The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.23

v2.c17.23

**Capital of Orissa at the time of Hiouen Thsang** :—Hiouen Thsang visited Orissa between 634 and 640, during the reign of Lalāṭendra Keśarī, who flourished from 623 to 677 in Bhuvaneśvara, where the remains of his palace are still shown; but it does not seem that the pilgrim ever came to that town. The circumference of the capital at the time, he says, was 20 *li*,¹⁰ which would give a square of about a mile a side, or somewhat less than half the present area of Bhuvaneśvara and it is very unlikely that that place was smaller when it was a capital than what it is now. The distance and direction of the capital from Tāmralipti as given in the biography of the pilgrim are also against the assumption. The former was 700 *li*, and the latter southwest, which would bring him to Jājapura and not to Bhuvaneśvara, and as that was the capital of Yajāti Keśarī and possibly of his son for at least a time, General Cunningham very correctly assumes it to have been the place meant.¹¹ After describing the general character of the kingdom as quoted in a preceding part of this work (*Vol. I* p. [7]) Hiouen Thsang says : "Au milieu d'une, grande montagne, qui est situee sur les frontieres sud-ouest du royaume, śéléve un couvent appelé *Pou-se po-k'i li-seng-kia-lan* (Pouchpāgiri sanghārāma). Il renferme un *Stoupa* en pierre ou éclatant beaucoup de prodiges. Quelquefois, aux jours de jeune, il répand une lueur éclatante. C'est pourquoi les hommes qu'anime une foi pure y accourent de tous cotés. Ils tiennent de parasols ornés de plus belles fleurs, et présentant á l'envi leurs offrandes. Si, au bas di bassin qui recoit la rosée, et sur la coupole, qui a la forme dun vase renversé, ils placent la hampe dun parasol orné de fleurs, elle y reste fixée comme une aiguille attirée par l'aimant. Dans un couvent situé sur une montagne, au nord-ouest de cet endroit, il y a un *Stoupa* qui offre les memes merveilles que le pré cédent. Ces deux *Stoupas* ont été batis par les démons, et de lá viennent ces miracles extraordinaires.”¹² General Cunningham takes the two mountains here referred to to be the Udayagiri and the Khaṇḍagiri; but as the pilgrim or his translator uses the words “frontieres de royaume,” the proper locale for the first mountain should be somewhere in Daspālā, or Nayāghar, and the second in Maurbhanj near Kiraṇa Suvarṇa. If we could assume the *royaume* to be a mistranslation of *capital*, and that capital to have been Bhuvaneśvara, the first would be Dhauli, which is situated to the south-west and the second Khaṇḍagiri and Udayagiri, both of which are to the north-west of that city. The distance and direction given being, however, in favour of Jājapura, this assumption cannot be adopted.