History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19.48.4

v1.c19.48.4

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.