Trailokyachandra

Trailokyachandra is considered to be the first independent king of the chandra dynasty of south-eastern Bengal (vanga and samatata). It is assumed that he ruled from c 900-930 AD. He was the son of Suvarnachandra.

No epigraphic evidence of the reign of Trailokyachandra has yet been discovered. Scholars, however, think that it was he who probably established the rule of the Chandra dynasty. Originally he was the feudal lord of Rohitagiri. In the copperplates of the later Chandra kings he has been described as the mainstay of the king of harikela. Perhaps he emerged from this position and rose to become the independent king of chandradvipa.

Trailokyachandra has generally been eulogised in almost all the copperplates of the Chandra kings. He established the sovereign rule of the dynasty in Samatata area with devaparvata as their centre of power and gradually spread it over Chandradvipa and parts of Vanga and assumed the title of maharajadhiraja. One of the verses in Srichandra's (c 930-975 AD) Paschimbhag plate records that Trailokyachandra captured Samatata. Probably, Devaparvata, the capital of the earlier Deva kings, was the springboard from which he gained power. It is also assumed that he captured Samatata with the army comprised of the people of this locality. The Mainamati copperplate of Ladahachandra mentions that Vanga was rising in prosperity during the reign of Trailokyachandra. The Dhaka copperplate of Kalyanchandra records that Trailokyachandra had defeated the ruler of gauda.

The ascendancy of Trailokyachandra in Samatata was in all probability contemporaneous with the rise of the Kambojas in western and northern Bengal within the Pala empire. [Aksadul Alam]