Pala Empire - Pala Foreign Relations

Pala Foreign Relations

Palas came in contact with distant lands through their conquests and trades. The Sailendra Empire of Java, Sumatra and Malaya was a colony of the Palas. Devapala granted five villages at the request of the Sailendra king Balputradeva of Java for the upkeeping of the matha established at Nalanda for the scholars of that country. The Prime minister of the Balputradeva Kumar Ghosha was from Gauda. Dharmapala who extended his empire to the boundary of the Abbasid Empire and had diplomatic relations with the caliph Harun Al-Rashid. Coins of Harun-al-Rashid have been found in Mahasthangarh. Palas maintained diplomatic and religious relation with Tibet. During the military expeditions of the Pala kings the Pala generals would establish kingdoms of their own in Punjab and Afghanistan. Recent discoveries in the Punjab hills showed the influence of the Pala Dynasty. There is a strong and continuous tradition that the ruling families in certain states are descended from the "Rajas of Gaur in Bengal". These states are Suket, Keonthal, Kashtwar and Mandi. In the ancient Rajput states tradition has immense force and accuracy. Of Kashtwar it is related that Kahan Pal — the founder of the state — with a small band of followers arrived in the hills in order to conquer a kingdom for himself. He is said to have come from Gaur, the ancient capital of Bengal and to have been a cadet of the ruling family of the place. The demise of the Turkshahi rule in Gandhar and the rise of the Hindushahi dynasty in that region might have connection to the invasion of the Palas in that region.