History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19: Chapter XII. The Bhañja Dynasties

History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19

Language: English

v1.c19.22 — 5 parts
v1.c19.42 — 4 parts
v1.c19.48 — 5 parts
v1.c19.s1 Genealogical Table of Bhañja Kings — 21 parts

Chapter XII. The Bhañja Dynasties

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The Bhañjas of Orissa are undoubtedly the oldest representatives of the Royal dynasties of Ancient Orissa. They are much older than the Gaṅgas or the Somavaṁśis and as such the modern States ruled over by them are far more important for the study of the ancient and mediæval history of that country than any of their neighbours. The present Chiefs of Mayurabhañja claim descent from the Kachhvāhā clan of Rajputs, because when the Mughals conquered Orissa, the people of Orissa found that the Rajputs were the principal Hindu nobles in the Mughal Empire and it became a fashion in Orissa to claim Rajput origin. Even dynasties which were ancient when the Hūṇas were being civilised into Rajputs, began to claim Rajput descent. Thus we find the Vizianagram House claiming to be descended from Rajputs in 591 A. D., a period when the very name Rajput was unknown in India. Following this fashion the Bhañjas of Orissa began to claim Rajput descent forgetting the fact that their ancestors were great kings in their own country when the Pratīhāras and Chāhamānas were uncouth barbarians. Therefore, we find in the Gazetteer of the Feudatory States of Orissa that, “the Mayurbhañj State was founded some 1300 years ago by one Jai Singh, who was a relative of the Raja of Jaipur in Rajputana. Jai Singh came on a visit to the shrine of Jagannāth at Puri and married a daughter of the then Gajapati Raja of Orissa and received Hariharpur as a dowry. Of his sons, the eldest, Adi Singh, held the *gadi* of the Mayurbhanj State. The annals of the Mayurbhanj Raj family, however, say that Jai Singh came to Puri with his two sons, Adi Singh and Jati Singh, the elder of whom was married to a daughter of the Puri Raja.

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"When returning home Jai Singh conquered Raja Mayuradhwaja, then holding the *gadi* of Bamanghati. In the vernacular almanac written annually in the Mayurbhanj State, this Bamanghati is regarded ever since that period as the original place of residence of the Raj family, and the State is called after Mayuradhwaja. In every State-seal the design of a peacock was introduced as a family distinction. According to family tradition, the limits of the State of Mayurbhanj from the year 1538 A. D. up to the year 1831 extended to Bhanjbhum and Khelor *parganas* in the north; to the Balasore district in the east; to the Nilgiri State in the south-east; to the Baitarani river in the south, and Porahat and Dhalbhum Raj in the west."¹

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¹ *Bengal Gazetteers. Feudatory States of Orissa, Calcutta, 1910.* p. 239.

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The fallacy of this statement has been proved by more than one writer. Mr. B. C. Mazumdar stated in 1925 that the Bhanjas of the present day Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Baud are in no way related to or connected with the early Bhanjas who founded the State of Mayurbhanj.² He points out clearly that the dates recorded in the family annals are absurd as Man Singh’s expedition or rather that of his son, Jagat Singh, did not take place before 1589.

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² *Orissa in the Making, p. 119.*

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Mr. B. C. Mazumdar did not observe that the present town of Jaipur was founded by Mahārāja Sawai Jai Singh II during the reign of the Emperor Muḥammad Shāh (1719-48) and Amber was not the capital of the Kachhvāhās till the 14th century, when they were known as the kings of Dhundhar or even Gopadri or Gwalior. He believes that like the so-called Chauhān or Chāhamāna Chiefs of the Patna-Sambalpur-Sonpur group, the present Bhañjas were new-comers in Orissa in the 16th century A. D. There was no Man Singh in Rajputana thirteen centuries ago and it is extremely doubtful whether the Kachchhapaghāta or the Kachhvāhā Rajputs existed as a separate clan in 610 A. D. Therefore, this genealogy of the present-day Bhañjas must be regarded to be as fictitious as that of the Chauhāns of the Patna-Sambalpur-Sonpur group.

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Forgetful of their ancient past the modern Bhañjas employed some extremely ignorant person to carve out a Rajput genealogy for them in the 17th or the 18th century. From epigraphical and historical documents it can be proved that the Bhañja rulers occupied and ruled over parts of Orissa, almost in unbroken succession, till our times, and at the end of the examination of the documents relating to them one must come to the only possible conclusion, that the present Bhañjas are lineal descendants of the ancient Bhañjas.

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¹ *Bengal Gazetteers. Feudatory States of Orissa, Calcutta, 1910. p. 239.*

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² *Orissa in the Making, p. 119.*

