History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c31.19

v1.c31.19

He sent an army under Durga Punj (Durga Bhañja or Durga Pāñja) and Jihata Rai (Chhoṭa Rāya). According to Abu’l Fazl, these two officers corrupted the officers of the Musalman army and then turned against Mukunda Harichandana. Mukunda and the Chhoṭa Rāya were both killed and the kingdom fell to Durga Bhañja.¹ Both chronicles agree about the route taken by the second army under Bāyazid. Reaching the head waters of the Kāñsābāñsā river, Bāyazid marched through the interior of Dhalbhum and the western part of the Māyur-bhañja State and surprised Katak. At that time Mukunda Harichandana was besieged in the fort of Kotsarma or Kotsīmul. Koli Sāmanta Singhāra, the commandant of Katak fort, was killed and the royal palace stormed by the Musalmans. During this confusion in the country one Rāma Chandra Bhañja, the commandant of Sarangarh fort near Katak, proclaimed himself to be the king. This unexpected treachery on the part of the Bhañja chief compelled Mukunda Harichandana to come to terms with Sulṭān Sulaimān Kararānī and hasten to Katak. A civil war now ensued during which Mukunda Harichandana was killed by Rāma Chandra Bhañja. According to the Mādalā Pāñji, Bāyazid attacked Rāma Chandra Bhañja and both were killed on the same day. Mukunda Harichandana died in Śaka 1490=1568 A. D. Raghu Bhañja Chhoṭa Rāya, who was in prison up to this time, now escaped and tried to take possession of the country, but he was also defeated and killed by the celebrated renegade Hindu Kālāpāhāḍ. The latter had accompanied prince Bāyazid and desecrated the temple of Jagannātha and tried to destroy and burn the wooden idols. According to the *Mādaḷā Pañji*, "During the troubles that followed the Pathan invasion Divyasimha Pāṭnāyak, the *Parikṣha* or the manager of the temple of Jagannātha, removed the idols to Parikud, an island in the Chilka lake, and hid them underground at Chhavali Hathipada. Kālāpāhāḍ got scent of this, proceeded to Parikud and recovered the images. From Parikud he returned to Puri, plundered the stores (*Bāvaṇa-koṭi bhaṇḍāra*), damaged the great temple up to the *āmalaka* stone, disfigured all the images and uprooted the *Kalpa-vaṭa* tree and set fire to it after covering it with horses' dung. The images of Jagannātha was then conveyed to the bank of the Ganges and thrown into fire. It is added that the son of Kālāpāhāḍ cast the half-burnt image into the Ganges".¹