History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c38.20

Language: English

v2.c38.20.1

The charges brought against Rājā Kalyān Mall caused him to be recalled to Delhi, though on investigation they were found to be false.³ According to the "Chronicles of Jagannātha Rājā Kalyān Mall was killed by the Rājā of Khurda,"⁴ but this statement is false, as he lived to return to court and was attached to the force of Mahābat Khān in Kābul.⁵ His successor was Mukarram Khān, son of Muazzam Khān, who was appointed in 1617. During his period of office Khurda was invaded by the Mughals and Purushottama compelled to fly to Rājamahendri. It is stated in the *Baharistān* that the territories of Khurda were annexed to the Mughal empire, "though the descendants of its last independent Rājāh continued to enjoy some land as mere Zamindars." Mukarram Khān was promoted to be a commander of three thousand for his conquest.¹ He was transferred some time later and his place taken by Jalair Khān. During the rule of this Ṣūbāhdār an expedition was undertaken against Bahādur Khān the Musalman Zamindar of Hijli. Later on Jalair Khān was transferred and Mīrzā Aḥmad Beg Khān sent in his place in 1623-24. Aḥmad Beg was the nephew of Ibrāhīm Khān Fath Jang, Ṣūbāhdār of Bengal. He had also attacked the unfortunate Narasimha Deva, but at this juncture Prince Shāh-Jahān entered Orissa through the Qutbshāhi dominions.

v2.c38.20.2

Aḥmad Beg raised the siege of Khurda and fled from Orissa² to Rajmahal when Ibrāhīm Khān, the Ṣūbāhdār of Bengal, was killed in battle with the future emperor.³ Shāh Jahān appointed Muḥammad Taqi Simoāz *alias* Shāh Qūli Khān as the Governor of Orissa but after the retreat of Shāh Jahān, Shāh Qūli was defeated, captured and sent a prisoner to court by Rāo Ratan Singh Hāḍā. Jahāngīr's last Ṣūbāhdār of Orissa was Bāqir Khān Nazm-Sāni, who was installed in 1627 and continued by Shāh Jahān. His term of office was renewed by an order dated the 4th February 1628 and he was removed by another dated the 24th June 1632. He did not reach the Court till the 13th January 1633.¹ After the acquisition of Khurda by Mukarram Khān, Mughal aggression in Orissa came to a pause for some time. A king of Mayurbhanja named Vaidyanātha Bhañja is mentioned in the *Rasika-mangala* written about 1655. The Vaishṇava saint, named Rasikānanda, went to his court at Rajgadh and was well received by him. He is said to have converted the whole of Bhañjabhum to Vaishnavism. Vaidyanātha was a contemporary of Narasimha of Khurda and died about 1630.² Jahāngīr records in the *Tuzūk*, "the province of Khurdah has come into the possession of the servants of the Court. After this it is the turn of the country of Rajmahendra. My hope in the grace of Allah is that the feat of my energy may advance further.

v2.c38.20.3

At this time a petition from Kutb-ul-Mulk reached my son, Shah Jahan, to the effect that as the boundary of its territory has approached that of the King (*i. e.*, the Mughal Emperor), and owed service to this Court, he hoped an order would be issued to Mukarram Khān not to stretch out his hand, and to acquire possession of his country."³ The Qutb-shāhī conquest of southern Orissa was very slow. Though the *Gajapati Rājā* of Ganjam was ousted in 1571, Chikakol did not become a seat of a *Faujdār* till about 1641, when the first holder of that office built a Masjid at that place in 1641.⁴ It was only after the final submission of Golkonda in 1636 that the Mughals received any revenue from the *Sarkār* of Rājamahendrī. Early in Aurangzib's reign Mālūd became the southernmost outpost of Mughal Orissa. At this time according to the *Muraqāt-i-Hassan*, the Golkonda tribute, "appertaining to the province of Orissa", was sent from the Quṭb-shāhī district of Chikakol to the Mughal *Ṣūbāhdār* of Orissa. It amounted to about Rs. 20,000.¹ The first recorded invasion of Quṭb-shāhī territory through Orissa was undertaken by Bāqir Khān in the winter of 1629-30. Bāqir marched to Chhatraduar, a very narrow pass on the frontier between the Mughal province of Orissa and the Quṭb-shāhī district of Chikakol, about twenty-four miles north of Rājamahendrī. The approach of the rainy season did not permit him to do anything else except to plunder and lay the country waste.

v2.c38.20.4

In the autumn of 1630 Bāqir Khan advanced once more towards the south, with local levies from the Zamindars of Kallikota, Kudla and Al, and on the 3rd December arrived near Manṣūrgadh, a fort about eight miles from Khīrāpārāh. The Quṭb-shāhī troops offered battle in the plain outside the fort but were defeated and the commandant, a Naikwar, capitulated. Bāqir returned after leaving garrisons at Khīrāpārāh and Manṣūrgadh and the Quṭb-shāhīs re-assembled their forces to expel the Mughal troops. Bāqir returned suddenly by a forced march, and defeated the Deccani troops. The news of the second victory reached Shāh Jahān on the 23rd April 1631. Purushottama of Khurda died either in 1628 or in 1630 during the tenure of office of Bāqir Khān. According to the MS. used by Hunter he was killed in battle.¹ He was succeeded by his son, Narasimha Deva who ruled till 1653 or 1655.