History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c19.67

v1.c19.67

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.