History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c15.20

v1.c15.20

Whatever be the real origin of Śaśāṅka, there is no doubt about the fact that eventually he was driven out of Karṇasuvarṇa. It is quite possible that this event had taken place before the date of the Ganjam plates and that time he had lost his possessions in Bengal and was the master of Orissa only. His conquest of Orissa was undoubtedly real and the adherence to his cause of the Śailodbhava chiefs was so strong that long after Śaśāṅka’s death, Harsha had to undertake another campaign in the Koṅgoda Maṇḍala.² Some modern writers are distinctly wrong when they state that Orissa was included in the Empire of Harsha.³ Even towards the end of his reign Harsha had to spend a long time in Orissa,¹ because not only was Mādhavarāja II or his successor hostile to him but the great Emperor Pulikeśin II of the Early Chālukya dynasty of Badami was approaching north-wards along the Eastern coast. Harsha's last campaign in Koṅgoda was directed more against the Chālukyas than the Śailodbhavas. Already before 634 A. D., Pulikeśin II had conquered Southern Kośala and Kaliṅga.² Even after Harsha's last campaign in Koṅgoda and Orissa, the Śailodbhavas remained independent. No king of that dynasty ever acknowledged the suzerainty of the great Emperor of Thanesar. While the Ganjam plates of Mādhavarāja II show that the Śailodbhava king was the vassal of Śaśāṅka, the Khurda plates prove definitely that he had become independent. Mādhavarāja II must have declared his independence after the death of Śaśāṅka, and the characters of the Khurda grant prove the identity of its grantor with that of the Ganjam plates. The characters of the Parikud plates are very closely allied to those of the Khurda and the Ganjam plates, showing that Madhyamarāja was the grandson of Mādhavarāja II. The characters of the Buguda plates still offer very great difficulties. They are certainly later than those of the Parikud plates but the arrangement and even the exact wording of the genealogy show that the writer intended Mādhavavarman Sainyabhīta II to be the same as Sainyabhīta II, the father of Yaśobhīta II and the grandfather of Madhyamarāja of the Parikud plates. We must wait for fresh evidence before we finally agree about the identity of the grantors of the Ganjam, Khurda and Buguda plates. The Parikud plates of Madhyamarāja prove that Harsha was not able to destroy the Śailodbhavas and that the descendants of Mādhavarāja II continued to rule in Koṅgoda.