History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c21.44

v1.c21.44

Another dynasty of little known chiefs of Orissa are the Nandas who are known to us from two inscriptions only. The most important among these two records is a dated inscription recently published by Prof. A. Banerji-Sastri, M. A., PH. D., of the Patna College. The chiefs of this dynasty claimed to be descended from Nanda, who is not specified. It may be the mythical Nanda, the cow-herd, the foster-father of the hero-god Kṛṣṇa, or it may be the Nanda kings of Magadha. The first chief was Jayānanda, and his son was Parānanda, Parānanda's son was Śivānanda, whose son was Devānanda, surnamed Vilāsaṭuṅga. The genealogy is exactly the same in the two records discovered up to date. The first of these published by Dr. A. Banerji-Sastri was discovered in the state of Dhenkanal. This charter records the grant of a field called Śilodā in the district (*khaṇḍa*) Jārāsama of the Airapaṭṭa Maṇḍala to a Brāhmaṇa named Bhaṭa, who was an inhabitant of Jambuvadā and had emigrated from Khambhavaṇa and belonged to the Navarchhasya *gotra*. This grant is dated in the style of some of the early Gaṅga plates, in which the hundreds and tens are expressed in ancient letter numerals but the units in the decimal notation. The date in this plate appears to be the year 373 of the Harsha era, the bright half of the 5th day of Bhādra¹ equal to August, September 978-79 A.D. In this grant the king’s name is written Devānanda in the seal and the metrical portion, but in the prose portion it is written from Dhruvānanda (l. 25). The grant was issued from Jayapura. The second inscription was also discovered in the Dhenkanal State and was handed over to me for publication by Pundit Tarakeśwar Ganguly of the Mayur-bhañj State. The genealogy is exactly the same and the king’s name is identical both in the metrical and the prose portion. This charter records the grant of the village of Laṃheva in the district (vishaya) of Potodā in the province (maṇḍala) Airapaṭṭa to a Brāhmaṇa named Vahmad-dhara, who had emigrated from Puṇḍravarddhana or northern Bengal and who was an inhabitant of Nārāyaṇapura. The donee belongs to the Kāṇva śākhā of the Yajur-veda and the Kṛṣṇātreya gotra. This grant is not dated. In both inscriptions the king is called the chief of the great Sāmantas; he is styled a devout Buddhist (Parama-saugata) in the dated plate but a Śaiva in the new plate. Nothing further is known about the Nanda chiefs.