Sena dynasty

The Sena dynasty, a Hindu line of Bengal, succeeded the Pala Empire and ruled much of the eastern Indian subcontinent during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Its founder Samanta Sena was, by the copper-plate epics, a Brahmin of Karnataka who took the profession of arms; the Senas served the Palas as feudatories in the Radha country before their own rise. Hemanta Sena usurped power and called himself king in 1095. Vijaya Sena reigned more than sixty years and laid the foundations of the state, adding Vanga and part of Varendra to the heritage. Ballala Sena took the old Pala capital Gaur and became master of the Bengal delta, making Nadia his capital, and married a Chalukya princess, keeping in touch with the Deccan. Lakshmana Sena succeeded in 1179 and pushed the dynasty as far as Odisha, and perhaps to Varanasi, but the end came quickly: in 1203 and 1204 the Ghurid general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, a commander of Qutbuddin Aibak, took Nadia in a surprise march, and the Senas survived only eastwards in the old provinces.