History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c11.2

Language: English

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The ancient history of Kaliṅga and Utkala begins, like that of all other provinces of ancient and mediæval India, with the references to it in Vedic and Epic literature. In the period of the earliest strata in the Vedic literature there is no reference to Kaliṅga, Utkala or Oḍra. It is in the second stage, the Brāhmaṇa period, that Kaliṅga, perhaps, makes its appearance for the first time on the stage of our political history. The earliest reference to Kaliṅga is perhaps to be found in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, though the statement is extremely doubtful. The first specific reference to this country, kingdom or nation is to be found in the Great Epic, Mahābhārata, as well as in the dynastic lists of Vedic kings as preserved in the Vamś-ānucharitas. Though incorporated in books compiled in their present form in the fifth or sixth centuries A.D., the dynastic lists of the Purāṇas contain historic material of the Vedic period as proved by Pargiter on many different occasions. The origin ascribed to the term Kaliṅga is mythical. It is said that the queen Sudeshṇā bore five sons to her husband, the Dānava King Bali, begotten on her by the sage Dīrghatamas according to the well-established Indian law of Levirate. These sons were named Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga, Puṇḍra and Suhma and the countries over which they ruled were named after them. According to the genealogies Pururavas, the son of Budha by the *Kimpurusha* Iḷā was the progenitor of the kings of Kaliṅga.

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The Kaliṅga kings were, therefore, Kshatriyas of the Lunar family. Kaliṅga, the original founder of the kingdom of that name, was a descendant of Titikshu, who belonged to the Ānava branch of the Ailas of Pratishṭhāna or Allahabad. Of the country itself we know, first of all, that Pṛithu, son of Veṇa, gave the country of Magadha to bards, called *Māgadhas* and *Sūtas* and Kaliṅga to the *Chāraṇas*.¹ It is stated that Mahapadma Nanda exterminated all Kshatriyas "and that until then there reigned contemporaneously for the same length of time 24 Aikshvākus, 27 Pāñchālas, 24 Kāśis, 28 Haihayas, 32 Kaliṅgas, 25 Āśmakas, 36 Kurus, 28 Maithilas, 23 Śūrasenas and 20 Vitihotras."² This statement proves that the claim of the kings of Kaliṅga to be regarded as Indo-Aryans is as old as the earliest kings of the Nanda dynasty. The neighbours of the kings of Kaliṅga were the Saudyumnas of Utkala. According to the Paurānic tradition Manu had ten sons, of whom the eldest was Iḷā. Iḷā entered the reed grove of Śiva and was cursed by Umā and became a female. In this stage Iḷā consorted with Budha, son of the Moon and Pururavas was born of this union. Then Śiva favoured him and he became alternately a man and a woman for one month. According to the second tradition Iḷā was a daughter of Manu and gave birth to Pururavas. Then she became a man named Sudyumna but on account of the same curse became a woman. He regained his manhood through Śiva's favour.

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Sudyumna had three sons, named Utkala, Gaya and Haritāśva or Vinatāśva. Manu is said to have divided the earth, that is India, among his nine sons, but into ten portions. "Some Purāṇas imply that Sudyumna had a portion, but others say he obtained none because he had been a woman. Nevertheless, the authorities generally declare, first, that he received the town of Pratiṣṭhāna and gave it to Pururavas; and secondly, that his three sons had territories of their own, thus Utkala had the Utkala country, Vinatāśva had a Western country, and Gaya had the city Gayā and the Eastern region; but according to two Purāṇas, Gaya had only the city Gayā, and Haritāśva had the Eastern region together with the Kurus, that is, the Northern Kurus."¹ After the Kurukshetra war Kalinga is mentioned among the kingdoms that continued in North-eastern India. "A list is given of the note-worthy kingdoms that continued to exist, viz., states in the eastern part of North India, Ayodhyā, Kāśī, the Maithilas (of Videha), Bārhadrathas (of Magadha, which probably included Aṅga), and Kalinga."² The positions of Utkala and Kalinga show that the kingdoms of the sons of Sudyumna and that of Kalinga, son of Bali, were conterminous. The descendants of Manu held (1) all the Panjab (except the N. W. Corner), comprising the kingdoms of Sindhu, Sauvīra, Kaikeya, Madra, Vāhlika, Śivi and Ambaṣṭha;

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and (2) all East Bihar, Bengal Proper (except the north and east) and Orissa, comprising the kingdoms of Aṅga, Vaṅga, Puṇḍra, Suhma and Kalinga.³ "The Sudyumnas were restricted to the hilly country between Gayā and Northern Orissa.⁴