Pala Empire

The Pala Empire was an imperial power that ruled the eastern Indian subcontinent from roughly 750 to 1161 CE, founded when Gopala I was raised to kingship by the regional chiefs of Gauda to end a period of anarchy in Bengal.

Based in Bengal and Bihar, it reached its zenith in the late eighth and ninth centuries under Dharmapala and Devapala, when Pala armies contested control of the imperial city of Kanauj and dominance over the Gangetic plain in a three-way struggle with the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas. The Palas were the last great Buddhist imperial dynasty of India and ardent patrons of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism: they sustained the ancient university of Nalanda, founded the monastic universities of Vikramashila and Odantapuri, and built the vast Somapura Mahavihara, making their realm the foremost centre of Buddhist learning in the medieval world. Through scholars such as Atisha and sustained diplomatic and religious ties with the Tibetan Empire and the maritime Srivijaya Empire of Southeast Asia, the Palas exported Buddhist doctrine, art, and texts across Asia, profoundly shaping Tibetan Buddhism. The dynasty declined after the eleventh century as the Sena dynasty wrested away Bengal, and its rule had shrunk to parts of Bihar by the time of its last emperors.