History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19.35

v1.c19.35

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.