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The Bhañjas came to the forefront for the first time in the beginning of the 9th century. The earliest known Bhañja Chief is Neṭṭabhañja I, who lived in the 8th century and is known only from one landgrant recently discovered in the Baudh State. There is no genealogy of the donor in this inscription and the legend of the birth of the ancestor from an egg is also omitted. By his charter king Neṭṭabhañja granted a field called Stamvakāra lauṇḍaka, in the district (vishaya) of Tulāśṛiṅga, to a Brāhmaṇa named Mādhavasvāmin of the Vājasaneya caraṇa of the Yajurveda, and the Kāṇva-Parāśara gotra for the merit of (his) deceased queen, Vāsaṭa, on Thursday the third tithi of the dark half of Kārttika of the 18th year of his reign. The next king of the Bhañja dynasty was most probably, Śatrubhañja, who is known to us from several landgrants, but it is also possible that his father Śīlabhañja I was also a king. A village called Śīlabhañja-pāṭi is mentioned as the place of residence of the donee of a Somavaṁśī grant.¹ The earliest inscription of this king is not dated and was discovered some time before 1898 in the State of Sonpur. According to this charter, Śatrubhañja was the son of Śīlabhañja. He was born of the family produced out of an egg (Aṇḍajavaṁśa-prabhava) and the only title used is Parama-vaishṇava. The charter records the grant of a piece of land called Milupadi in the district of Royarā to a Brāhmaṇa named Kṛishṇa of the Kāśyapa gotra who was an immigrant from the village of Ālāpa and belonged to the Sāmaveda. It was sealed with the Royal Seal by Śivanāga, son of Pāṇḍi.² Among the places mentioned, the name of the district, Royarā, is perhaps the same as that in the Sonpur State.³ The next inscription of Śatrubhañja was discovered in April 1916 in the village of Kumurukelā in the same State. The charter was issued on the 12th day of the bright half of the month of Kārttika of the 18th year of the reign of Śatrubhañja, and it records the grant of the villages of Jaintāmurā and Kumurukelā situated in the Uttarapallī to a Brāhmaṇa named Manoratha of the Kāśyapa *Gotra* and the Bahvṛcha *Charaṇa* who was an immigrant from Vaṅgakūṭi and an inhabitant of Gandhaṭāpaṭi.¹ In this record Śīlabhañja is not mentioned but another person named Angaṭi (perhaps Angaṭṭi) is brought in as the ancestor of the king. The mention of the name Gandhaṭāpaṭi as the name of a village in this inscription and of Gandhaṭa as the remote ancestor of Raṇabhañja I in the Baudh plates of the year 54 proves that Gandhaṭa was one of the remote ancestors of Śatrubhañja. The undated Sonpur plates show that the order was addressed to the officers of the *Maṇḍala* of both the Khiñjalis (*Ubhaya-Khiñjali-Maṇḍala*) but the Kumurukelā plates contain an order addressed to the officers of the *Maṇḍala* of Khiñjali. Both records were issued from the city of Dhṛtipura. A new record of Śatrubhañja has been discovered in Tekkali. This inscription, which is dated, contains the names of the father and grandfather of Śīlabhañja I. The legend about the birth of the ancestor from an egg is omitted in this record. By this charter Śatrubhañja, son of Śīlabhañja I, grandson of Pallagambhira and great-grandson of Yathā-sukha, granted the village of Kantamulla in the district (*vishaya*) of Salvadda to two Brāhmaṇas of the Vasishṭha *gotra* named Vishṇusvamin and Nārāyaṇaswāmin. The charter is dated [V. S.] 800 Kārātika Sudi 8 or October 744 A.D.

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¹ Epi. Ind. Vol. III, p. 354.

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² Ibid., Vol. XI. pp. 98-101.

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³ Ibid., Vol. XVIII, p. 200.

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¹ *Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society*, Vol. II, 1916, pp. 429-35.

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Rani Nur Gumpha—Right Half of the central wing and the right wing—Udaygiri

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Though Śīlabhañja I is mentioned in two only of the three charters of his son Śatrubhañja, he is known to us from many inscriptions of his grandson Raṇabhañja I. Thus he is mentioned in the Singhara plates of Raṇabhañja I of the regnal year, 9, in the Baudh unpublished plates of the same king of the regnal year 28, and the Chakardharpur plates of this king of the regnal year 24. The birth of the ancestor of the dynasty from an egg is mentioned in two grants only but this account is further elaborated in the inscriptions of his successors. The mention of the legend shows that the legend of the birth of the founder of the dynasty from the egg of a pea-hen was very well-known even at that time. Nothing is known of the manner in which Śatrubhañja acquired independence. The fact that he presumed to issue grants of land even though he dared not assume royal titles openly shows that he was merely a rebellious vassal of the Kara Kings who had usurped royal functions. From the fact that he is mentioned as being in possession of both the Khiñjalīs shows that he ruled over both banks of the Mahānadī. His son and probably his immediate successor, Raṇabhañja I, gradually assumed independence. Śatrubhañja is styled a Rāṇaka in his charter of the 15th year of his reign but is called simply a devout worshipper of Viṣṇu in the earlier inscriptions. His son, Raṇabhañja I,¹ gradually rose from the rank of a Rāṇaka to that of a Mahārāja.

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Raṇabhañja I was a Rāṇaka in the 9th year of his reign when the Singhara plates were issued. This charter contains the names of Śīlabhañja and Śatrubhañja as the ancestors of the donor, who is called the master of both the Khiñjalis, who had obtained the five great sounds and whose feet were worshipped by the great feudatories (Mahāsāmantas). It was issued from the city of Dhṛitipura and it mentions the dynasty as being founded by a person produced out of an egg. It records the grant of the village of Singhara-Mahallopi in the Dakṣiṇa-palli Bhogi-Khaṇḍa of the Khiñjali Maṇḍala, situated on the banks of the river Vyāghra to a Brāhmaṇa named Vihe of the Kāśyapa gotra, of the Yajur-veda, an inhabitant of Gandhaṭapāṭi who had emigrated from the village of Bhadrapalāśi in the country of Magadha (Magaha) in the 9th year of the king’s reign. The inscription was incised by the goldsmith and merchant, Padmanābha, son of Pāṇḍi. In this inscription Raṇabhañja I is called the devout worshipper of the goddess Stambheśvarī and of Śiva.¹ The next known inscription is the Ṭasapāikerā grant. In this inscription the only ancestor of Raṇabhañja I mentioned is Śatrubhañja. In this record also we find the king mentioned as the lord of both the Khiñjalis, Rāṇaka, a devout worshipper of Viṣṇu, born of the family produced from an egg and one who has obtained the five great sounds as well as the favour of the goddess Stambheśvarī.

