History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c24.2

v1.c24.2

The confusion in the history and chronology of Orissa vanishes completely from the beginning of the 11th century A.D. when Vajrahasta of Kaliṅganagara assumed the title of *Tri-Kaliṅg-Adhipati* and ascended the throne in Śaka 960=Sunday 9th April 1038 A.D. The assumption of the new title by a Gaṅga king of Kaliṅga proves that he acquired some sort of authority over the whole of ancient Kaliṅga, comprising its three ancient divisions : Utkala, Koṅgoda and Kaliṅga. Utkala or Orissa had not been thoroughly conquered as yet and no inscription of this king has been discovered in modern Orissa. His earliest inscription is to be found on the Narasapatan plates of Śaka 967-1045 A.D. The plates were discovered in the Narasapatan *taluga* of the Vizagapatam district. The grant was issued from Dantipura by Vajrahasta of the Gaṅga family, the son of Mahārāja Kāmārṇava. Instead of beginning from Kāmārṇava I, as in the Vizagapatam plates of his grandson Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga, it begins here with Vajrahasta I. Vajrahasta is really the 5th king of that name in the dynasty founded by Kāmārṇava I, the son of Virasiṃha, though he is styled Vajrahasta III by Prof. Sten Konow according to the genealogy given here. This Vajrahasta V will be styled Vajrahasta in this book, as no other king of this name ruled over Orissa after him. He was the son of Kāmārṇava by Vinaya Mahādevī of the Vaidumba family of the Andhra country. He is styled *Parama-Māheśvara*, *Parama-Bhaṭṭāraka* and *Mahārājādhirāja* in addition to the title of *Tri-Kaliṅgādhipati*. The charter records the grant of the village of Tampavā along with thirty-five others in the district (*vishaya*) of Gorasaṭṭa to Mānāditya-Choṭṭa and Vira-Bhūrisrava of the Vaidumba family of the Kāśyapa *gotra*, who had emigrated from Peṭṭakallu, on Monday the 9th of the month of Mīna (*Chaitra*) of the Śaka year 967. The grant contains the boundaries of the district of Gorasaṭṭa. To the east was Vistīrṇaśilā, to the south-east Vināyaka-vaṭa, to the south the grant of Taṅku-Bhaṭṭārikā, to the south-west the hill of Andhāra-veṇi, to the west Kāñichaśalā on the bank of the river Vamśadhārā, to the north-west Āmrāpāthara and to the North Madhupa-pali, to the north-west Tālafijara-śilā. The charter was written by the *Sāndhivigrahin*, the *Kāyastha* Dhavala and the grant was incised by Meṇṭojuna.¹ None of the localities mentioned in the charter can be identified except the river Vamśadharā.