Raja Ganesha - Identification With Danujamardanadeva

Identification With Danujamardanadeva

In 1922, a modern scholar, Nalini Kanta Bhattasali assumed in his Coins and Chronology of the Early Independent Sultans of Bengal, that, Danujamardanadeva, who issued silver coins in Saka era 1339-40 (1416–18) from Suvarnagrama, Pandunagara and Chatigrama with the Sanskrit legend, Shri Chandi Charana Parayana (devoted to the feet of Goddess Chandi) in Bengali script on the reverse, is actually a title of Raja Ganesha. He also assumed that Mahendradeva was the title assumed by the son of Raja Ganesha after his reconversion to Hinduism and before his second conversion to Islam. But his view is not accepted by all. A number of scholars, which include Jadunath Sarkar, who favour the identification of Raja Ganesha with Danujamardanadeva believe that after the death of Raja Ganesha, the Hindu party in the court raised his second son to the throne under the title Mahendradeva, who was soon ousted by his elder brother Jalal-ud-Din. But Ahmad Hasan Dani regarded Danujamardanadeva and Mahendradeva as the local chiefs in East and South Bengal who asserted independence during troubles caused by the capture of power by Raja Ganesha and the invasions of Ibrahim Shah Sharqi. He, on the basis of the testimony of later oral and literary sources, identified Danujamardanadeva and Mahendradeva as the descendants of the Deva dynasty kings of Chandradvipa (the present-day Barisal district). Another modern scholar, Richard Eaton supported his view and identified the mint town Pandunagara with Chhota Pandua in the present-day Hooghly district. However, Vaishnava tradition of Bengal too hold Raja Ganesh as taking the title upon accession to throne.