History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c27.20

Language: English

v1.c27.20.1

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.

v1.c27.20.2

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.

v1.c27.20.3

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.