The vast square monastery of Dharmapala (seals read "Shri-Somapure-Shri-Dharmapaladeva-Mahavihariyarya-bhiksu-sangghasya", on English Wikipedia) round a cruciform central temple, burned in part by Jatvarma's army in the eleventh century and repaired, and said to have "started to decline for the last time" under the Senas in the second half of the twelfth century.
The page gives no record of its state in 1200 and no abandonment date; one scholar sees no sign of large-scale destruction in the ruins and suggests unrest and displacement. On 1 January 1200 it is half empty.
Who holds it
- Name
- not named for 1200
- Title
- Abbot of Somapura
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- The vihara and its estates (undescribed for 1200)
How things stand that morning
Standing in late decline; a small community under the Sena governor.
Places of note
- Somapura: Mahavihara.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: One modern page; the late history is not dated.
On the map: A small disc for the house and its home villages; the granted villages lay scattered.
Primary sources for Senas of Bengal
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
- Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- The Song of Govinda, Jayadeva (late 12th century, by tradition at the court of Lakshmanasena of Bengal). A literary witness, not a chronicle. Read online
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.