The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s2.25

v2.c16.s2.25

"All who take an interest in Indian antiquities," says Prinsep, "will at once see the value of the above record, perhaps the most curious that has yet been disclosed to us, and will lament the irretrievable obscurity in which the dilapidation of ages has involved the greater part of its contents."\∗22 As far as its contents can be made out, it affords a most interesting account of an ancient Indian prince who, rising from the body of the people, took possession of a large kingdom, and reigned with great success for a long period. That he was a usurper is perfectly clear from the fact of no mention having been made of his ancestors in a record put up ostensibly for his glorification. He wages war because he wishes to be a king; he wrests the kingdom from the royal dynasty of Kaliṅga, says his panegyrist; he repairs the palace, strengthens the fortifications, [ 27 ] places detachments of troops in those places where danger is most apprehended; he distributes largesses, digs tanks, entertains the people with public exhibitions of dancing and music, and wins the good will of the most influential section of the community, the priesthood, by attending to their comforts;—doing in all these just what a usurper would do to strengthen his position amidst a community whose allegiance he could not secure by the prestige and hallow of a long line of royal ancestry. It is true that the record does not in so many words say that he was a usurper, but this could not reasonably be expected from his encomiast. Prinsep thinks that he "wrested the Government from some usurper," but the inscription does not afford any reason to support this inference. Had that been the case, the writer of the record, instead of saying in ambiguous terms that he acquired the kingdom "in the third battle in the capital of the Kaliṅga royal dynasty," would have clearly pointed out the character of the person who was overthrown; nor would he have been so reticent about the parentage of his hero in a document in which he thinks it important that the juvenile pastimes and early elementary education of the youth should be recorded.