The Deopara Prashasti is a stone inscription (''

prashasti ''Prashasti'' (IAST: Praśasti, Sanskrit for "praise") is an Indian genre of inscriptions composed by poets in praise of their rulers. Most date from the 6th century CE onwards. Written in the form of poetry or ornate prose, the ''prashastis'' s ...

'') eulogizing the

Sena Sena may refer to: Places * Sanandaj or Sena, city in northwestern Iran * Sena (state constituency), represented in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly * Sena, a Medieval Catalan exonym for Siena, Italy * Sena, Dashtestan, village in Bushehr P ...

kings of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. It was composed by Umapati Dhara, a minister in the court of

Lakshmana Sena Lokkhon Sen or Lakshmana Sena () was the ruler from the Sena dynasty of the Bengal region on the Indian subcontinent. His rule lasted for 28 years, in which his empire reached at its peak possessing the territories of Gauda, Kamrupa, Kalinga, ...

(c. 1178–1206), who was also one of several court poets. The inscription particularly praises Lakshmana Sena's grandfather

Vijaya Sena Vijaya Sena (''Bangla: বিজয় সেন''), also known as Vijay Sen in vernacular literature, was the son of Hemanta Sena, and the second ruler of the Sena dynasty. He conquered Bengal, fighting the kings of Gauda (city), Gauda, Kamarup ...

(c. 1095–1158). The

alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

is a precursor of the modern

Bengali alphabet The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet (, romanized: ''Bāṅlā bôrṇômālā'') is the standard writing system used to write the Bengali language, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. An estimated 300 million ...

, with 22 letters approximating the modern forms. available in Wikimedia Commons The stone tablet was found in 1865 near the village of Deopara, now in

Godagari Upazila Godagari Upazila () is an Upazila of Rajshahi District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. This is the place where Mahananda river fall to Padma or Ganges. History The Deopara Prashasti, an important inscription in Sanskrit poetry describi ...

Rajshahi District Rajshahi District () is a district in mid-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Rajshahi Division. The metropolitan city of Rajshahi is in Rajshahi District. Geography Rajshahi District is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore Distric ...

of modern-day Bangladesh. This inscription described that Sena king Bijay Sen is the real founder of the Sena Empire.

References

Sena dynasty {{Bangladesh-stub