History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19.22

Language: English

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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grandson Raṇabhañja I. Thus he is mentioned in the Singhara plates of Raṇabhañja I of the regnal year, 9, in the Baudh unpublished plates of the same king of the regnal year 28, and the Chakardharpur plates of this king of the regnal year 24.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