1 Drachm - Palas of Bengal

The Pala dynasty ruled Bengal and Bihar for roughly four centuries, functioning as the last major Buddhist imperial power on the subcontinent before the Ghaznavid and later Ghori incursions dismantled the region's monastic economy entirely. Their silver coinage was tied closely to the patronage network sustaining Nalanda and Vikramashila — the great Buddhist universities whose upkeep required reliable bullion circulation across a wide trade corridor stretching into Southeast Asia.

Attribution within the series remains genuinely difficult. Lacking regnal inscriptions on many issues, scholars assign specimens to specific rulers primarily through hoard context and epigraphy from contemporaneous copper plates.