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History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c26: Chapter XVII. The Eastern Gaṅgas—Rājarāja III to Narasiṁha I

History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c26

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English

Chapter XVII. The Eastern Gaṅgas—Rājarāja III to Narasiṁha I

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Rājarāja III was the only grandson of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga to succeed to the throne of Orissa. He was the son of Anaṅgabhīma II by his queen Bāghalladevī. This King is known to us from one inscription only, at Śrī-Kurmam, but he is mentioned in the inscriptions of his descendants, Narasiṁha II, Bhānudeva II and Narasiṁha IV. During his reign the Musalmans of Bengal invaded Orissa for the first time. This was the beginning of the raids which continued to devastate Orissa till her final conquest by the Musalmans in 1568. According to the Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣiri, Ikhtiyāruddīn Muḥammad bin Bakhtyār Khalji, the conqueror of Magadha and Northern Bengal, despatched an army towards Lakhanor and Jajnagar on the eve of his departure on the ill-fated expedition to Assam. The first raid into Orissa was commanded by two brothers named Muḥammad-i-Sherān and Aḥmad-i-Sherān. It was directed against Lakhanor and Jajnagar. There are reasons to believe that Lakhanor was situated somewhere near the ancient town of Nagar in the Birbhum district of Bengal and Jajnagar is Jajallanagar in Chhattisgarh. The majority of Musalman writers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries mention Jajnagar when they intend to refer to Orissa. In the case of the first Musalman raid into Orissa, the route mentioned shows that Muḥammad and Aḥmad came to Orissa by the old pilgrim road from Northern India. The result of this expedition has not been recorded but it is stated that when these two brothers received intimation of the great disaster that had befallen the Musalman army in Assam and the leader of Musalman freebooters in Bengal, they hastened back to their headquarters at Devkot.¹ This invasion took place immediately before the death of Muḥammad bin Bakhtyār Khalji in A. H., 602=June or July 1205 A. D. As Rājarāja III had come to the throne in 1198, the first Musalman invasion took place in his 10th Aṅka of 8th year. He ruled till 1211 A. D., and was succeeded by his son Anaṅgabhīma III. Rājarāja III is mentioned in the Chāṭeśvara inscription of his son as Rājendra. He married Mankuṇḍadevī of the Chālukya family, probably of the Eastern Chālukya family of Veṅgi.

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¹ Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī, Eng. Trans., pp. 573-74.

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With the accession of Anaṅgabhīma III the Hindu Kings of Orissa lost their lethargy. The terror inspired by the first Musalman invasion appears to have worn off and, with the fall of the Hindu Kingdoms of North-eastern India, the Kings of Orissa seem to have realised their difficulties in being brought face to face with the barbarous Musalman customs of warfare. In these wars there was no open declaration of hostilities or amenities, such as those which existed among belligerent Hindu States. The early Musalman raiders were mere plunderers who destroyed life and property ruthlessly without any justification and who thought that any damage inflicted on, or destruction of the lives and property of, non-Musalmans was a sure road to glory. The long reign of Anaṅgabhīma III (1211-38) coincided with the period of struggle between the early Sultans of Delhi and the Musalman Āmīrs of Bengal for supremacy in North-eastern India. After the death of Muhammad bin Bakhtyār Khaljī, Bengal remained independant under the Turks till the rise of the Emperor Shamsuddīn Iltutmish of Delhi. The reign of Anaṅgabhīma III coincided to a very great extent with that of Malik Ḥasāmuddīn Iwāz, afterwards the Sultan Ghiyaṣuddīn Iwaz Shāh. His fall in 1226 brought Western and Northern Bengal within the limits of the Musalman Empire of Delhi. During the last years of the reign of Anaṅgabhīma III, Iltutmish’s son, Prince Nāṣiruddīn Maḥmūd, and the Governors ’Alāuddīn Jānī, Saifuddīn Ibak-i-Yagantat and Izzuddīn Tughral Tughān Khān were his contemporaries. The second war with the Musalmans of Bengal took place sometime between A. H. 608 and 622. Mr. Chakravarti was inclined to place the war immediately after his accession, *i. e.*, 1212 A. D. According to the *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, Ghiyaṣuddīn Iwāz Shāh had made the countries of Eastern Bengal (Banga), Assam (Kāmrup), Tirhut and Orissa tributary to him. Ghiyaṣuddīn Iwāz became independant in Bengal by putting down the principal leaders of the Musalman freebooters in 608 A. H., and he was defeated and killed in A. H., 624=1226 A. D. Therefore, his war with Anaṅgabhīma III must have taken place between 1212 and 1222 A. D. There is no truth in the statement of the *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī* that Iwāz had made the Gaṅga king tributary to him,¹ because both sides claim the victory, Anaṅgabhīma III is credited with a victory over the Musalmans in his great Chāṭeśvara inscription; “What more shall I speak of his heroism? He alone fought against the Muhammedan King, and applying arrows to his bow, killed many skilful warriors. Even the gods would assemble in the sky to obtain the pleasure of seeing him with their sleepless and fixed eyes.”¹ The defeat of the Musalmans by Anaṅgabhīma III is also referred to in the Bhubaneśvar inscription of the time of Narasimha II, now in the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Śaka 1200.² Evidently, Ghiyāṣuddīn Iwāz invaded Orissa and was repulsed.

