History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c26.4

v1.c26.4

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.