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History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c27: Chapter XVIII

History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c27

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English

Contents

Chapter XVIII

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THE FALL OF THE EASTERN GAṄGAS—BHĀNUDEVA I TO NARASIMHA IV.

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Narasimha I died in the Śaka year 1186=1264 A. D. He was succeeded by his son Bhānudeva I, born of his queen Sītādevī. The dates of the reign of this king have been calculated from the details given in the Kenduapatna plates of his son Narasimha II. He is said to have ruled for 18 Aṅkas or 15 years. According to the statements in the copper plates of his successors, King Bhānudeva gave one hundred pieces of land with houses and gardens to Śrotriya Brāhmaṇas. He married Jākalladevī of the Chālukya family and was succeeded by his son Narasimha II.

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According to the *Narahari-yati-stotra*, Narasimha II was an infant when his father died and the famous Vaiṣṇava scholar Narahari-tīrtha ruled as his regent for 12 years. Narahari was a disciple of the famous Ānanda-tīrtha, the founder of the Dvaita or Mādhva school of philosophy. According to the *Narahari-yati-stotra* which forms a portion of the *Stotra-mahodadhi*¹, Narahari’s real name was either Rāma-śāstri or Sāma-śāstri. After his initiation by the great Mādhva teacher Ānanda-tīrtha, he was renamed Narahari-tīrtha. According to the orders of his *Guru*, he came to the capital of the Gajapati King to become a ruler. Narahari preferred to be an ascetic, but his *Guru* said, “You must go to the country of Kaliṅga and obtain for me the images of Rāma and Sītā which I want to worship.” When Narasimha II had attained majority, Narahari-tīrtha begged of him the images as a present and compensation for services rendered, from the royal treasury. Narahari obtained the images and took them to his Guru who worshipped them for eighty days and then made them over to his disciple Padmanābha-tīrtha, who gave them to Narahari-tīrtha after six years. Narahari carried the images about for some time and then gave them to Mādhava-tīrtha, another disciple of Ānanda-tīrtha. The statements in these Mādhva or Dvaita chronicles agree with certain inscriptions in the Kurmeśvara temple at Śrī-Kurmam in Chikakole Tāluqa of the Ganjam district. The first of these inscriptions records that in the Śaka year 1203 Narahari-tīrtha built a temple of Yogānanda-Nrisimha at Śrī-Kurmam. According to this inscription, Narahari-tīrtha had protected the people of Kalinga and defended Śrī-Kurmam from an attack of the wild Śabaras. The temple of Yogānanda-Nrisimha was dedicated on Saturday, the 29th March, 1281. There are five other inscriptions at Śrī-Kurmam recording gifts by Narahari-tīrtha. The earliest of these is in the temple of Kurmeśvara at Śrī-Kurmam and dated Friday, the 19th September, 1264, the year of the death of Narasimha I. The second of them was discovered in the temple of Lakshmi-Narasimha-Svāmin temple at Simhāchalam near Waltair and is dated Sunday, the 20th January, 1292. The third is also to be found at the same place and is dated Saturday, the 26th July, 1292. The fourth inscription is in the temple of Kurmeśvara at Śrī-Kurmam and is dated, Thursday the 21st May, 1293. The last inscription also comes from the same place and is dated Sunday, the 3rd January, 1294.¹ The biggest inscription of Narahari-tīrtha, which records the dedication of the temple of Yogānanda-Nrisiṁha, appears to have been inscribed when the great teacher was still the Governor of Kaliṅga, but this would go against the statements of the Mādhva chronicles that Narahari-tīrtha was Governor of Kaliṅga and the regent of the Gajapati King, Narasiṁha II, for 12 years only from 1278 to 1290. The remaining inscriptions show that Narahari-tīrtha was in a position to make grants till the beginning of 1294. According to the calculations of the late Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sāstri, Narahari-tīrtha became the pontiff of the Mādhva sect in 1324 or eighteen years after the death of his ward Narasiṁha II and he himself died in 1333 A. D.²

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¹ *Nirṇaya-sāgara Press, Bombay. 1897, part 1.*

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¹ *Epi. Ind., Val. VI, pp. 266-68.*

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² *Ibid., pp. 260-66.*

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A very large number of inscriptions of Narasiṁha II have come to light. The majority of them come from Śrī-Kurmam and the last known date of this king is the Śaka year 1227=1305 A. D. The inscriptions assign to him a reign of 34 Aṅkas *i. e.*, 28 years. Therefore, Narasiṁha II must have died in 1306 A. D.