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¹ *Ibid.*, pp. 587-88.

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¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXVII, 1898, part I, pp. 322, 326.

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² Epi. Ind., Vol. XIII, p. 151.

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Lion-rider, so-called Yavana and Dvarapala—upper storey—right wing—Udaygiri, Puri District

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Anaṅgabhīma III also fought with the Southern Haihayas or Kaḷachuris of Ratnapura. These Chiefs are mentioned as Kings of Tummāṇa, a place which still exists under the same name in the Bilaspur district. The ruins of Tummāṇa have been visited and described by Mr. Hiralal.³ The Kings of Tummāṇa, who were contemporaries of Anaṅgabhīma III, are not known from the contemporary inscription, but they ruled over Bilaspur and Raipur till the Maratha conquest of the country in the middle of the 18th century. According to the inscriptions of Narasimha II and Narasimha IV, Anaṅgabhīma III ruled for 33 or 34 years. These have been correctly taken by Mr. Chakravarti to be Aṅka years; therefore, the 33rd year was really the 27th year of the reign of the King. Anaṅgabhīma III is the first King of the dynasty whose inscriptions have been discovered in Northern Orissa. At least three inscriptions of this King have been discovered on the walls flanking the door of the Jagamohana of the temple of Kṛittivāsa or Liṅgarāja leading to the Nāṭya-mandira,¹ at Bhubaneśvar in the Puri district. The first of these three inscriptions mentions the 4th year after the abhiṣeka, the second is dated Śaka 1145, Dhanu Kṛi 1, Bhaumavāre=9th January 1224 A. D., while the third inscription also contains a date which has not been properly read as yet.

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³ Ind. Ant. Vol. LIII, 1924.

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¹ These important inscriptions were covered with plaster by the local priests sometime after 1906. This plaster was removed at my request in 1926 and the inscriptions were copied in that year for Prof. A. Banerji-Śāstrī of the Patna College.

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The only other important record of the time of Anaṅga-bhīma III is the great Chāṭeśvara inscription. It consists of 25 lines of writing on a slab of stone attached to the temple of Chāṭeśvara in the village of Krishnapur, parganah Padmapur, of the Cuttack district. The inscription is not dated and records the erection of a temple of Śiva by one Govinda, a brāhmaṇa of the Vatsa gotra. According to this inscription either Govinda or Anaṅgabhīma III erected several pleasure-houses at Puruṣottama or Puri and performed the golden Tulā-puruṣa ceremony at that place. He also constructed many roads and excavated tanks.² According to Mr. Chakra-varti the temple of Chāṭeśvara was erected in circa. Śaka 1142-1220 A.D. The same authority would ascribe a small gold coin with the letters "Aṇa" to Anaṅgabhīma III instead of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga,³ Anaṅgabhīma III died in 1238 A. D., and was succeeded by his son, Narasimha I, the second great king of the Gaṅga dynasty.

