A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient
Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas stood
out: Vikramashila, the
premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still
illustrious; Somapura Mahavihara; Odantapurā; and Jaggadala. The monasteries formed a network;
"all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a
system of co-ordination among them ... it seems from the evidence that the
different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the
Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of
institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from
position to position among them.
The excavation at Paharpur, and the finding of seals bearing
the inscription Shri-Somapure-Shri-Dharmapaladeva-Mahavihariyarya-bhiksu-sangghasya,
has identified the Somapura Mahavihara as built by the second Pala king Dharmapala (circa 781–821)
of Pāla Dynasty. Tibetan sources, including Tibetan
translations of Dharmakayavidhi and Madhyamaka Ratnapradipa, Taranatha's history and Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang,
mention that Dharmapala's successor Devapala (circa 810–850)
built it after his conquest of Varendra. The Paharpur pillar inscription
bears the mention of 5th regnal year of Devapala's successor Mahendrapala (circa 850–854)
along with the name of Bhiksu Ajayagarbha. Taranatha's Pag Sam Jon Zang records
that the monastery was repaired during the reign of Mahipala(circa 995–1043 AD).
The Nalanda inscription of Vipulashrimitra records that the
monastery was destroyed by fire, which also killed Vipulashrimitra's ancestor
Karunashrimitra, during a conquest by the Vanga army in the 11th century.
Over time Atish's spiritual preceptor, Ratnakara Shanti,
served as a sthavira of
the vihara, Mahapanditacharya Bodhibhadra served as a resident monk, and other
scholars spent part of their lives at the monastery, including Kalamahapada,
Viryendra and Karunashrimitra. Many Tibetan monks visited the
Somapura between the 9th and 12th centuries.
During the rule of the Sena dynasty, known as Karnatadeshatagata
Brahmaksatriya, in the second half of the 12th century the vihara started to
decline for the last time. One scholar writes, "The
ruins of the temple and monasteries at Pāhāpur do not bear any evident marks of
large-scale destruction. The downfall of the establishment, by desertion or
destruction, must have been sometime in the midst of the widespread unrest and
displacement of population consequent on the Muslim invasion."
A copperplate dated to 159 Gupta Era (479 AD) discovered in
1927 in the northeast corner of the monastery, mentions donation of a Brahmin
couple to Jain Acharya Guhanandi of Pancha-stupa Nikaya at Vata Gohli, identifiable as the
neighbouring village of Goalapara.
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