Ancient and Medieval Bengal: From Shashanka to Plassey — WBCS

Weightage: WBCS Prelims has a History of India section of about 25 marks and an Indian National Movement section of 25, with a stress on Bengal, and Mains General Studies Paper I covers Indian history with emphasis on the national movement. The national frame comes from the UPSC CSE chapters aliased into this hub. This chapter supplies the Bengal dynasties, dates and sites.

1. A warning about maps

Ancient "Bengal" covered both today's West Bengal and Bangladesh. Several famous sites, such as Paharpur, Mahasthangarh and Dhaka, now lie in Bangladesh. An exam answer should say "in Bengal" and not "in West Bengal" unless the site really is in the Indian state.

2. How the Commission asks this period

Prelims asks for matching: which king founded which university, who wrote which text, and where each capital stood. Mains asks for evaluation: why Pala rule is called a golden age of Buddhism in Bengal, or why the Sultanate's rise changed society.

Learn each dynasty as a card of four entries: capital, key ruler, date and monument or text.

3. Gauda and Shashanka

Shashanka (early 7th century) ruled from Karnasuvarna near Murshidabad and is regarded as the first independent king of Gauda. He opposed Harsha of Kanauj, and tradition links him with the death of Harsha's brother. Later Buddhist writers portray him as hostile to their faith, and historians treat that account with care.

After him, a period of disorder called matsyanyaya (the law of the fishes, where the big eat the small) followed.

4. The Palas

About 750 CE, the chiefs of Gauda chose Gopala as king, ending the disorder. The Pala line then ruled for about four centuries.

• Dharmapala (c. 770 to 810) founded the Vikramashila monastery-university and the Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur, and patronised Nalanda. He joined the tripartite struggle for Kanauj.
• Devapala extended Pala influence widely.
• Mahipala I revived the dynasty after a decline.
• Ramapala crushed the Kaivarta revolt led by Divya. The poet Sandhyakar Nandi wrote the Ramacharita about him.

The Charyapada, the oldest known songs in an early form of Bengali, are linked to Pala-age Buddhist teachers.

5. The Senas

The Senas rose in the 11th century. Vijayasena founded the line, Ballalasena wrote works such as the Danasagara, and Lakshmanasena is the last important king. His court had the poet Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda, and others such as Halayudha and Dhoyi.

About 1204 CE, Bakhtiyar Khalji attacked Nadia (Nabadwip), and Lakshmanasena withdrew to eastern Bengal. This is the traditional start of Turkish rule in Bengal, and the dating differs slightly in sources.

6. The Bengal Sultanate

Bengal was ruled by an independent sultanate for long periods. Two dynasties matter:

• Ilyas Shahi: Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united Bengal around 1342. Sikandar Shah built the Adina Mosque at Pandua in Malda.
• Hussain Shahi: Alauddin Hussain Shah (c. 1494 to 1519) ruled in a period of cultural flowering. Sri Chaitanya (1486 to 1533) of Nabadwip preached Vaishnava bhakti in this age.

Under the sultans, Bengali got court patronage through translations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

7. Sher Shah, the Karranis and the Mughals

Sher Shah took Bengal in the 1530s. The Afghan Karrani rulers held it after him until the Mughals defeated Daud Khan Karrani around 1575 to 1576. The independent landlords called Baro-Bhuiyans, such as Isa Khan and Pratapaditya, resisted the Mughals for years. Bengal became a Mughal subah with its capital at Dhaka.

8. The Nawabs of Murshidabad

Murshid Quli Khan moved the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad (1717). Alivardi Khan ruled from 1740 and held off the Marathas. Siraj-ud-Daulah succeeded him in 1756.

9. Plassey and Buxar

On 23 June 1757, Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah at Plassey. Treachery by Mir Jafar and the banker Jagat Seth's circle decided it. The battle gave the East India Company political control of Bengal.

At Buxar on 22 October 1764, the Company defeated Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II. The Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the Company the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

Common traps WBCS sets here

• Placing Paharpur in West Bengal. It lies in Bangladesh.
• Giving the Pala founder as Dharmapala. Gopala founded the line; Dharmapala was his son.
• Dating Plassey to 1764. Plassey was 1757 and Buxar 1764.
• Confusing the capitals. Dhaka was the Mughal capital; Murshidabad came after 1717.
• Treating Shashanka as a Pala. He came before them.

Memory aids

• "750 Gopala, 1204 Nadia, 1757 Plassey, 1765 Diwani": four anchor dates.
• "Vikramashila and Somapura, both Dharmapala": Pala universities.
• "Dhaka then Murshidabad": the capital shift of 1717.

Summary

Shashanka founded early Gauda, the Palas ruled from about 750 and built Vikramashila and Somapura, and the Senas followed until about 1204. The Bengal Sultanate, the Mughal subah and the Nawabs of Murshidabad led to Plassey in 1757 and Buxar in 1764.

The Treaty of Allahabad of 1765 gave the Company the diwani and began the colonial period covered in the next chapter.

Exam protocol

• Learn each dynasty as capital, ruler, date, monument.
• Say "Bengal", not "West Bengal", for pre-1947 sites.
• Keep Plassey and Buxar dates separate.