History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19.56

v1.c19.56

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.