History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c37.34

v2.c37.34

These conflicting accounts of the origin of Rāmachandra I of Khurda, prove that the accounts kept in the Puri temple are compilations later in date than Rāmachandra. Rai Bahadur Ramā Prasād Chanda has found out the correct date of the *Mādalā Pāñji* account of the origin of Rāmachandra I of Khurda. "Bhawani Charan has recorded that in the second *Aṅka* or the first year of the reign of Rāmachandra Deva of Khurda the Rājah ordered Vaṭeswar Mahānti to compile the annals. . . .But the history of the reign of Rāmachandra Deva must have been compiled long after and by persons who could not even definitely ascertain the father's name of that king. We have, therefore, rather a distorted version of the history of Rāmachandra Deva in the Puri annals.”¹ Chanda has proved definitely that Rāmachandra was not created a chief of Orissa by the Mughals. Somehow or other he had managed to obtain possession of the fort of Sarangarh when Rājā Mān Singh invaded Orissa in 1590. Mān Singh’s Hindu sympathies and the end of the turbulent Pathan rule encouraged Hindu chiefs to come forward and claim the title Gajapati. One of the claimants was Rāmachandra, a son of the last real Gajapati, Mukunda Harichandana. Rāmachandra of Khurda had at first sided against the Mughals and even fought with Mān Singh but eventually he had to submit. Mān Singh’s first expedition to Orissa failed to break the spirit of the turbulant Afghans. In 1592 Rāmachandra was asked to attend the Court of the Ṣubāhdār of Orissa, but he refused as he had sent his son. Mān Singh sent Jagat Singh with a number of Mughal officers against him. Rāmachandra took refuge in his fort of Khurda, where he was besieged, and the neighbouring forts were captured by the Mughals; but the war was apparently stopped by Akbar from the capital and Mān Singh recalled his troops. Then Rāmachandra was persuaded to pay his respects to Rājā Mān Singh. Mān Singh had given Jāgira to Khwājah Sulaimān, Khwājah ’Uṣmān, Sher Khān and Haibat Khan in sarkār Khalifatābād in Bengal (Jessore and Khulna districts) but later on, he confiscated their Jāgirs and asked them to come to his presence. The Afghans were approaching Kharagpur when they heard the news and rebelled. They approached Sātgāon but could not capture it. They then turned eastward and went to Bhūshaṇa in the Jessore district. Chānd Rāi, son of Kedār Rāi, attempted to capture the Afghans but failed and was killed in the attempt. From Bhūshaṇa the Afghans proceeded eastwards and joined 'Isā Khān of Bhati or the part of the Ganges Doāb below Sonārgāon. Abul Fazl states that it was at this time that the fort of Mānpur, between Orissa and Telinganā, was taken by Rājā Mān Singh and given to Rāmachandra Deva of Khurda.