WBCS Preliminary Examination 2021 — General Studies · Question 36 of 200

Answer: (B) Dharmapala

Vikramashila Mahavihara, at Antichak in Bhagalpur district of Bihar, was founded by the Pala king Dharmapala (c. 770-810 CE), who also founded Somapura Mahavihara (Paharpur, now in Bangladesh). It became a great centre of Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism - Atisha Dipankara Srijnana was its most famous scholar - and was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1203. Devapala, Dharmapala's son, extended the empire and patronised Nalanda; Ramapala revived Pala power after the Kaivarta revolt; Sasanka was the 7th-century king of Gauda (capital Karnasuvarna) and a rival of Harsha.