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The charter records the grant of the village of Ṭasapāikerā on the river Mahānadī in the Uttarapalli division. The king is called the Lord of both Khiñjalis. The donee was Śrīdhara, a Brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja gotra, an inhabitant of the village of Kāmāri, who belonged to the Mādhyandina branch of the Yajur-veda and who was an immigrant from Bhaṭa Nirola. The grant was issued in the sixteenth year of the king’s reign on the 6th day of an unspecified month. It was engraved by the goldsmith Śivanāga, son of Pāṇḍi.¹ The Chakardharpur plates of the same king were issued in the 24th year. They were discovered in the village of Chakardharpur in the State of Daspalla. In this inscription Śīlabhañja I is mentioned as the grandfather and Śatrubhañja as the father of Raṇabhañja I. The charter was issued from Dhṛtipura and in it Raṇabhañja I is mentioned as the Lord of both the Khiñjalīs, one who has obtained the five great sounds, the boon of the goddess Stambheśvarī, born of the family produced out of an egg, the devout Vaiṣṇava and Rāṇaka. It records the grant of the village of Tuleṇḍā in the district (Vishaya) of Tullāsiṅgā in the Maṇḍala of Khiñjalī to Padmākara of the Kṛṣṇ-ātreya gotra and of the Chhandoga Charaṇa and the Kauthuma Śākhā of the Sāmaveda, who was an immigrant from the village of Pechipāṭaka in the Maṇḍala of Varendrī (Northern Bengal) and an inhabitant of Burallā.

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The inscription was incised by the merchant and goldsmith Śivanāga, son of Pāṇḍi.² In the Baudh plates of the year 26th Raṇabhañja I is mentioned as the son of Śatrubhañja, master of both the Khiñjalīs, one who has obtained the five great sounds, who was saluted by the great Sāmantas, one who had obtained the favour of the goddess Stambheśvarī and Rāṇaka. The charter was issued from Dhṛtipura and records the grant of a piece of land to the south of the river Mahānadī and east of the river Śalaṅkī named Ballāśṛṅga in the Khātia district (Vishaya) of the Khiñjali Maṇḍala, to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭṭaputra Dāmodara of the Maudgalya gotra and the Kāṇva Śākhā of the Vājasaneya caraṇa of the Yajur-veda, who was an emigrant from the Bhaṭṭa village of Khaduvāpali in the Middle country (Madhya-deśa), on the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Mārgaśirsha of the year 26 of the reign. After the death of the donee the grant was given to his son Chhadoka. The charter was written by the merchant and goldsmith, Sivanāga, son of Pāṇḍi.¹ The village of Vallāśṛiṅgā has been identified with Bālāsiṅgā about two miles from Baudh and situated on the confluence of the rivers Sālki and Mahānadī, and the district of Khātiā with the pargana of Machhiakhaṇḍa of the Baudh State.² A new charter of Raṇabhañja I was discovered in the State of Baudh in 1915 and sent by the Political Agent of the Orissa Feudatory States.

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A summary of the contents of the inscription was published by the late Rai Bahadur H. Kṛishṇa Śāstri in the annual report of the Archæological Survey of India, Eastern Circle, for the year 1916-17, (p. 4, para. 5). The charter gives the names of Śilābhañja and Śatrubhañja as the grandfather and father of Raṇabhañja I. The object of this charter is to record the grant of the village of Vāhiravāḍā on the banks of the Mahānadī and included in the Dakshiṇapali district of the Khiñjali Maṇḍala to the god Vijayeśvara by the Mahādevi Vijyā or Vidyā, the daughter of the Rāṇaka Niyārṇama. Raṇabhañja I is called the devout worshipper of Vishṇu, born in the family produced from an egg, Lord of both the Khiñjalis, one who had obtained the five great sounds and the favour of the goddess Stambheśvarī, whose feet were worshipped by the great Sāmantas and Rāṇakas. The actual donor of the plates is the *Parameśvarī Mahādevī* Vijayā (Vidyā or Vijayā) the daughter of the Rāṇaka Niyārṇama, who is evidently the principal queen of Raṇabhañja I. The date of this inscription is expressed in the form of a curious chronogram *Indu-Vāk-Viṁśati-Varshe* which would ordinarily mean the year 2011 of some era. But evidently the writer meant *Vāk* to mean 1 and to add it with *Indu*, 1, to twenty, thus making twenty-two. This charter was also engraved by the merchant and goldsmith Śivanāga, son of Paṇḍi.¹

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¹ I have discussed the necessity of calling Raṇabhañja, son of Śatrubhañja, Raṇabhañja I, in my paper on the Baudh plates of Kanakabhañja *Ibid.*, *Vol.* XIV, 1928.

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¹ Ibid., Vol. VI, 1920, pp. 481-86.

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¹ Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. II, 1916 pp. 167-77.

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² Ibid., Vol. VI, 1920, pp. 266-74.

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. XII, pp. 326-28.

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² Ibid., Vol. XVIII, p. 300.

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¹ This inscription is being published in the Epigraphia Indica.

