The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s3.t2.63

v2.c16.s3.t2.63

The Uriyās have a disgusting story, taken from the *Mādlā Pañji*, current among them, to account for the origin of the tank, which has thus been narrated by Major Kittoe: "Mahārājā Adhirājā Gaṅgeśvara Deva, having become enamoured of his daughter (by name) Kośalā, sought to attain his object, by the following stratagem. Having assembled the priests and other learned men of his court, he questioned them as to whether it was lawful for a man to enjoy the fruit of his own sowing? Unaware of the real purport of the question, an affirmative answer, such as the Rājā wished, to suit his conscience, was given. After a time the princess being delivered of a son, the Rājā was taken to task for his infamy; but he, on the other hand, threw the blame upon those whose counsel he had sought, reminding them of their answer to the question by which he had deceived them. The Brāhmaṇs, in atonement of the sin they had apparently been the cause of, ordained that a golden vase with a small perforation at the bottom should be placed (filled with water) on the head of the offspring who was to be led by his mother round a space of ground as much as they could travel over until the whole of the water should be expended, and that a tank should afterwards be excavated comprising such space; this mandate was obeyed, and the tank (when finished) called 'Kośalā Gaṅg’ after the Rājā Gaṅgeśvara and his daughter Kośalā.” There is nothing in the history of the later Rājās of Orissa to make the story improbable, and the authority of the *Mādla Pañji*—“the chronicles of the Puri Temple” may, in such a matter, be accepted as reliable. Had there been any doubt as to its authenticity, the story would not have found a place in the chronicles which were recorded by men in the pay of the Rājā and under his immediate control.