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Prāchyavidyāmahārṇava-Siddhāntavāridhi Nagendranāth Vasu has recorded the discovery of three sets of copper plates consisting of seven plates in each set, in the village of Kenduapatna in the Kendrapada sub-division of the Cuttack district. Of these he has published only one set in an Oriental Journal with facsimiles. Of the remaining two sets one has been published in the Bengali Encyclopædia *Viśvakosha*. The inscription on these three sets of plates give the entire genealogy of the Eastern Gaṅgas up to Narasimha II in one hundred and five verses and contain, moreover, some lines in prose. One of these three sets was issued in the Śaka year 1217=6th August 1296, Monday, which was the 21st Aṅka of Narasimha II. The object of this inscription is to record the grant of certain lands in two villages while the King was out on a campaign on the banks of the Ganges on the occasion of a Lunar Eclipse. The donee was a Brāhmaṇa named Bhīmadeva-śarman of the Kāśyapa gotra who held the title or rank of Kumāra-Mahāpātra. The wording of this inscription is very peculiar. It uses the words Vijaya-samaye and mentions that at that time the King was at Remuṇā, a place still existing in the Balasore district, which is regarded as a holy place by Bengali and Oṛiyā Vaiṣṇavas. The King’s presence at Remuṇā close to the Ganges “in the time of conquest” indicates a campaign against the Musalmans of Bengal. It is stated that Mughiṣuddīn Tughral, the Governor of Bengal, who rebelled in the time of Sultan Ghiyāṣuddīn Bilbun of Delhi, invaded Orissa in A. H. 678=1275 A. D.¹ When the aged Emperor Bilbun started personally against Tughral, the latter had invaded Orissa once more, because he thought that Bilbun would not be able to stay in Bengal for a long time and that he would return to Gaur as soon as the former had retired. After Tughral’s death in 1282 Narasimha II seems to have invaded Bengal once more. The date of the 3rd set of Kenduapatna plates indicates that the campaign was undertaken in 1296, i.e., during the reign of Sulṭān Ruknuddīn Kaikāūs Shāh of the Bilbunī dynasty of Bengal, when the celebrated Sulṭān ’Alāuddīn Muḥammad Shāh Khāljī was on the throne of Delhi. The date 1296 is very significant because about this time, Saptagrāma or Sātgāon was conquered by the Musalmans of Bengal. According to an inscription discovered at Triveṇī in the Hooghly district of Bengal, Saptagrāma was conquered by Ikhtiyāruddin Firoz Ītgīn Ulūgh-i-’aẓam before A. H. 698=1298 A. D.¹ It is possible that the campaign undertaken by Narasimha II on the banks of the Ganges had for its purpose an attempt to succour the unfortunate inhabitants of Southern Bengal from the dreaded and hated yoke of the Musalmans. We do not know what victories Narasimha II achieved and why the term *Vijaya-samaye*² was used, because for the time being Saptagrāma passed into the hands of the Musalmans of Bengal. The Kenduapatna plates mention a number of officers of this King by name. The *Śrī-Karaṇa* or Private Secretary was Śivadāsa, who measured the land in the village of Eḍzrā in the district of Derā. Another *Karaṇa* (Clerk) named Chandradāsa is mentioned as having measured the land in the village of Sunailā in the Svaṅga district. Some interesting names are to be found in this inscription. A portion of the land granted was named Gaṅgā-Narasimhapura in which a certain portion was given to a *Sebāit* named Allālanātha. The name Allālanātha becomes common later on, but this is the earliest instance of the use of the word *Sebāit* meaning the trustee of a religious endowment.³

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¹ Riyāz-us-salāṭīn, Eng. Trans., p. 79.

