The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.15

v2.c17.15

**Earliest mention in the Temple Records :—**The earliest mention of Bhuvaneśvara in the Temple Records of Puri occurs in connexion with the reign of Yajāti, the first of the Cæsars⁴ of Orissa, who held the sceptre of that country for fifty-two years, from 474 to 526 of the Christian era. He was a sovereign of great renown, and rose to power by expelling the so-called *Jabans* who are said to have occupied Orissa for one hundred and forty-three years before him. Sterling⁵ and Dr. Hunter⁶ are of opinion that by *Jabans* the Records mean Buddhists, and I have no hesitation in subscribing to the conclusion. The fact, however, is that the Buddhists, instead of occupying Orissa for one hundred and forty-three years before the accession of Yajāti Keśarī, had maintained their sovereignty in that province for several centuries anterior to that period; but it not being to the interest of the Brāhmaṇical writers of the Temple Records to make the admission, the time has been limited to a short period only and a long period prior to it, filled up with imaginary names. "Before the accession of the family called the Keśari Vaṅsa, (473 A.D.)," says Sterling, "the accounts are so replete with obvious falsehood, contradiction, inconsistency, and anachronism as to be equally unintelligible and unworthy of notice. The memory of a few great names and events, only, has been preserved up to the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian era, and to adapt these to their favourite system of chronology, the Brāhmaṇs, who will never admit want of information on any subject, have been obliged to give an expansion to the reigns of their traditionary Rājās, in some cases of five and six hundred years, and in all far beyond the natural or possible term of human life."⁷