History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c28.9.2

v1.c28.9.2

One of the earliest events mentioned in the *Burhān-i-Ma’āṣir* is the attempt on the part of the Bahmanī Sulṭān to conquer the uplands of the Telugu country. It is stated in this work that the leader of the Hindu chief of the highland of Telingana or that part of the Telugu-speaking country which lay above the ghats, was an Oriya. Kapileśvara is not mentioned by name but the statement in the Musalman history about the number of elephants possessed by this Oṛiyā chief proves that he was no ordinary chief but the great Gajapati king himself. This statement proves that soon after his accession Kapilendra was in possession of the Telugu country, not only the flat coastland between the foot of the Eastern Ghats and the Bay but also the greater portion of the eastern edge of the Deccan plateau, which the Musalmans had not yet succeeded in subduing. The Burhān-i-Ma'āṣir states that a chief named Sanjar Khān was engaged in the delightful pastime of raiding Hindu kingdoms and capturing non-combatants in order to sell them as slaves in Musalman kingdoms. Hearing this, the Bahmanī Sultan 'Alāuddin Aḥmad Shāh is stated to have said that it was dangerous to meddle with a man who possessed more than two hundred thousands war elephants, while he himself did not possess even two hundred. This is just the beginning of Kapilendra's activities outside Orissa proper, when he started to increase the original limits of the kingdom of the Gaṅgas to found an empire.