Gopala (ruled 750 – 770 CE) was the founder of the Pala Dynasty of Bengal. The last morpheme of his name Pala means "protector" and was used as an ending for the names of all the Pala monarchs. Pala does not suggest or indicate any ethnic or caste considerations of the Pala dynasty.He came to power in 750 CE in Gaur by first Democratic election in South Asia.

Gopala was the first independent Buddhist king of Bengal and came to power in 750 CE in Gaur by first Democratic election in South Asia as per evidence furnished by Taranatha. After the death of Gauda ruler Sasanka, there ensued a century of anarchy and confusion in Bengal. Tired of ceaseless political chaos and anarchy (known as matsyanyaya), the various independent chieftains of Bengal, in 750 CE, selected a person named Gopala to put an end to this sorry state of affairs. Gopala was already a leading military general and had made a mark as a great ruler. In the Khalimpur copper plate inscription (dated 32nd regnal year of Dharmapala) Gopala's father Vapyata is described as a noted military chief of his time and his grandfather Dayita Vishnu is described as a learned man of no military distinctions.

Shriya Saran (Hindi: श्रिया सरन, Śriyā Saran ^?; born 11 September 1982), also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada. Saran made her film debut in 2001 with the Telugu film Ishtam, and had her first commercial success with Santhosham (2002). She subsequently appeared in several more Telugu films, while making in-roads in the Hindi and Tamil film industries.

In 2007, Saran starred in Sivaji: The Boss, the highest grossing Tamil film at that time. She also gained critical acclaim for her role in the 2007 Bollywood film Awarapan. In 2008, Saran played the lead role in her first English film, the American-Indian co-production The Other End of the Line. Her following projects included popular films such as Kanthaswamy (2009) in Tamil, and Pokkiri Raja (2010) in Malayalam, her roles in which have established her as one of the leading actresses in the South Indian film industries.

Jai Uttal (Hindi: जय उत्तल) is an American musician and singer-songwriter born in New York City. Often performing with his "Pagan Love Orchestra," Jai's music is influenced by his R&B roots of the 1960s and '70s and by traditional Indian music, which he first became familiar with at age 19.

When he was 19, Jai moved to California to become a student of sarod player Ali Akbar Khan for traditional voice training and to learn the sarod, a 25-stringed Indian instrument. Later he traveled to India where he studied yoga under Neem Karoli Baba. He was also deeply inspired by the Bauls, the wandering street musicians of Bengal. Jai settled among them, communicating only through music, which ultimately helped establish his unique style¹.

While some of Jai's music is used in the practice of yoga², it is not all meditative; his 1990s records also used elements of jazz, reggae and rock and often featured powerful horn arrangements by Peter Apfelbaum. In addition to Baul influences (particularly in the lyrical realm), elements of his music are strongly influenced by kirtan, and bhajan.