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¹ *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series Vol, XXXIX, 1870, part 1, pp. 285-86.*

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² In modern Oṛiyā the term *vijaya* is used to denote the time when a king or chief appears in public or sits in court.

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³ *Ibid., Vol, LXV, 1896, part 1, pp. 229-71.*

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*Prāchyavidyāmahārṇava-Siddhāntavāridhi* Nagendra Nātha Vasu has published another of these Kenduapatna plates in the Bengali Encyclopaedia *Viśvakosha*, but the decipherment is extremely careless and there is no facsimile. It is, therefore, wiser not to make any serious use of Mr. Vasu’s attempts, at decipherment in the *Viśvakosha*. This grant was issued from the camp at Rauhaṭṭa in the same year, *i.e.*, Śaka 1218. It records a grant to the same Kumāra-Mahāpātra Bhīmadeva-śarman. It seems to mention a district (*Vishaya*) named Remuṇā, a place well-known in the biographies of the Bengali Vaishṇava saint Chaitanya. It also mentions the river Suvarṇarekhā. Śivadāsa and Allālanātha are mentioned once more.¹ The third set of plates discovered at Kenduapatna does not seem to have been published anywhere.

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¹ *Viśvakosha*, Bengali, Calcutta, B. S. 1301, additions to p. 321.

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Narasimha II is known from a large number of votive records in the temples of Śri-Kurmam in one of which a Minister of the King named Garuḍa-Nārāyaṇadeva, son of Doshāditya, is metioned. Narasimha II died in Śaka 1228= 1306 A. D., and was succeeded by his son Bhānudeva II. The history of the reigns of Bhānudeva II depended so far entirely on the statements of the Puri plates of Narasimha IV and the scanty references in votive inscriptions at Sri-Kurmam. Bhānudeva II was a son of Narasimha II by his queen Choaḍdevī. The most important event of his reign was the invasion of Orissa by the Sultan Ghiyāsuddīn Tughlaq Shah of Delhi. Ghiyāsuddīn Tughlaq invaded Bengal in A. H. 724=1324 A. D., to interfere on behalf of one of the descendants of Bilbun named Nāṣiruddīn Ibrāhīm in the kingdom of Bengal. At this time his eldest son Ulūgh Khan, afterwards the Emperor Muḥammad Bin Tughlaq Shāh, invaded Orissa from the South. After capturing Varangal he advanced towards Rājamahendrī near the mouth of the Godāvarī, captured it and turned its principal temple into a Masjid. This Masjid along with the inscription of Prince Ulūgh Khān or Jūnā Khān can still be seen at Rājamahendrī.¹ The Puri plates of Narasimha IV credit Bhānudeva II with a victory over a king named Gayāsadina, who has been correctly identified by Chakravarti with Ghiyāsuddīn Tughlaq Shāh, but he is mistaken in thinking that the reference to the war with Ghiyāsuddīn is the same as the capture of Rājamahendrī by Ulūgh Khān or Jūnā Khān. The inscription mentions Gayāsadina specially indicating that Bhānudeva II had fought with Ghiyāsuddīn Tughlaq Shāh during his campaign in Bengal. The passage runs thus: "The king's (Bhanudeva's) war with Ghayāsud-din beginning, the blood flowing from the neck of the many big chiefs wounded by his valour filled the world. The blood stream gushing up profusely from the then wounded breasts of the (enemy's) elephants was such that it still shines in the sky in the disguise of sun-set glow."²

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¹ *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1925-26, pp. 150-51.*

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² *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXIV, 1895, part I. pp. 136,146.*