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The last known inscription of Raṇabhañja I in which Śīlabhañja I and Śatrubhañja are mentioned is an undated record recently discovered in the Baudh State. In this grant also the King is styled a Rāṇaka, one who has obtained the five great sounds and the favour of the goddess, Stambheśvarī, and who was born in the family produced from an egg. By this charter the King granted the village of Amvasārī in the Dakṣiṇapali, the *khaṇḍa* of Śivara, of the *Maṇḍala* of Khiñjali to a Brāhmaṇa named Devahara, who had emigrated from the middle country and was an inhabitant of the village of Hṛiṣipadraka, who belonged to the Kāṇva *gotra*, the Aśvalāyana *Śakhā* and the Vahvṛicha *caraṇa* [of the Ṛig-veda]. The charter was written by Padmanābha, son of the merchant Pāṇḍi, an inhabitant of Gandhaṭapāṭi, who also composed the grant of the year 9 of the same king. This grant was also issued from Dhṛitipura. The last but one charter of Raṇabhañja I was issued from Dhṛitipura in the year 54 of his reign. In this inscription the only ancestor of the king mentioned is Gandhaṭa, who gave the name Gandhaṭa-pāṭi to the village mentioned above. For the first time Raṇabhañja I is styled Mahārāja in this record in which all other titles are dropped. There is a gap of 28 years between the Baudh plates of the year 26 and this charter. Therefore, Raṇabhañja must have assumed the royal title within this period of 28 years. His father Śatrubhañja had no titles at the beginning, then he became a Rāṇaka. But his son, after remaining a Rāṇaka for at least 26 years, assumed the title of Mahārāja. The charter records the grant of the village of Koṇatinthi in the district (Vishaya) of Khātiyā in the Maṇḍala of Khiñjali to a Brāhmaṇa of the Rohita gotra and the Chhandogya charaṇa and Kauthuma Śākhā of the Sāma-veda called Bhaṭaputra whose name has been omitted through negligence. The donee had immigrated from the village of Apilomuleri and was an inhabitant of Amvasarasarā. The grant was issued on the New Moon day of the month of Bhādrapada in the 54th year of the king's reign. It was written by the Sāndhi-vigrahiya Himadatta and engraved by the Ārkaśāli Goṇaka.¹ Koṇatinthi has been identified with Kontuani about two miles south of Baudh and Amvasarasarā with Ambasarabhitta in the Sonpur State, about 12 miles from Baudh.

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. XII, pp. 322-25.

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Another grant of Raṇabhañja I, exactly similar in style and composition to the Baudh plates of the year 54, has been discovered in the Baudh State. In this grant also the only ancestor mentioned is Gandhaṭa and the draft is exactly the same as that of the grant of the year 54. Raṇabhañja I is called Mahārāja and born of the family produced from an egg. The charter records the grant of the village of Turulla in the district (vishaya) of Tulla-śriṅgā of the Khiñjali Maṇḍala, to a Brāhmaṇa named Śubadāma of the Bhāradvāja gotra and the Kāṇva śākhā of the Yajur-veda caraṇa, who had emigrated from the village of Takārī in the Sāvathi (Śrāvastī) country and was an inhabitant of Bhaṭṭa-Tadala in the Oḍra country, on the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Phālguna of the 58th year of the king’s reign. The grant was drafted by the Sāndhi-vigrahika Himadatta, who also drafted the grant of the year 54.

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In the majority of his charters Raṇabhañja I is styled “Lord of both the Khiñjalis.” Many of the villages or the districts in which such villages were situated were on the river Mahānadī. Mr. Hira Lal is inclined to identify Khiñjali with Keunjhar. There were two divisions of Khiñjali and he conjectures these two divisions to be Upper and Lower Keunjhar. The identification is very tempting, because Mr. Parmananda Acharya informed me when he was excavating at Paharpur in the Rajshahi district of Bengal with me during the winter of 1925-26 that the common people of Panchpir in the Mayurbhañja and Keonjhar States speak Kenjhari and not Kendajhari, which is phonetically very much near to Khiñjali. But modern Keonjhar is far away from the Mahānadī and, therefore, it is extremely doubtful whether Keonjhar should be identified with Khiñjali unless one is prepared to admit that Keonjhar at one time extended as far as the Ghumsur Taluga of the Ganjam district. The villages mentioned in the charters of Raṇabhañja I indicate that they were situated in the country on both banks of the upper reaches of the Mahānadi. There is no indication yet of the conquest of the Koṅgoda country or Southern Orissa in the reign of Raṇabhañja I. Only one capital, Dhṛtipura, is mentioned, which has not been identified as yet.