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² Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXVII, 1898, part 1, pp. 317-27.

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³ Ibid., Vol. LXXII, 1903, part 1, p. 118 ; Vol. LXVI, 1897, part 1, pp. 144-45, pl. VI.

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Narasimha I was the son of Anaṅgabhīma III by his wife Kasturadevī. He occupied the throne of Orissa in very difficult times. Bengal was being convulsed by the attempts of the rebel Musalman Āmirs of Bengal to throw off the yoke of Delhi. The strong hand of Shamsuddīn Iltutmish had been removed by death in 1235. At that time ‘Izzuddīn Tughral Tughān Khān was the governor of the Musalman districts of Bengal and he remained so till 1244. During the long war of succession throughout the reigns of Sulṭān Ruknuddīn Firoz Shāh, Sulṭānā Razziyat, Sulṭāns Mui’zzuddīn Bahrām and ‘Alāuddīn Masa’ud Shāh, he remained undisturbed in the North-eastern frontier of the Musalman Kingdom of Northern India. A war with Orissa in A. H., 641=1243 A. D., ruined him. In that year, according to Musalman historians, “The Rae of Jajnagar commenced molesting the Lakhanawati territory.” It is quite probable that Narasimha I of Orissa took advantage of the stupid indolence of the Musalman officers in Bengal and advanced towards Gauḍ. At that time Southern Bengal with its capital Saptagrāma or Sātgāon, near Hooghly, was still independent under the Hindus. The Musalmans could not conquer it till 1298 A.D.¹ Even Navadvīpa or Nadia was not included within the Musalman dominions at this time. It was conquered by Sulṭān Mughiṣuddīn Yūzbak of Bengal in A. H., 653=1255 A.D. We do not know to whom Southern and Central Bengal belonged. Probably the Sena Kings of Eastern Bengal claimed these territories, but in any case an invasion from Orissa against the common enemy of all Hindus must have been welcomed by them. Moreover, an invasion of Hindu territories in Southern and Central Bengal would not have affected the Musalman nobles and officers of Western Bengal. Narasimha I must have advanced too close to the Musalman headquarters at Gauḍ or Lakṣmaṇāvatī to be neglected. Mālik ’Izzuddīn moved with his army to Katasin, the frontier outpost of Musalman Bengal, and an engagement ensued, in which, after some advantage, the Musalman army was completely defeated. A very large number of Musalman troops were killed and ’Izzuddīn saved himself by flight. From Gauḍ the vanquished governor sent an appeal for help to Sulṭān ’Alāuddīn Masa’ud Shāh at Delhi, and Qamruddīn Tamūr Khān, the Governor of Oudh, was ordered to march to the assistance of ’Izzuddīn Tughral Tughān Khān. In the succeeding year Narasimha I invaded Musalman territories once more and advanced right up to the capital, Gauḍ or Lakṣmaṇāvatī. ’Izzuddīn Tughral was not sufficiently careful and, therefore, Lakhanor, the Musalman headquarters in Rāḍhā or Rarh, a place in the Birbhum district, was captured by the Hindus and sacked. Fakhr-ul-mulk Karimuddīn Laghrī, the commandant of the place, was killed. The army of Narasimha I surrounded the Musalman headquarters at Gauḍ. In the meanwhile, Qamruddīn Tamūr Khān had reached the neighbourhood of that city, but such was the degeneration of the Musalman nobles of Northern India that, with the headquarters surrounded by Hindu troops, ’Izzuddīn Tughral Tughān and Qamruddīn Tamūr began to quarrel among themselves. ’Izzuddīn was surprised by Qamruddīn Tamūr Khān and forced to resign the governorship of Musalman Bengal. This expedition of Narasimha I is referred to in detail in the inscriptions of Narasimha II and Narasimha IV.

