History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c15.1

Language: English

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In the Gupta year 300-619 A. D., a king named Mādhavarāja II of the Śailodbhava family acknowledged the suzerainty of a Mahārājādhirāja Śaśāṅka. This was a problem presented to historians at the time of the discovery of the Ganjam plates, February 1900. The actual locality where these plates were found is not known to us. They lay in the office of the Collector of Ganjam till 1900 and were subsequently sent to the Government Central Museum, Madras. The special importance of this new inscription lay in the fact of its being dated and of the mention in it of Śaśāṅka, the celebrated adversary of the great Emperor Harshavardhana of Thanesar and Kanauj. The Śailodbhava dynasty to which Mādhavarāja II belonged was already known from the Buguda plates of Mādhavavarman, which is the earliest known inscription of this dynasty, discovered at Buguda in the Ghumsur Taluka of the Ganjam district. The inscription on these plates is not dated. According to it there was a person named Pulindasena, famous among the peoples of Kaliṅga. He did not covet sovereignty for himself but worshipped Brahman. Brahman granted his wish and created the Lord Śailodbhava, apparently out of a rock (Śilā), who became the founder of a distinguished family. In that family was born Raṇabhīta, whose son was Sainyabhīta ; in his family was born Yaśobhīta, whose son was Sainyabhīta II. The late Dr.

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Keilhorn at first supposed that king Mādhavavarman was the son of Sainyabhīta II, but later on when he published the fac-simile, he gave up this idea and acknowledged that Sainyabhīta II was the same person as Mādhavavarman.¹ The Ganjam plates of the Gupta year 300 supply us with a simpler genealogy by stating that the donor Mādhavarāja II was the son of Yaśobhīta and the grandson of Mādhavarāja I. The late Dr. Hultzsch was correct in stating that in the Buguda plates Sainyabhīta was a *biruda* of Mādhavarman.² No fac-similes of the Buguda plates were published at that time, but the late Dr. Hultzsch was of the opinion that the characters of the Buguda plates belong to a much later date than the Ganjam plates of 619 A. D. The Ganjam plates do not give the legend about the birth of Lord Śailodbhava but mention that Mādhavarāja II was born in the Śilodbhava family and that he was a subordinate chief (*Mahāsāmanta*) with the title of *Mahārāja*. The object of the inscription was to record the gift of the village of Chhavalakkhya in the district (*Vishaya*) of Krishnagiri in the year of the Guptas 300.³ The Buguda plates record the gift of the village of Puipina in Khadira-pāṭaka in the district (*Vishaya*) of Guḍḍā.⁴ In the Buguda plates it is stated that Mādhavarman-Sainyabhīta was in residence at Kaingoda. The Ganjam plates state that the order was issued from the victorious camp at Koṅgoda.

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A third inscription of the same dynasty was discovered at Khurda and a fourth at Parikud in the Puri district. We have, therefore, four inscriptions of this dynasty, two of which come from Southern Orissa or the Ganjam district and two others from Central Orissa or the Puri district. Out of these four inscriptions the Parikud plates of Madhyamarāja carry the genealogy of the Śailodbhava dynasty farthest. In this inscription also Pulindasena is stated as being famous among the peoples of Kaliṅga. The legend about the origin of the Lord Śailodbhava is mentioned and the genealogy, in its earlier part, is a close copy of that in the Buguda plates. In the family of Śailodbhava was born Raṇabhīta, his son was Sainyabhīta I and in his family was born Yaśobhīta; his son was Sainyabhīta II. Thus far the genealogy agrees with that of Buguda plates. The Parikud plates carry the genealogy two generations farther. Yaśobhīta II was the son of Sainyabhīta II and then came Madhyamarāja. The Parikud plates do not clearly indicate the relationship between Yaśobhīta II and Madhyamarāja. While Yaśobhīta II is stated to be the son (tanuja) of Sainyabhīta II, Madhyamarāja is simply stated to have ascended the throne of his father (Rājyam pituḥ prāhtavān). Madhyamarāja is stated as being born in the Śailodbhava family and to have performed the Aśvamedha and Vājapeya sacrifices.

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The grant mentions that in this Koṅgoda Maṇḍala, in the division (Bhukti) and district (Viṣaya) of Kaṭaka, the king granted a village the name of which has been lost. The grant was issued from Kaṭaka or Cuttack in the 26th year of the king’s reign and most probably in the 88th year of the Harsha era, i. e., 693 A. D. The learned South Indian Epigraphist for the Government of India, the late Rao Bahadur V. Venkayya, could not understand the system of dating in this inscription. He mistook the date to be 28 and stated :