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Rani Nur Gumpha, Udaygiri

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We do not know as yet who succeeded Raṇabhañja I, but one of his sons, Neṭribhañja II, issued grants of land, three of which have been discovered up to date. Out of these three sets of charters two were discovered in the Ganjam district of the Madras Presidency in 1917. These charters were issued from a place called Vijayavañjulvaka. In this inscription there are two verses at the beginning. In the prose portion it is stated that Neṭribhañja II was the great grandson of Śīlabhañja I, grandson of Śatrubhañja and the son of Raṇabhañja. The king is not given any other title except that he was a devout worshipper of Śiva. The charter records the grant of the village of Rātaṅga in the district (Viṣaya) of Vāsudeva-khaṇḍa to a Brāhmaṇa named Golasarman Agnihotri of the Vājasaneya caraṇa and the Kāṇva Śākhā of the Yajur-veda and of the Kausika gotra and two others named Gaulaśarman II and Guhaśarman. The messenger, Dūtaka, of the grant was the Bhaṭṭa Maṅgala and it was composed by the Sandhivigrahika Śivarāja. The engraving was done by the Akṣaśāli (perhaps the same term as Ārkāśāli of the Baudh plate of Raṇabhañja I of the year 54) Durgadeva. There is no date in this inscription and we find the birudā, Dharmakoḷaśa, of Neṭribhañja II in the first part of the inscription.¹ The village of Rātaṅga has been identified with Rottongo in the Ghumsur Taluga of the Ganjam district and Vāsudeva-khaṇḍa with Vāsudevapur, four miles from Rataṅga.¹ The next grant of Neṭribhañja II, recently discovered, was also issued from the same place and is not dated. We find the same biruda for the king and no other titles. The charter records the grant of the village of Machchhāḍa in the Machchhāḍa-Khaṇḍa to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭṭa-Rudaḍa (Rudraṭa) who belonged to the Vātsa gotra and the Vājasaneya caraṇa of the Yajur-veda. Machhāḍa-grama has been identified with Machhgaon in the Cuttack district, and the district of Machhāḍa-Khaṇḍa with the district around Machhgaon by Mr. Hira Lal. This Machhgaon is a port in the Cuttack district about nine miles from the Devi estuary, but Mr. C. R. Krishnamacharlu is inclined to identify Machhāḍa-grāma with Majhigaon in the Berhampur taluga of the Ganjam district.² The third inscription of Neṭribhañja II was discovered somewhere in the Ghumsur Taluqa of the Ganjam district in the earlier part of the 19th century and its contents were published in 1837,³ which was reprinted by Sj. Nagendranatha Vasu Prāchya-vidyā-mahārṇava-Siddhānta-vāridhi.⁴ There was a date in this inscription which cannot be read unless it is Samta I for Samvat 1 and the 7th day of the bright half on the month of Māgha. Like the previous two grants of the same king this charter was also issued from Vijayavañjulvaka. It does not give any title to Neṭribhañja II except that of a devout worshipper of Śiva and the *birudā* of Kalyāṇakalaśa. The same genealogy is given. The charter records the grant of the village of Machchhāḍa in the Machchhāḍa-Khaṇḍa district to two Brāhmaṇas of the Vājasaneya *caraṇa* and the Vātsa *gotra* named Indradeva and Ādityadeva, this village of Machchhāḍa was given to Rudraṭa, a brother of the present donees, by the second grant, but the proportion of these three brothers is not determined in the grant.

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¹ Epi. Ind. Vol. xviii. pp. 293-95.

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¹ Epi. Ind., p. 301.

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² Ibid., Vol. XVIII, pp. 301-03.

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³ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. VI, 1837, pp. 669.

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⁴ Mayurbhañja Archæological Survey, Vol. I, Calcutta, 1911, App, pp. 146-49.

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In the case of Neṭribhañja II it is sure that his father’s capital Dhṛitipura was no longer in his possession and he had changed his capital to Vijayavañjulvaka. None of these two places have been identified as yet. If Machchhāḍa is in the Cuttack district then Neṭribhañja II was in possession of Central and Southern Orissa from the Devi estuary to the Kudala Taluqa of the Ganjam district; but if Machchhāḍa is Majhigam in the Berhampur Taluqa then he was driven out of Khiñjali after his father’s death and sought refuge in Southern Orissa. I am inclined to favour the latter identification, because the places mentioned in other charters of Neṭribhañja II and his grand-nephew Vidyādharabhañja are all in the Ganjam district.

v1.c19.42.1

Neṭribhañja II had another brother named Digbhañja. His son was Śīlabhañja II and his son Vidyādharabhañja is the next king of the Bhañja dynasty of whom we possess records. We possess no means of ascerṭaing whether Neṭribhañja II was succeeded by his own son or by his brother Digbhañja. Again, we are not in a position to ascertain whether Vidyādharabhañja’s father, Śīlabhañja II, was a king or not, because it is also possible that after the extinction of the direct line of Neṭribhañja II in the second or third generation after him, his brother's grandson succeeded him. Vidyādharabhañja is known to us from two inscriptions, only one of which was published in 1887 and the other in 1917. The plates published in 1837 were in the possession of Mr. C. T. Metcalfe, then Commissioner of the Orissa division, and are now in the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. The verses in the beginning of this inscription are the same as those to be found at the beginning of the three charters of Neṭribhañja II. This inscription was also issued from Vijayavañjulvaka but is not dated. The genealogy begins from Raṇabhañja I, who was the great-grandfather, then came Digbhañja and after them came Śīlabhañja II, who was the father of Vidyādharabhañja. The king possessed the *biruda* of *Amogha-kalaśa* and in the genealogical table his great-grandfather and the king himself are given the titles of *Mahārāja*, but no titles are given to his father and grandfather.

v1.c19.42.2

The object of the charter was to grant the village of Mūla-Machhāḍa (the original village minus the outlying hamlets) in the district of Machhāḍa-khaṇḍa to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭṭa-Purandara of the Rauhita *gotra* and of the Vājasaneya *caraṇa* of the Yajur-veda who was an immigrant from the village of Mamana in the district of Taḍisamā in Varendri. The grant was composed by the *Sandhi-vigrahika* Stambha and engraved by the Akshaśāli Kumārachandra. The order was sealed by the queen from Trikaliṅga through the agency of the minister Bhaṭṭa Keśavadeva.¹ Mr. Hira Lal has wrongly identified the village of Mamana with Mandara in the Ghumsur *Taluga* and Taḍisamā with Taḍasiṅgā in the same *Taluga*, on the supposition that the name of the province is Varebdhi; but this is clearly Varendhī and equal to Varendri or Northern Bengal.¹ The only other known inscription of Vidyādhara-bhañja was discovered in the Ghumsur *Taluga* of the Ganjam district, while two charters of Neṭribhañja II and one of Vidyādharabhañja were discovered at Aska in the same district. The Ghumsur plates were also issued from Vijayavañjulvaka. They agree in all respects with the recently discovered charter of the same king. The object of the second charter is to record the grant of the village of Tuṇḍurava in the district of Rāmalavva to a Brāhmaṇa of the Aupamanyava *gotra* and of the Vahvṛicha *śākhā* named Bhaṭṭa Dārukhaṇḍi.

