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| == Expansion of the Pala Empire == | | == Expansion of the Pala Empire == |
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| Devapala launched military campaigns under his cousin and his general Jayapala, who was the son of Dharmapala's younger brother Vakpala.<ref>Badal Pillar Inscription, verse 13, [[Epigraphia Indica]] II, p 160; Bhagalpur Charter of Narayanapala, year 17, verse 6, ''[[The Indian Antiquary]]'', XV p 304.</ref> These expeditions resulted in the invasion of [[Pragjyotisha]] (present-day Assam) where the king submitted without giving a fight and [[Utkala Kingdom|Utkala]] (present-day Odisha) whose ruler fled from his capital city.<ref>Bhagalpur Charter of Narayanapala, year 17, verse 6, Indian Antiquary, XV p 304.</ref>
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| The highly exaggerated<ref name="Nitish2011">{{cite book | author=Nitish K. Sengupta | year=2011 | title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA40 | publisher=Penguin Books India | isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 | pages=43–45 }}</ref> Badal Pillar inscription of a later Pala king [[Narayanapala]] states that Devpala's empire extended up to the Vindhyas, the [[Himalayas]], and the two oceans (presumably the [[Arabian Sea]] and the [[Bay of Bengal]]). It also claims that Devapala exterminated the [[Utkala Kingdom|Utkalas]] (present-day Orissa), conquered the Pragjyotisha ([[Assam]]), shattered the pride of the [[Hunas]], humbled the lords of Gurjara and the [[Dravidian people|Dravidas]].<ref name=MajumdarPusalkar>History and Culture of Indian People, The Age of Imperial Kanauj, 1964, p. 50, 55, 56, R. C. Majumdar, A. D. Pusalkar.</ref><ref>Badal Pillar Inscription, verse 5, Epigraphia Indica, II p 160.</ref> These claims are exaggerated, but cannot be dismissed entirely: the neighbouring kingdoms of Rashtrakutas and the Gurjara-Pratiharas were weak at the time, and may have been subdued by Devapala.<ref name="Sinha1977"/><ref name=Sen>{{cite book |author=Sailendra Nath Sen |year=2013 |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |page=20 |isbn=978-93-80607-34-4}}</ref>
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| The "Gurjaras" in the inscription refers to the [[Gurjara-Pratiharas]] led by [[Mihira Bhoja]]. The Hunas probably refers to a principality in North-West India.<ref name="Ronald2004">{{cite book | author=Ronald M. Davidson | year=2004 |orig-year=First published 2002 | title=Indian Esoteric Buddhism: Social History of the Tantric Movement | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_VquVQvnBwC&pg=PA53 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | pages=53–55 | isbn=978-81-208-1991-7}}</ref> "Dravida" is generally believed to be a reference to the [[Rashtrakuta]]s (led by [[Amoghavarsha]]), but RC Majumdar believes that it may refer to the [[Pandyan Dynasty|Pandyan]] king Sri Mara Sri Vallabha. However, there is no definitive record of any expedition of Devapala to the extreme south. In any case, his victory in the south could only have been a temporary one, and his dominion lay mainly in the north.<ref name="Sailendra1999"/>
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| While an ancient country with the name [[Kambojas|Kamboja]] was located in what is now Afghanistan, there is no evidence that Devapala's empire extended that far.<ref name="Sinha1977">{{cite book | author=Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha | author-link=Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha | title=Dynastic History of Magadha | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYO25eaDrqUC&pg=PA185 | year=1977 | location=New Delhi | publisher=Abhinav Publications | pages=185 | isbn=978-81-7017-059-4 | quote="[p. 178] Dharmapāla's wife was Raṇṇādevī daughter of Parabala, the ornament of the Rāshṭrakūṭa race. Devapāla was their son."}}</ref> Kamboja, in this inscription, could refer to the Kamboja tribe that had entered North India (see [[Kamboja Pala dynasty]]). The Munger copper plate (''Monghyr Charter'') indicates that the Palas recruited their war horses from the Kambojas, and there might have been a Kamboja cavalry in the Pala armed forces.<ref>''Dynastic History of Northern India'', I. p 311; {{cite journal |author=H. C. Ray |date=December 1939 |title=New Light on the History of Bengal |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.33106/page/n532 |journal=Indian Historical Quarterly |volume=XV |issue=4 |page=511}}; History of Ancient Bengal, 1971, pp 127, 182-83 : "The Palas employed mercenary forces and certainly recruited horses from Kamboja (Ins B.8 V 13).</ref> Viradeva, a scholar appointed by him as the abbot of [[Nalanda]], is believed to be a native of [[Nagarahara]] (identified with modern-day [[Jalalabad]]).<ref name="Sailendra1999">{{cite book | author=Sailendra Nath Sen | year=1999 |orig-year=First published 1988 | title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA280 | edition=2nd | publisher=New Age International | pages=280– | isbn=978-81-224-1198-0}}</ref> This has led some scholars to speculate if Devapala indeed launched a military expedition to the present-day Afghanistan, during which he met Viradeva.<ref>{{cite book |author=H. C. Kar. |year=1980 |title=Military History of India |url=https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo0000karh |url-access=registration |location=Calcutta |publisher=Firma KLM |page=[https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo0000karh/page/88 88] |oclc=558393347}}</ref> But some historians believe that Devapala defeated the [[Arab]] rulers of the north west.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
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| == Religious leanings == | | == Religious leanings == |