The last name of the Pala family in the Gaya country: a king of the line whose great-grandfathers ruled all Bihar and Bengal and who now holds, at best, Gaya, the Phalgu crossing and a strip of the Magadha plain.
Both modern lists end his reign at the year 1199 or 1200, which is exactly the turn of the game; that is a feature of how the lists were built (an inscription with a last regnal year, then a gap), not a record that he dies on a date. On 1 January 1200 he may be in his last year, or the throne may be empty or contested between a son and the Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya. The GM should decide; the sources do not.
Who he is
- Name
- Palapala
- Title
- Maharajadhiraja of the Pala line, as the reconstructed lists give it
- Since
- 1165 on both lists in the English Wikipedia Pala table (Sircar and Ganguly)
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Successor of Govindapala, who became ruler of the Gaya district after Madanapala died in 1161 and whose kingdom is said by the English Wikipedia page on him to have been "destroyed sometime around 1165" (later records say "Vinastarajye" and "Gatarajye"). The same page names two later kings of tradition, Indradumnyapala and Bhimapala, with no evidence offered. No wife or son of Palapala is known to me.
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia: Pala Empire (table: Palapala 1165-1199 on Sircar, 1165-1200 on Ganguly; Chowdhury does not count him a Pala king at all) and Govindapala. The Gaya image inscriptions that the lists rest on we could not open, so the dates are the lists' dates, not an inscription's.
Overlord
None attested. The Sena kings use the Lakshmana Sena era in Bihar for centuries after, and old histories give the Senas Magadha; we treat that as a claim, not a proven overlordship.
What it holds
- Gaya and the Phalgu crossing (the Vishnupad shrine and its priests live there)
- A strip of the plain round Gaya with tax-free grants to the viharas and the priests
- Claims to Magadha as a whole, and to the Gauda title (Govindapala used "Gaudeshwara", Lord of Gauda, according to English Wikipedia)
How it was acquired
By descent from Govindapala, who took the Gaya district after Madanapala's death in 1161. The family's great days (Dharmapala and Devapala) are four centuries gone.
Allies and rivals
The Pithipatis at Bodh Gaya (a Buddhist chieftain line with a Pala marriage in its past); the Khayaravala lords of the Rohtas plateau; the Senas, who style themselves lords of Gauda and whose era is used in Bihar; the Ghurid captain at Bhagwat and Bhiuli; the great viharas, whose gate-lords and estates make up most of the real power in the country.
How things stand that morning
Not pinned. A reconstructed king of a vanished dynasty in the last year of a reconstructed reign. He has a seat at Gaya, no army that any source names, and priests and monks who matter more than he does. If the Ghurid raid on the Bihar fortress (Odantapuri) falls in 1199 or 1200 on the careful modern reading, a Pala-line king at Gaya is one of the possible losers; if it falls in 1203 or 1197-1206 on other readings, he is still on his throne or already gone.
Wealth
Land revenue of the Gaya plain, the offerings and fees of the pilgrim town (Gaya is a place where Hindus perform the rites for the dead; the Buddhist pilgrims go to Bodh Gaya just south), tolls on the Phalgu crossing.
Military
A retinue only. No numbers, no fortress named in any source we could open.
Threats
- Bakhtiyar Khalji's raiding from Bhagwat and Bhiuli (dates disputed, 1197 to 1206)
- Pithipati or Sena absorption
- No heir named
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- Working reading for play: after 1 January 1200, between 1200 and 1203, so not yet done when the game opens (the campaign sets the year). Readings: 1197-1206, central dates 1199-1200 or 1203Bakhtiyar Khalji storms the fortress-monastery of Bihar (Odantapuri) and wrecks the monasteries of the district. A Pala-line king at Gaya is not named in Minhaj's account.Depends on: Aibak lets him ride; the forts are lightly held. Stopped by: A guard on the Son and Phalgu crossings; Aibak recalls him.
Places of note
- Gaya: Seat; Vishnupad and the Phalgu ghats.
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment says "the last of the Palas in Magadha". English Wikipedia's two lists put the last Pala-line king at Gaya at 1199 or 1200 (Palapala), so the campaign board and the brief agree with the lists; the reign itself is a reconstruction (Chowdhury rejects Palapala).
- Govindapala's page gives 1161 to about 1165; a Gaya inscription dated in the year 1232 of the Vikrama era (1175/76) that we remember counts years of his reign into the 1170s; we could not open it, so we do not use it.
Evidence: Reconstructed reign from a handful of Gaya inscriptions seen only through a modern table; no chronicle.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A small disc for a king who is a name on a list; do not read it as a state.
Primary sources for Magadha and Anga
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 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.