History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c8.15

v1.c8.15

In Northern Orissa one important artery of traffic is the Katak-Sambalpur road, which practically follows the contour of the Mahānadī and joins the Calcutta-Nagpur road in the vicinity of Sambalpur. The only other important artery of traffic is the Calcutta-Madras road along the coast. Towns in the hilly area behind Orissa proper are few and far between. The only town which deserves mention is Vinītapura or Yayātipura, which is the same as modern Sonpur, chief town of a small state of that name. This was the capital of the degenerate Somavaṁśis, who fled to this part after their expulsion from Sirpur, their ancestral home. Sonpur possesses very few ruins and fewer specimens of antiquity compared with Ratanpur or Sirpur, and the poverty of the new capital of the Somavaṁśis proves that the dynasty itself rose to no very great prominence. Other towns in this border-land of Orissa are of modern origin and their importance lies merely in the fact that they are the present seats of petty Oṛiyā chiefs, called the chiefs of the Garhjat.