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The grant was written by the *Sāndhi-vigrahika* Stambha and engraved by Akshaśāli Kumāra-chandra. It was entered or recorded by Keśava and sealed by the queen from Tri-Kaliṅga through the agency of the minister (*Mantrin*) Stambhadeva.² The mention of the Tri-Kaliṅga *Mahādevī* in these two charters of Vidyādharabhañja shows that he had married in the family which was then ruling over Tri-Kaliṅga. The village of Tuṇḍurava has been identified with Tuṇḍura in the Aska *Taluga* and the district of Rāmalavva with Rāvulabado in the same *Taluga* of the Ganjam district.³ Vidyādharabhañja was succeeded by his son Neṭribhañja III (Neṭṭabhañja) who is known from one inscription only. A set of three plates discovered in the State of Daspalla bears this inscription. This grant is not dated and was issued from Vijayavañjulvaka. By this charter the King granted a field called Valkākhaṇḍa in the village of Drolladā in the district (*vishaya*) of Rāmalavva in the Maṇḍala of Khiñjali to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭṭa Purushottama of the Krishṇātreya *gotra* and the Chhandaga *charaṇa* and the Kauthuma *śākhā* of the Sāmaveda. The charter was sealed by Jaya Mahādevī, recorded by the minister Bhaṭṭa Bāpuka, entered by the *Mahāpratihāra* Kumāra and composed by the *Sāndhi-vigrahika* Jayastambha. The mason, Durgadeva,¹ engraved one of the charters of this king's father.

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The dynasty founded by Śīlabhañja I and Śatrubhañja appears to have come to an end after the death of Neṭribhañja III or one or two of his immediate successors. Neṭribhañja II, Vidyādharabhañja and Neṭribhañja III ruled at Vijayavañjulvaka and not at Dhṛitipura. The villages granted by them were for the most part situated in Koṅgoḍa and not in Khiñjali but Neṭribhañja III regained control over Khiñjali. It is, therefore, certain that they ruled over a kingdom which extended over the Ghumsur and Aska Taluqas of the Ganjam district. We do not know what became of them and how their rule came to an end in Southern Orissa.

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¹ *Epi. Ind., Vol. XVIII, pp. 296-8.*

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¹ *Epi. Ind.*, Vol. XVIII, p. 301.

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² *Ibid.*, Vol. IX, pp. 271-77.

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³ *Ibid.*, Vol. XVIII, p. 301.

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¹ *Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society*, Vol. III, 1920 pp. 276-79.

v1.c19.48.1

The next group of Bhañja kings ruled over the territory now occupied by the Bhañja Chiefs of Mayurabhañja and Keonjhar. It is not possible in the present state of our knowledge to connect them with any of the kings of the dynasty founded by Śīlabhañja I. Their genealogy begins with a king called Koṭṭabhañja, whose son was Digbhañja II, and his son, Raṇabhañja, is the first known king of this group of the Bhañja dynasty. Many different scholars have tried to identify this dynasty with that founded by Śīlabhañja by assuming that both Raṇabhañjas were one and the same person. They assume that Koṭṭabhañja was the same as Śīlabhañja I and Digbhañja the same as Śatrubhañja, but the difference in the forms of the characters and the radical difference in the names of the fathers and the grandfathers prove definitely that the Raṇabhañja of these two groups must be different persons. The genealogy proposed by Mr. Hira Lal, therefore, cannot be accepted as correct.¹ The second group of Bhañja kings is known from three inscriptions only, all of them grants of land. Two of them were discovered at Bamanghāti in the Mayurbhañja State and the third at Khaṇḍadeuli in the Daspalla State. Unlike all other Bhañja grants the plates of Raṇabhañja II and his son, Rājabhañja, are single plates. The only connecting link between the first and the second group of Bhañja kings is to be found in the legend of the birth of the ancestor of the dynasty from an egg.

v1.c19.48.2

The phrase *Aṇḍaja-vaṃśa-prabhava* to be found in the charters of Śatrubhañja I and Raṇabhañja I is omitted in those of Neṭribhañja II, Vidyādharabhañja and Neṭribhañja III. The same legend is given in a more elaborate form in the inscriptions of the second group. The Bamanghāti plates of the second group of kings mention that the Gaṇadaṇḍa Virabhadra was born in Koṭṭāśrama from the egg of a pea-hen and was nursed by the renowned sage Vasiṣṭha. In his family was born Koṭṭabhañja and his son was Digbhañja II. From him was born Raṇabhañja II, who was a constant resident of Khijjiṅga-koṭṭa. This is the first time that Khijjiṅga is mentioned in Bhañja history. The charter is dated in the year 288 of some unknown era and records the grant of four villages named Timaṇḍira, Nankolaḍā, Jamvupadraka and Pāsanna in the district of Uttarakhaṇḍa, which included the districts of Koraṇḍiyā and Devakuṇḍa, to a son of the Mahāsamanta Maṇḍi.¹ The Koṭṭa or fort of Khijjiṅga is certainly modern Khiching, about ninety miles from Bāripada, the present capital of the State. Jambupadraka has been identified with Jamda, eight miles west of Bamanghāti, Timaṇḍira, with Tendra, south-west of Bamanghāti, Koraṇḍiyā with Korinjiya, five miles from Khiching and Devakuṇḍa still exists under the same name about seventy-five miles west of Bāripada and eight miles of Bamanghāti in the Mayurbhañja State.

