

 #The_Pal_rulers_of_Bengal_were_Buddhist_and Buddhist emperor Harshvardhan established the rule of Pala kings there after defeating the Brahmin king Shashank of Bengal.  The founder of the Pala Empire was Gopaldev (750-770 AD) and the Pala emperor Suryavanshi was a Buddhist Kshatriya.  Emperor Gopal had established Odantpuri Buddhist College.

 #Gopal's_son_was_Dharampal(770-810).  He donated 200 villages to Nalanda College, making Nalanda the largest university in the world.  Dharmapala established Vikramshila Buddhist College, because Vikram means Buddha.  He sent his cooperative Buddhist monk Asit to Tibet to propagate Dhamma and made Tibet a Buddhist state.  Dharampal also built Sompura Buddhist College, which is located in Navagaon of present-day Bangladesh.

#धर्मपाल_के_पुत्र_Devpal was a very powerful Pala emperor and he had conquered the entire South India, North India and even Afghanistan.  His mother was Rannadevi, the Rashtrakuta princess of Maharashtra, due to which she also had the support of the powerful Rashtrakutas of the south.  Devpal had brought with him the Buddhist monk Virdev from Nagarhar (present-day Jalalabad) in Afghanistan and made him the head of Nalanda.  All the advisors of Devpal were Buddhist monks and his famous royal poet was the monk Vajradatta whose Lokeshwarshatak book was very famous.

 Due to the spread of the Buddhist Pala Empire from Bengal, Bangladesh to Maharashtra, the people of these regions were Buddhists till the 12th century.  After the 13th century, the Buddhist people of these regions became Muslims and the remaining Buddhist people were annihilated.  Even today, communities like Gond, Santhal, Ho, Chakma, Khond, Dhangar, Malav, Mali, Maharatha, spread from Bengal to Maharashtra, were Buddhists during the Pala period.  The Dhangar people are descendants of the Pala emperors.  The descendants of Purnavarma, the last Maurya ruler of Magadha, are the Bengal Pala emperors and the descendants of these Palas are the Gond, Khond, Santhal, Malla, Mali, Malav, and Dhangar people.  This makes it clear that this community is the descendants of Emperor Ashoka.

 Namo Buddhaya 💙

 Divya Roy ✍️