History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c22.29.4

v1.c22.29.4

Śīlabhañja I was the father of Śatrubhañja and the grandfather of Raṇabhañja I and Silabhañja II was the father of Vidyādharabhañja. Whichever Śīlabhañja may have founded the village it is certain that one of them, at any rate, was the founder of the village which was existing in the time of Mahāśivagupta-Yayāti. It is, therefore, certain that one at least of the two Śīlabhañjas preceded the second king of the Somavamśi dynasty. It is more probable from the nature of the characters of the Somavamśi inscriptions that it was Śīlabhañja II who was the nearest to Mahāśivagupta-Yayāti in point of time, as Śatrubhañja, the son of Śīlabhañja, was alive in 744 A. D. This important point has been totally neglected by scholars like Mr. Hira Lal who want to place Raṇabhañja I in the 12th century A. D. Writers like Mr. B. C. Mazumdar creep over this important point noiselessly.¹ The fourth record of the reign of Mahābhavagupta-Yayāti is that on the Sonpur plates. There is no metrical portion in this record, which was also issued from the Royal Camp at Vinitapura. By this charter Mahāśivagupta gave the village of Niviṇḍā in the Gaṇutapāṭa Maṇḍala of the Kośala country to a Brāhmaṇa named Dikshita Puṇḍarika of the Bhāradvāja gotra, an inhabitant of Marameṇḍā in Kośala, who was an emigrant from Bhaṭaparoli.