History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c9.7

v1.c9.7

In the extreme south, the Zamindars of Vizianagram claim to be descended from a Rajput who came to the Vizagapatam district in 591 A. D., totally oblivious of the fact that the name Rajput had not come into existence before the twelfth or the thirteenth century A.D. The family tradition of the Chiefs of Vizianagram has preserved the name of one who is well known from epigraphical records. The records of this family mention one Mādhava as the Rajput who came from Northern India and founded this family in 591 A.D. A Chief named Mādhavavarman is known to have been ruling the Koṅgoda district or Central Orissa in 619 A.D., under Śaśāṅka of Gauḍa, the adversary of Harshavardhana of Northern India. It is more probable that this Mādhava of 591 A.D., of Vizianagram tradition, is the same as Mādhavarāja II of the Śailodbhava dynasty; yet the craze for Rajput descent is so strong among the chiefs of India, many of whom are descended from kings belonging to families which were regarded as very old at a time when the Rajput was a barbarian, that the Vizianagram chief still persists in claiming Rajput ancestry.