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A set of plates recently discovered in the Puri district were brought to me in 1925 by a student of the Calcutta University, named Mr. Nirmal Kumar Basu, M. SC. These plates were six in number and only the first plate is inscribed on one side. There is no ring and the plates were brought to me loose. Mr. Basu informed me that the plates were brought to the *Mahant* of the Emar *Maṭha*, a rich and powerful religious establishment in the town of Puri, by another *Mahant* of a village *Maṭha*. These plates are peculiar. The first five plates, beginning with the second side of the first plate and ending with that of the fifth plate are in verse. They give the complete genealogy of the Eastern Gaṅga kings of Orissa from the Moon to Bhānudeva II. In these five plates there are altogether 191 lines of writing and the draft is a close copy of the Kenduapatna plates of Narasimha II. Up to Narasimha II the genealogy occupies 174 lines. Eighteen lines are devoted to the praise of his son, Bhānudeva II, but the whole of 1. 191 is not completely taken up by the last verse and a little space has been left empty at the end. So it is quite possible that this genealogy of the king was kept ready to be used as occasion demanded and the sixth plate had no connection with it. But, on the other hand, the sixth plate is of the same size as the preceding five and it also bears writing of the same size and type. The second side of the first plate bears 24 lines of writing like that on the fifth plate. So it is also quite possible that the inscription on the two sides of the last plate are a continuation of the metrical portion on the first five plates. But the first line of the first side of the sixth plate begins with a fresh invocation: *Oṃ svasti subham-astu*. Then comes the date in words—the Śaka year 1234=1312 A. D. The usual royal titles are omitted and we find the phrase *Praśasti-stoma-virājamāna* before the name of a new king named Purushottamadeva. The date precludes the possibility of this king being the emperor Purushottama of the Sūryavaṃśa dynasty, who ruled from 1470 to 1497. The date is continued after the name of the king—the seventh Aṅka of the victorious reign (the fifth year) the month of Dhanuḥ (Agrahāyaṇa or Mārgaśirsha) the ninth day of the dark half, a Saturday (Saurī-vāre). Then the inscription goes on to state that in the camp or Kaṭaka of Purushottama, on the bank of the southern ocean, in the presence of Vīra-Śrī-Bhānudeva, the Sāndhivigrahika Raṅgadāsa-śarman who was of the Vātsya gotra and the Kāṇva śākhā of the Yajur-veda, received a grant of several villages; such as Padmapāga-Sugalapura in the district of Koṇṭarāvaṅga, Somanāthapadā in the district of Chavanga. Towards the end of l. 198, or 1, 7 if the inscription on the sixth plate has no connection with that on the first five, it is mentioned that at Purushottama the order for the grant was communicated in the interior of the palace to Vīra-Śrī-Bhānudeva Rāuta by the Chakravartī and Mahāpatra Narendradeva. Then follows the boundaries of the villages granted. A number of private persons are mentioned in lines, 210-15 or the last four lines of the first side and the first line of the second side of the sixth plate.

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Frieze in ruined corridor of lower storey—Rani Nur Gumpha—Udaygiri, Puri District—dancing hall—female dancing with female musicians

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A facsimile of one plate of this inscription has been published by Mr. B. C. Majumdar,¹ whose unfortunate infirmity has made it impossible for him to decipher this long inscription correctly. After waiting for some time I have decided to undertake its publication personally, relying on the impressions taken by me in 1925. The text of the sixth plate leaves no doubt about the fact that in the Śaka year 1234 a king named Purushottama ruled at Purushottama Kaṭaka or Puri and that the second Aṅka or the first year of his reign was 1306 A. D. The late Mr. Monmohan Chakravarti’s masterly monograph on the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty does not mention any king of that name. The genealogy as given by him¹ does not show any Purushottama in the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty. At that time only two stone inscriptions of this king were known. Both of them were discovered at Śrī-Kurmam, but the first record is dated Śaka 1231, Kanyā, Śu. 5, a Thursday. This date is irregular and cannot be verified. The inscription is also curious. It mentions a Chālukya chief named Viśvanātha, who was the son of Purushottama, and who gave forty gold coins to Vishṇu, i.e., Kurmeśvara. The second half of the inscription mentions that the Śaka year 1231 corresponded with the third year of the reign of Jagannāthadeva and that at that time Vīra-Bhānudeva was ruling. In the first place it is difficult to understand who this Jagannāthadeva was.