v1.c19.48.3

Even the mythical Koṭṭāśrama-Tapovana has been identified with Kuting, thirty-two miles from Bāripada.² The second group of Bhañja kings are remarkable for the special form of the draft of their land-grants. Three grants of this group of kings are known and in these they use a different verb altogether. These charters are the Bamanghāti and Khaṇḍadeuli plates of Raṇabhañja II and the Bamanghāti plate of his son Rājabhañja. In all of these plates we find that the term Kuśalī or Kuśalinaḥ, used as an adjective of the king in the prose portion immediately after his proper name, is omitted. Instead of the usual verbs, Manayati, Bodhayati and Samādiśayati, these three plates use the phrase S-ānunaya prāhaḥ. The names of the Sandhi-vigrahika or Dūtaka, and the mason are omitted in the first of these two plates. The want of any title in the case of Raṇabhañja II and his son Rājabhañja prove that they were minor chiefs and not kings though the term king is applied to them in the metrical portion. The absence of any title, regal, imperial or subordinate at a time when even petty kings had assumed the imperial titles of the Gupta period, Parameśvara-Paramabhaṭṭāraka-Mahārājādhirāja, is extremely significant. It proves that the second group of Bhañja kings were subordinates to some higher power. According to Mr. B. C.

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Mazumdar, the year 288 of the Bamanghāti plate of Raṇabhañja II is a date in the little known Gaṅga era and is equivalent to 1066 A.D., which, if correct, would make the second group of Bhañja kings slightly earlier than the Eastern Gaṅga kings Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga. Raṇabhañja II was most probably succeeded by his son, Rājabhañja. We know this Chief from one charter only. In this record Koṭṭabhañja is made the father of Raṇabhañja II and the name of Digbhañja is omitted altogether. The legend of the ancestor of the dynasty having been born out of the egg of a pea-hen and nursed by the sage Vaśiṣṭha is mentioned as well as the fact that the king always resided in the fort of Khijjiṅga. The charter records the grant of the village of Brahmaṇa-vasti in the district of the same name included in Khichiṅga to Subrahma, son of the Sāmanta Muṇḍi. This Muṇḍi is probably the same as the Mahāsāmanta Maṇḍi, the donee of the Bamanghāti plate of Raṇabhañja II of the year 288. There is no date in the Bamanghāti plate of Rājabhañja.¹ The village of Brāhmaṇa-vastī has been identified with Brāhmaṇavas, six miles from Bamanghāṭī and the district of the same name with the present sub-division of Bamanghāṭī in the Mayurbhañja State.¹ In these two plates the peculiar title Gaṇa-daṇḍa applied to Virabhadra, the ancestor of the dynasty, is taken by Mr. Hira Lal to be the same as Gandhaṭa, the ancestor of Raṇabhañja I.

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This is hardly possible, as the mention of Gandhaṭa-pāṭī as the name of a village in three grants proves that the name Gandhaṭa is quite different from the term Gaṇa-daṇḍa.² This term Gaṇa-daṇḍa has been correctly translated as “the office of a Hindu Republic,” and it would appear that the ancestor of Raṇabhañja II was an officer with such a designation.

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¹ *Ibid.*, p. 286.

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¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, XL, 1871, pp. 161ff.

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² Epi. Ind., Vol. XVIII, pp. 300-301.

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¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XL, 1871, Part 1, pp. 161 ff.

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. XVIII, p. 301.

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² Ibid., p. 286.

v1.c19.55

Rani Nur Gumpha, Udaygiri

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The third inscription of the second group of Bhañja kings is exactly similar to the two just described. It was discovered at Khaṇḍadeuli near Bamanghāṭī in the Mayurbhañja State. It also mentions that the ancestor of the second group of kings was the Gaṇa-daṇḍa Vīrabhadra and he was born out of the egg of a pea-hen and was nurtured in the hermitage of the sage Vasīṣṭha. In his family was born Koṭṭabhañja, his son was Digbhañja, and his son was Raṇabhañja II who resided in the fort of Khijjīṅga. The actual grant was made by Narendrabhañja, the son of the king’s natural son (Aupayik-ātmaja) Pṛthvī-bhañja. By this charter the king gave the village of Bonulā in the district of Uttarakhaṇḍa in the viṣaya of Sidhāhimbā to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭaputra Rañchho. Like the preceding two charters there is no date in this one and the names of the officers are omitted.¹ Mr. Hira Lal differs from the learned editor of the Khaṇḍadeuli plate and thinks that the actual grantor was Narendra-bhañja.² The form of the grant shows that the grantor was Raṇabhañja II and not his grandson, as the phrase *Sānunaya prāhaḥ* shows. We do not know who succeeded Rājabhañja and what became of the Bhañjas in the intervening period between the second group and the third of the Bhañja dynasty. Some time later we find the third group of the Bhañja kings ruling over Northern Orissa, but in the absence of dates it is impossible to measure the difference in time which elapsed between these two. The third group of Bhañja kings are known to us from two charters and a stone inscription. The charters were issued by two brothers named Yaśobhañja and Jayabhañja, who were the sons of Rāyabhañja II and the grandsons of Virabhañja. From the charter of Yaśobhañja discovered at Antirigrām in the Pūrva-khaṇḍa sub-division of the Ganjam district, we learn that the third group of the Bhañja kings traced their ancestry up to their fifth ascendant. The first ancestor mentioned is Devabhañja and his son was Rājabhañja I. A small votive inscription discovered at Khichiṅg by Rai Bahadur R. P. Chanda mentions a king named Rāyabhañja, who may be Rāyabhañja I.³ Virabhañja, the grandfather of Yaśobhañja and Jayabhañja, was the son of Rāyabhañja I. The charter of Yaśobhañja is not dated, nor are any officers mentioned. The grant records the donation of the village of Komyāna in the district of Boḍā to a Brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja *gotra* and the Mādhyandina *śākhā* of the Yajur-veda named Jagadhara-Śarman, who was well-versed in the Vedas, law and astrology and who had immigrated from the village of Madhyavapabhūmi in the district of Thihara and was an inhabitant of the village of Paṭṭavādapāṭaka in the district of Kontaravañju, on the occasion of Viṣṇu's waking, on the eleventh day of the bright half of Kārtika. The only important historical information in the grant is to be found in the mention of the king as the lord of all the Khiñjali country and that he was the victor over Jagadekamalla.¹ The village of Komyāna has been identified with Konomona in the Chatrapur *Taluga* and the district of Boḍā with Bodda Paṭṭi, three miles from Konomona in the Ganjam district. The village of Paṭṭavādapāṭaka has been identified with Paṭatupuram, Kontaravaṅga with Kotayaġaḍa in the Chatrapur *Taluga* and Vapabhūmi with Boppaṅgi in the Ghumsur *Taluga* of the Ganjam district.² The charter of Jayabhañja was also discovered in the same village. It begins the genealogy with Virabhañja and mentions Rāyabhañja II as the father of Jayabhañja. This charter was also issued in the third year and uses the titles of Rājā and Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara in the case of the king.