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¹ *Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, New Series, Vol. V, 1909. p. 248.*

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"The white river Gaṅgā blackened for a great distance by the collyrium washed away by tears from the eyes of the weeping Yavanīs of Rāḍhā and Varendra, and rendered waveless, as if by this astonishing achievement, was now transformed by that monarch (*i. e.*, Narasimha I) into the blackwatered Yamunā."¹

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¹ *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXV, 1896, part 1, p. 232.*

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According to Minhājuddin, the Hindu army retired in confusion after the appearance of Qamruddin Tamūr Khān. This statement bears on its face the stamp of untruth. No victory is recorded for the Musalman army and not a word of praise is bestowed on the Governor showing that the Hindu army of Orissa plundered the Musalman districts thoroughly and then retired to their own country on the approach of the monsoon. Qamruddin Tamūr Khān is said to have remained in a state of rebellion for two years till his death.

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The next stage in the Musalman wars is reached in the reign of Yūzbak. Mālik Ikhtiyāruddin Yūzbak was a slave of Iltutmish. Bilbun placed him in charge of Kanauj, whence he was transferred to Gauḍ or Musalman Bengal. Very soon hostilities began between him and Narasimha I. Ikhtiyāruddin Yūzbak was appointed Governor of Musalman Bengal in 1246 and the war may have taken place in 1247. It is stated in the *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī* that the commander of the army of Orissa was the son-in-law of Narasimha I, a person named *Sābantar*, evidently a corruption of *Sāmanta Rāya* and that the same person had commanded the Hindu army which had driven 'Izzuddīn Tughral Tughān Khān to seek shelter in Gauḍ. The Musalman history states that this commander had been defeated by 'Izzuddīn and again by Ikhtiyāruddīn Yūzbak. But in the third battle Yūzbak was defeated and lost a white elephant which was considered very valuable. After this defeat he was compelled to seek aid from Delhi and invaded Orissa once more. He is said to have advanced as far as Armardan and compelled the King to evacuate this, his capital. The name of this place has been read by Major Raverty as Umardan or Armardan.¹ It appears to be the same place as that in memory of the conquest of which a silver coin was struck by Yūzbak from the mint of Lakhnautī in A. H. 653=1255 A. D. The legend on the margin of the reverse was read as "Struck at Lakhnautī as tribute of Arzbadan and Nudiya in the month of Ramaẓān of the year six hundred and fifty-three."² In a previous paper the present writer had proposed to identify this Arz-badan with Gar-bardan or Bardhan Kot in Northern Bengal,³ but it seems more probable that this Arzbadan is the same as the Umurdan and Armardan of the *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*. There is no doubt about the fact that no such place was the capital of Orissa in the 13th century. Yūzbak may have captured an important fort and with it some members of the royal family. The date of the coin makes it possible:

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¹ *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, Eng. Trans., p. 763, note 4.

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² *Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta*, Vol. II, p. 146, no. 6.

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³ *Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, New Series, Vol. IX, 1913, p. 288.

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to state that Yūzbak’s last campaign in Orissa took place either in 1255 or shortly before that date. With his death in Assam in 1257 Musalman aggression in Orissa ceased.

