Deva Dynasty was a Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 dynasty of early medieval Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

, ruled over eastern Bengal after the Sena dynasty

Sena dynasty

The Sena Empire was a Hindu dynasty that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. At its peak the empire covered much of the north-eastern region in the Indian Subcontinent. They were called Brahma-Kshatriyas, as evidenced through their surname, which is derived from the Sanskrit,...

. The capital of this dynasty was Bikrampur

Bikrampur

Bikrampur pargana is situated 12 miles south of Dhaka, the modern-day capital of Bangladesh. It lies in the Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal. The region is famous for its early Buddhist scholarships and in the later period for its cultural influences...

 in present-day Munshiganj District

Munshiganj District

Munshiganj also historically known as Bikrampur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division and borders Dhaka District.-Geography:...

 of Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. The end of this dynasty is not yet known.

This Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 Vaishnava dynasty is different from an earlier Buddhist Deva dynasty (c. 8th-9th century) of Samatata

Samatata

The Kingdom of Samatata was a kingdom in ancient Bengal, located at the mouth of the Brahmaputra river in the south east of Bengal. It was a vassal to the Gupta Empire....

, whose capital was Devaparvata. This earlier dynasty is now known in greater details from the Mainamati

Mainamati

Mainamati is located almost 8 miles from the town of Comilla, Bangladesh. It is the home of one of the most important Buddhist archaeological sites in the region. There are a number of Buddhist sites in this region, dating approximately from 7th to 12th centuries CE...

 excavations. Though a number of their inscriptions, coins and sealings were known earlier, the extent of their rule was actually revealed through the extraordinarily rich archaeological remains recovered from the undisturbed early levels of Mainamati. Four rulers of this dynasty are known from the inscriptions: Shantideva, Viradeva, Anandadeva and Bhavadeva.

Rulers

The major sources of the history of this dynasty are the three copperplate inscriptions of Damodaradeva issued in the Saka era 1156, 1158 and 1165, which were his 4th, 6th and 13th regnal years. The first three rulers are known from the Chittagong copperplate inscription of Damodaradeva dated Saka era 1165. The first ruler of this dynasty was Purushottamadeva, who rose from the position of a village-chief (gramani). His son Madhumathana or Madhusudanadeva was the first independent ruler of this dynasty, who assumed the title of Nripati. He was succeeded by his son Vasudeva and Vasudeva was succeeded by his son Damodaradeva. Damodaradeva (reigned 1231–1243) was the most powerful ruler of this dynasty. He took the title of Ariraja-Chanura-Madhava-Sakala-Bhupati-Chakravarti. The inscriptional evidences show that his kingdom was extended up to the present-day Comilla

Comilla District

The district of Comilla consists 4543 mosques, 379 temples, 98 churches, 34 Buddhist temples and six tombs.-Places of interest:Important landmarks include Kotbari, a cantonment, or military installation and Kandirpar, considered the heart of the Comilla district...

-Noakhali

Noakhali District

Noakhali is a district in South-eastern Bangladesh. It is located in the Chittagong Division.-Geography:Noakhali District located in Chittagong Division, Bangladesh...

-Chittagong

Chittagong District

Chittagong District is a district located in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. The port city of Chittagong, second largest city in Bangladesh, is located in this district.-History:...

 region. A later ruler of this dynasty Ariraja-Danuja-Madhava Dasharathadeva extended his kingdom up to Bikrampur

Bikrampur

Bikrampur pargana is situated 12 miles south of Dhaka, the modern-day capital of Bangladesh. It lies in the Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal. The region is famous for its early Buddhist scholarships and in the later period for its cultural influences...

 and made it his capital. He issued an inscription from here. Yahya bin Ahmad in his Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi mentioned that he (referred as Danuj Rai of Sonargaon by Yahya) made an alliance with Ghiyas-ud-Din Balban

Ghiyas ud din Balban

Ghiyasuddin Balban was ninth sultan of the Mamluk dynasty who ruled from 1266 to 1287.-Biography:He was son of a Central Asian Turkic noble of the Ilbari tribe, but as a child he was captured by Mongols and sold as a slave at Ghazni...

 in 1281.