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¹ *Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society*, Vol. IV, 1908, pp. 172-77.

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² *Epi. Ind.*, Vol. XVIII, p. 292.

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³ The Rai Bahadur supposed that Rāyabhañja was the Prākrit form of Rājabhañja. Evidently he was not aware of the discovery of the Antirigrām plates of Yaśobhañja and Jayabhañja, though the discovery of these records was announced as early as 1918 in the *Annual Report*

v1.c19.60

¹ Ibid., pp. 298-99

v1.c19.61

² Ibid. v. 302.

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of the Asst. Archæological Superintendent for Epigraphy, Southern Circle, Madras, 1917-18, p. 137. The mistake has not been corrected in the Rai Bahadur's latest publication on the ruins of Khiching.

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The grant records the donation of the village of Reṅgaraḍā in the district of Khiñjaliya-gaḍa on the occasion of a Lunar eclipse to a Brāhmaṇa named Jagadhara, an astrologer of the Bhāradvāja *gotra* and the Mādhyandina *Śākhā*, who was an immigrant from the Brāhmaṇa village of Ṭakārī in the Madhya-deśa and an inhabitant of the village of Paṭavaḍa-paṭaka in the district of Kontarā-vaṅga in Southern Toshala on the full moon day of the month of Jyaishṭha of the third year of the king’s reign. The inscription mentions a number of officers by name. The heir-apparent minister (*Rajaputr-āmatya-yuvarāja*) was the Akshapaṭali or record-keeper and his name was Virabhañja. The *Sāndhi-vigrahi*, the Akshapaṭali or record-keeper was Vajradatta. The minister of peace and war (*Sandhi-vigrahi*) was Punanāga. The chief of the royal guards was Bhūpāla. The law officer of the crown was Arapaṭa. Four other persons mentioned are *Rānaka*, named Lakshmi-kalaśa, the royal maternal uncle Jathināga and two private persons named Khaṇḍapāla and Purañjaya. This charter differs from other later Bhañja charters in one fact; it records the name of the writer, the merchant Gaṇeśvara.¹

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¹ *Ibid., Vol. XIX, pp. 43-5*

v1.c19.65

The dates of the third group of Bhañja kings depend upon the identity of Jagadekamalla mentioned in the charter of Yaśobhañja. Who this Jagadekamalla was, we are not in a position to determine definitely. In the list of Northern inscriptions compiled by Kielhorn there is no Jagadekamalla and the only chief who could be contemporaneous with Yasobhañja is the Mehāra chief Jagamalla, a feudatory of the Chālukya king Bhīma II of Gujarat, of v. s. 1264-1207 A. D. In the list of Southern kings we know some Jagadekamallas : the Western Chālukya king Jayasiṁha II, Jagadekamalla II of the same dynasty ; Jagadekamalla Malladeva of the Bāna family of the Andhra country ; Jagadekamalla Permāḍi I of the Sinda family ; all of whom are too early for Yaśobhañja. Similarly Jagaddeva defeated by the Kākatīya Proḷa is also too early.¹ After Yaśobhañja and Jayabhañja we do not know what happened to the Bhañja kings. These two kings are certainly later than the Eastern Gaṅga kings, Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga and his immediate successors. They appear to have assumed the royal privilege of granting land during the rule of the weak later Gaṅgas who followed Narasiṁha I.

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¹ Ibid., Vol. VII, App, p. 189.

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The Bhañjas appear to have assumed the regal status for the first time under Raṇabhañja I and to have lost it immediately afterwards. Raṇabhañja II and his son were mere feudatories without any symbol of royalty. In the time of the third group they were also located in Northern Orissa and remained so up to the rise of the Sūrya-vaṁśa dynasty. But from the time of the first group of kings scions of the dynasty had spread over Northern and Central Orissa, from Mayurbhañja, Keunjhar and Baudh in the North to Ghumsur and Jaipur in the extreme south. They remained in the flat country adjoining the hills, assuming independence when chance offered but professing fealty to the supreme power when the three great divisions were united under some powerful dynasty. The present chiefs of this dynasty must have migrated in Northern Orissa from Jaipur in the Madras Presidency and not from Jaipur in Rajputana. The Bhañjas, therefore, ruled over a very extensive area in Orissa and though they did not rule over the whole of it they are clearly one of the oldest royal families of India and the oldest ruling dynasty of Orissa.

History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19: Chapter XII. The Bhañja Dynasties

Contents

Chapter XII. The Bhañja Dynasties

Genealogical Table of Bhañja Kings

Linked texts (4)