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Viśvanāthadeva, the son of Purushottama, was an Eastern Chālukya chief and he is the donee. Mr. Chakravarti has taken the Śaka year 1231=1309 A. D., to be the third year of the reign of Bhānudeva II, but the text of the inscription is perfectly clear. The year 1309 A. D. was the third year of the reign of a new king named Jagannāthadeva. At the same time Purushottama of the Eastern Chālukya dynasty cannot be Purushottama of the Puri plates, because at that time Viśvanātha of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty was ruling over Śrī-Kurmam. It appears that Śaka 1228 or 1306 A. D. was the year of accession of this new king, Jagannātha, as well as Purushottama of the Puri plates of Śaka 1234. Had any of these names occurred in the metrical portion of these two inscriptions, then they could have been taken as synonymous, as both are names of Viṣṇu. But being in cold prose it is impossible to regard them as identical. Moreover, in the Śrī-Kurmam inscription of the Śaka year 1231, the style of the composition proves that Jagannātha was a feudatory of Vira-Bhānu II, but in the Puri plates of Śaka 1234, Vira-Bhānu is not even styled a king. We must, therefore, regard Purushottama as an usurper who kept Bhānudeva II virtually a prisoner in the interior of his palace at Purī. Mr. Chakravarty placed his coronation in Śaka 1227 and his death in Śaka 1249-50. The first year or 2nd Aṅka of his son Narasimha III is certain, and, therefore, Bhānudeva II died in 1328 A. D.

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The Puri plates of Narasimha IV assign 24 years to him. If these are taken to be regnal years then his accession falls in 1304 A. D., which is absurd in view of the inscription on the new Puri plates. If they are taken to be Aṅka years, then his actual reign was 19 years, and his first year or the 2nd Aṅka falls in 1309 or the date of the Puri plates. It seems probable, therefore, that the usurpation of Purushottama did not last beyond his 7th Aṅka or 1312 A. D. A second stone inscription of Bhānudeva II was also discovered in the temple of Śrī-Kurmam. It records a donation by one Gharaḍāmāji Śrī-Rāma-Senāpati in Śaka 1243 on the 13th day of the bright half of Śrāvaṇa, a Thursday, 6th August 1321. There is no Aṅka year in this inscription also and, therefore, it is not possible to determine the year of accession of Bhānudeva II correctly. This inscription mentions certain interesting details. Gharaḍāmāji is described as the protector of Kaliṅga, breaker of Kumeli, slayer of Kañchāla, reducer of Koṇḍḍu, a lion to Gandra-dāmu Korama and, finally, a minister of Bhānudeva. None of these names or places could be identified by the late Mr. Monmohan Chakravarti.¹ The usurpation of Purushottama cannot have had anything to do with the invasion of Jūnā Khān or his father. The demise of Narasimha II must, therefore, be placed in 1304-5.

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¹ Orissa in the Making, Calcutta 1925, pp. 202-203.

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¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXXII, 1905. pp. 140-141.

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¹ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXXII, 1903, part I, pp. 130-31.

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Narasimha III, the son and successor of Bhānudeva II, was born of the queen Lakshmīdevī. According to the Puri plates he also ruled for 24 years. This is a regular regnal year because we possess his inscriptions of the 29th Aṅka which fell in Śaka 1272. He seems to have reigned for more than 26 years, because his son and successor ascended the throne in Śaka 1275 or 1276. Though we possess a very large number of votive inscriptions of this King, very little is known about him. Inscriptions at Śrī-Kurmam range from Śaka 1252 to 1272. We learn from these inscriptions that besides Kamalādevī, the mother of Bhānudeva III, Narasimha III had two other queens, named Gaṅgāmbā or Gaṅgāmbikā and Kommidevāmmā. The King had a daughter named Sītādevī by the last-named queen. One of these votive records from Śrī-Kurmam record the important fact that Bhānudeva III gave to the temple of Śrī-Kurmum images of his father Narasimha III and his step-mother Gaṅgāmbikā holding lamps.²

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² Ibid pp., 134-35.

