History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c30.34

v1.c30.34

Neo-Vaishṇava effect on Pratāparudra and his policy is only too apparent even in the literature of that sect in Bengali. In Jayānanda’s *Chaitanya-maṅgala* it is stated that Pratāparudra had consulted Chaitanya about invading Bengal but that saint had dissuaded him, pointing out that the war would have a disastrous effect on his own country.² It is stated in the *Chaitanya-charitāmṛita* that Rāmānanda’s brother Gopīnātha Barajenā, who was the governor of Maljyāṭhā or Medinipur, had fallen in arrears to the extent of two lakhs of *Kahans* of cowries and was ordered to be put to death by Pratāparudra, but he was saved and reinstated at the intercession of Chaitanya’s disciples.³ The *Chaitanya-bhāgavata* mentions Pratāparudra’s wars with the independent Sulṭāns of Bengal and describes the devastation of the country and the destruction of images;⁴ yet the advice of Chaitanya was sufficient to cause this cowardly and religiously-minded king to desist from a proper defence of his own teritories.⁵