History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c31.4

v1.c31.4

According to the Mādalā Pāñji the Sulṭāns of Golkonda (Jamshed Qūli Quṭb Shāh, 1543-50) invaded Orissa in the 7th Aṅka or the 5th year of the reign. While Govinda Vidyādhara was in the south, his sister's son, Raghu Bhañja Chhoṭa Rāya, rebelled in the north with the assistance of the independent Sulṭāns of Bengal. This statement of the Mādalā Pāñji requires careful analysis. In the first place, Raghu was a Bhañja and he was sufficiently close to the frontiers of Musalman territory in Bengal or Bihar to be helped by them. In the second place, he is called a Chhoṭa Rāya or the second son of a king. He was therefore not the king of Mayurbhañja or Keonjhar, but a younger brother or uncle of one of these kings. In the third place, the first two conclusions make it certain that he was a Garhjāt chief or the general of one, evidently of the Bhañja kingdoms of Mayurbhañja or Keonjhar. In the fourth place, Fariduddīn Sher Shāh had died on 24th May 1545 and had been succeeded by his son Islām Shāh, under whom Bengal and Bihar were included in the Afghan empire of Delhi. There was no independent Musalman kingdom in Bengal and Bihar till Islam Shah's death in 1553. Raghu Bhañja Chhoṭa Rāya had therefore rebelled with the help of either Muhammad Khān Sūr or any of his predecessors. The rebellion of Raghu Bhañja shows the true position of the Bhañjas of Mayurbhañja and Keonjhar on the political stage of Orissa, a position which they continued to occupy till they were hemmed in on all sides with British territory. As soon as the trunk became weak and the great Gajapati a mere shadow of his former splendour, the Bhañja chiefs rose in instant rebellion and continued to defy their overlord by alliance with a foreign power. The result of Raghu Bhañja's rebellion made the king hurry back to northern Orissa and subdue the Garhjāt chief, neglecting the southern provinces of the empire. There is an echo of the rebellion of Raghu Bhañja in the only known inscription of Govinda Vidyādhara. The Jagannātha temple inscription contains an injunction to the Garhjāt chiefs for obedience. This is the first epigraphical record of the term Garhjāt. It is not possible even now to ascertain how much of Orissa to the north of the Godāvarī was conquered by Jamashed Qūlī Quṭb Shāh during the campaign of 1545-46. Mr. Chakravarti is perhaps right in placing the death of Govinda Vidyādhara in *Circa* 1549 A.D.