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Bhānudeva III was the son of Narasimha III by Kamalā-devī. The decline of the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty had become so marked that neighbouring kings took advantage of their condition and raided Orissa from all sides. The Musalmans were the earliest on the scene. Bengal had acquired independence under Shamsuddīn Iliyās Shāh in 1339. In 1353 Shamsuddin Illiyās raided Orissa.¹ The kings of the Yādava dynasty of Vijayanagara conquered the whole of the Southern part of the Eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal and in 1356 Prince Sangama, a nephew of the Emperor Bukkarāya I of Vijayanagara, defeated the Gajapati King. This is the earliest record of a war between the Hindu kings of Vijayanagara and Orissa. The Portuguese writer Fernao Nunez states that Bucarao, *i. e.*, Bukkarāya "took the Kingdom of Orya, which is very great; it touches on Bemgalla."² The Emperor Firoz Tughlaq invaded Orissa at the time of his second expedition into Bengal. Major Raverty has translated this portion of the *Tārīkh-i-Fīrūz-Shāhī* by Shams-i-Sirāj-’Afīf. In this account the position of Jājnagar is given correctly. Firoz Tughlaq advanced from Bihar towards Gaḍhakaṭaṅkā. Jajnagar lay at the extremity of this province, which is the same as the British district of Jubbulpur. Having crossed the Mahānadī he reached the town of Banārsī.³ The Haihaya King of Jājnagar fled into Telingana. After passing through Jājnagar territories Firoz Tughlaq entered the Kingdom of Bhānudeva III while hunting.

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¹ *Ain-i-Akbari*, Vol, II p. 219, note 1.

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² *Sewell—A forgotten Empire*, p. 300.

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³ Katak on the Mahānadī was known as Katak Banaras even in the time of the Later Mughals.

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Bhānudeva sent him some elephants and Firoz Tughlaq returned to Karah near modern Manikpur. This expedition took place in A. H. 762=1361¹ A. D. Only three votive inscriptions belonging to the earlier part of the reign of Bhānudeva III have been discovered at Śrī-Kurmam. As the 3rd Aṅka of his son, Narasimha IV, falls in Śaka 1301=1379 A. D., Bhānudeva II must have died in the preceding year, *i. e.*, 1378 A. D.

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¹ *Tabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī* Eng. Trans, *notes* on pp, 589-92.

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Narasimha IV, the last known king of the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty, was a son of Bhānudeva III by the qeen Hirādevī of the Chālukya family. Orissa continued to be the happy hunting ground of the neighbouring monarchs, specially the Musalman kings. Narasimh IV is known from two copper plate grants discovered in the town of Puri; the first of these was found in Maṭh Tirmali, opposite the Northern gate of the temple of Jagannātha at Puri, while the second one was discovered in Maṭh Saṅkarānanda about a mile and a half from the same temple. These two inscriptions give us the entire genealogy, mythical and real, of the Eastern Gaṅga dynasty, from the Moon to Narasimha IV. Besides these two copper plate inscriptions, Narasimha IV is known from at least five other inscriptions discovered at Śrī-Kurmam. According to Puri copper plates issued from Vārāṇasī-Kaṭaka, *i. e.*, Cuttack, in the Śaka year 1305, which was the eight Aṅka, the village of Kinari was granted. The equivalent of the date is 6th March 1384. By the second Puri Copper plate which was issued from the same place in the Śaka year 1316 which corresponded to the 22nd Aṅka, some land measuring 30 vāṭikās was given away. The late Mr.