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Narasimha I will be remembered by posterity as the builder of the great temple of the Sun-God at Koṇakoṇa or Koṇārka near Gop in the Puri district. This fact is mentioned in the land-grants of all the successors of Narasimha I. According to an inscription at Śrī-Kurmam, Rājarāja of the Eastern Chālukya family was a minister of Narasimha I.¹ According to another inscription at the same place, a person named Sāhasa-malla made a grant at this temple during the reign of Narasimha I in 1251 A. D. According to the Bhubaneśvar inscription, now in the Royal Asiatic Society, Narasimha’s brother-in-law, the Haihaya Prince Paramardin, fell fighting the battles of the King. Paramardin had married Chandrikā, a daughter of Anaṅgabhīma II. This Chandrikā built a temple of Viṣṇu at Bhubaneśvar in the Śaka year 1200=1278 A. D., during the reign of her brother’s grandson, Narasimha II.² A work on Alaṅkāra called Ekāvalī was composed in the reign of Narasimha I by a person named Vidyādhara in which Narasimha is called “The master of the kingdom of Yavanas, *i. e.*, Musalmans (*Yavan-āvani-vallabha*). Narasimha I is also said to have defeated the Hamīra, *i. e.*, the Musalman Amirs of Bengal. The wars with the Musalman in Bengal are distinctly referred to as “Vaṅga-saṅgara-sīmani” along with the white waves of the Ganges, “Gaṅgā-Taraṅga-dhavalāni.”

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¹ Epi. Ind., Vol. V, pp. 33-34.

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² Ibid., Vol. XIII, pp. 150-55.

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The period of the reign of Narasimha I is the most glorious in the annals of the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty. By taking the offensive against the Musalmans of Bengal Narasimha I adopted the only policy that was likely to be successful against the Musalmans of Northern India. His campaign instilled a wholesome respect for the Hindus of Orissa in the minds of the Governors of Musalman Bengal. An exceptionally active Governor like Yūzbak may have launched campaign after campaign against Narasimha I, but the general effect of a forward policy on a Hindu State was magical in the 13th century. Till Bengal obtained autonomy under the descendants of Bilbun, Orissa practically remained unmolested; not only so, the Southern districts of Western Bengal such as Midnapur, Howrah, and Hooghly became a part of the Kingdom of Orissa.

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With the death of Narasimha I, we come to the end of the age of the great temple-builders in Orissa. The conqueror of Northern Orissa, Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga, had begun, if not completed, the great temple of Jagannāth at Purushottama or Puri. According to tradition, which is not always reliable, the temple was finished by Anaṅgabhīma I. Those who have seen the great temple at Puri and its first Maṇḍapa called the Jagamohana in Orissa, before its exterior was covered with modern sand-plaster and whitewash, may remember its graceful outline and the Nāṭyamandira and the Bhoga-maṇḍapa are later additions. This can be proved independently of the very doubtful testimony of the Mādalā Pāñji. The great temple of the Sun-God at Koṇārka consists of a sanctum (Vimāna) and one Maṇḍapa called the Jagamohana, showing that the two later *Maṇḍapas* had not come into vogue in Orissa till 1264 A. D. When the present writer was engaged in the repairs of the temple of Kṛttivāsa or Liṅgarāja at Bhubaneśvar, he found that the *Vimāna* and the *Jagamohana* were built at the same time but the *Nāṭyamandira* was added at a much later date. When the *Nāṭyamandira* was added, it destroyed the great beauty of a *Chaitya*-window in the centre of the facade of the *Jagamohana* against which the *Nāṭyamandira* was built. Similarly in the case of the little temple of Pārvatī in the same compound at Bhubaneśvar, the *Nāṭyamandira* and *Bhogamaṇḍapa* are later additions. Therefore, originally the North-Eastern type of mediæval temples were of the same plan as the North-Western, consisting of a *Garbhagṛiha* and a *Maṇḍapa*. The incline of the corners of the sides of the *Śikhara* decreased in the 11th century, as proved by a comparison of the spire of the temple of Jagannātha with that of the Brahmeśvara or the Liṅgarāja temples at Bhubaneśvar. The activity in temple-building was not confined to the kings of this period only. The Bhubaneśvar inscription of Svapneśvaradeva and other minor records prove that the majority of madiæval temples of Orissa were built during the period extending from the reign of Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga to that of Narasimha I. A decline set in after the death of Narasimha I, which lasted till the overthrow of the dynasty in the early years of the fifteenth century.

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Portion of the Frieze with door-way, consisting of round arch supported by Indo-Persepolitan pilasters—lower storey—ruined corridor—Rani Nur Gumpha—Udaygiri, Puri District

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