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Monmohan Chakravarti calculated that the date of the second grant corresponded with Tuesday 23rd November 1395, old style. Two other dates in the second grant show that Narasimha IV was at a place named Devakūṭa on Wednesday the 22nd November 1396 A. D., and at Nārāyaṇapura on the 24th February 1397 A. D. The grants were made in the presence of a number of officers who are mentioned by name. In the first grant we find the mention of :

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(1) Gaḍesvara Jenā, Door Examiner (*Dvāra-Parīksha*),
(2) Laṇḍusani Miśra, Commander-in-Chief (*Buḍhālleṅkā*),
(3) Mahāpātra Narendradeva Chakravarttī, Examiner of Accounts (*Bhaṇḍāria Thāu Poroparīksha*),
(4) Mahāpātra Naraharidāsa Praharāja, the donee,
(5) Mahasenāpati Svapneśvara, Writer of Accounts (*Poro-Śrī-Karaṇa*),
(6) Mahasenāpati Vaidi, Writer of Accounts.

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*In the second plate are mentioned :*

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1. Mahāpātra Kṛishṇānanda, *Sāndhivigrahika*,
2. Mahāpātra Laṇḍuratha,
3. Mahāpātra Gopīnātha, *Sāndhivigrahika*,
4. Pātra Bhuvanānanda *Sāndhivigrahika*,
5. Pātra Siddeśvara Jenā, Door Examiner (*Dvāra-Parīksha*),
6. Trivikrama *Sāndhivigrahika*,
7. Mahāsenāpati Viśvanatha, Writer of Accounts (*Śrī-Karaṇa*).

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The following officers were present in the room of worship at the time of the counting of beads *Japasamaya* :

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1. Pātra Mahāmuni-Purohita, 2. Sāndhivigrahika Trivikrama, Door Examiner (*Dvāra-Parīksha*),
3. Somanātha Vāhinīpati, Commander-in-Chief (*Buḍhāleṅkā*),
4. Narahari Sāndhivigraha, Treasurer of the Inner Treasury (*Bhiṭara-Bhaṇḍāra-Adhikārī*),
5. Mahāsenāpati Viśvanātha, Writer of Accounts (*Poro-Śrī-Karaṇa*).

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Portion of the Frieze—Royal devotees—a king, two queens, with two female attendants—corridor of the lower storey—Rani Nur Gumpha—Udaygiri, Puri District

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In the camp at Nārāyaṇapura the following officers were present when the king had finished his worship:
1. Somanātha Vāhinīpati, Commander-in-Chief (*Buḍhāleṅkā*),
2. Sāndhivigraha Bhuvaneśvara,
3. Sāndhivigraha Lakshmaṇānda,
4. Sāndhivigraha Narahari, Treasurer of the Inner Treasury,
5. Sāndhivigraha Trivikrama, Door-keeper (*Thāudvāra-Parīksha*),
6. Mahāpātra Gateśvardāsa, Examiner of Accounts (*Puro-parīksha*).

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The mention of the names and ranks of these officers enable us to form a correct picture of the officials of a Hindu kingdom in India at the end of the fourteenth century. The titles Sāndhivigraha and Mahāpātra had become personal. Vernacular titles have been given to the Commander-in-Chief, *e. g.*, *Buḍhāleṅkā* for *Mahābalādhikṛita*. Many of the other titles are in the local vernacular instead of Sanskrit. The most important parts of the grants are the portions relating to the donee and the land granted, which are in the local vernacular. These are the earliest known specimens of the Oṛiyā language.

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Mr. Chakravarti states: "The language shows that in words and syntax the old Uriya of five hundred years ago, was nearly the same as now." The first grant of 1384 A. D. records the gift of the village of Kinnarī in the Uttarakhaṇḍa Kalabho Government to Mahāpātra Naraharidāsa. The village yielded 900 Māḍhās of gold and at the time of the grant its name was changed to Vijaya-Narasiṃhapura. A part of the land granted was the homestead, with a house of a brāhmaṇa named Svapneśvara. Among villages named as boundaries of the village of Kinnarī, several still exist in the Puri district, *e. g.*, Bhākharashāhi and Makulunda. The second grant of 1395 records the donation of the villages of Saiso and Rādāso to a brāhmaṇa named Devaratha Āchārya, who was the priest in the temple of Ugreśvaradeva. The villages yielded 449 Māḍhās of gold and many of the villages mentioned as boundaries still exist. The villages of Saiso and Rādāso were included in the Madanakhaṇḍa district (*Vishaya*), the Odamolo sub-division in the Government of Koṣṭadeśa. The language and the form of these two grants prove that the Baud plates of Kanakabhañja which Mr. B. C. Mazumdar would have us believe to be dated in the 3rd quarter of the 15th century is a clumsy forgery.¹ From the end of the 4th century the Oṛiyā language predominated in land grants of Orissa and in the 15th century the Oṛiyā script drove out the older proto-Bengali out of that province. This is proved by the two Puri plates of Narasimha IV² and the Balasore plate of the Emperor Purushottama of the Surya-vaṃśa dynasty.¹

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¹ *Journal of the Behar and Orissa Society*, Vol. XIV, pp. 115-26; see also Vol. II, pp. 356-74.

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² *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, Old Series, Vol. LXIV 1895, part 1, pp. 128-54.

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¹ Ind. Ant., Vol. I, 1871, pp. 353-56.

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Throughout the long reign of Narasimha IV Musalmans continued to invade Orissa from all sides. In A.H. 796-802= 1393-1399 A.D. Mālik-ush-Sharq of Jaunpur is said to have compelled the King of Jajnagar to pay tribute,² In A. H. 815=1412 A.D., the Bahmanī Sulṭān Tājuddin Firoz Shāh invaded Orissa and carried off a number of elephants.³ Finally, in A.H., 825=1422 A.D., Sulṭān Hoshang Ghorī of Mālwā came disguised as a merchant towards Orissa. He captured the king, who purchased his liberty by presenting Hoshang with a number of elephants.⁴ The last named episode may also have taken place in Ratanpur or Tummāṇa, and not in Orissa.

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² Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Eng. Trans., p. 589 note.

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³ Ibid., p. 592, note.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 589, note.

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We know from the inscriptions at Śrī-Kurmam that Narasimha IV was recognised as the King of Orissa till Śaka 1346=1425 A.D. No inscriptions of any king of the Eastern Gaṅga danasty later in date has been discovered. We do not know when the reign of Narasimha IV came to an end. It seems to have lasted nearly half a century. The chronicles of the temple of Jagannātha, the Mādalā Pāñji, state that the last king of the Gaṅga dynasty was Bhānudeva IV, nick-named Akaṭa Abaṭa, also known as the mad king. No inscriptions of this king have been discovered. The same chronicle states that after the death of Bhānudeva IV, Kapilendra or Kalileśvara, his minister, usurped the throne and became the founder of the Sūryavaṁśa dynasty in 1434-35 A.D.²

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² The entire chapter is based on the late Mr. Manmohan Chakravarti's excellent discourse on "the Chronology of the Eastern Gaṅga Kings of Orissa" *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Old Series, Vol. LXXII, 1905, pp. 97-141.*

Genealogical Table of the Eastern Gangas

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| | | Vajrahasta-Naṅgamā (Crowned 1038 A.D., ruled 30 or 33 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Rājarāja I—Rājasundarī, d. of Kulottuṅga I. (8 years) \| | |
| | | Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga (Accession 1078 ruled 70 years) | |
| i. Kāsturikāmodinī | ii. Indirā | iii. Chandralekhā | iv. Lakshmi |
| \| | \| | \| | \| |
| Kāmārṇava (10 years. Accession 1142) | Raghava (15 years) | Rājarāja II Suramā (25 years) | Anaṅgabhīma I (m. Bāghalladevī, 10 years) |
| | | \| | |
| | | Rājarāja II—Maṅkuṇadevī (17 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Anaṅgabhīma II—Kasturādevī (33 or 34 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Narasimha I—Sītādevī, a daughter of the King of Mālava (18 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Bhānudeva I—Jakalladevī of the Chālukya family, (15 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Narasimha II—Choḍadevī (34 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Bhānudeva II—Lakshmīdevī (24 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Narasimha III—Kamalādevī (24 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Bhānudeva III—Hīradevī (26 years) | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Narasimha IV | |
| | | \| | |
| | | Bhānudeva IV (?) | |

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