History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c38.42

v2.c38.42

From the account of the *Muraqāt* it is evident that even in 1656 the Bhañja chiefs were regarded as the foremost people in Orissa. Though Khān-i-Daurān crushed Rājā Mukunda Deva² of Khurda, the opposition from the Hindu chiefs was headed by the Bhañjas and the two branches, of Hariharpur or Mayurbhañj and Keonjhar, had to be attacked and defeated separately. The anarchy had reduced Orissa to great straits and the country had to be reconquered when Aurangzib's reign began. Bahādur Khān of Hijli should not have been left unsubdued in the rear, but the condition of the roads during the monsoon compelled Khān-i-Daurān to leave the straight road *via* Hijli and go to Jaleśwar *via* Narayangadh. Khān-i-Daurān reached Jaleswar in the middle of October and on hearing of his approach both Bahādur Khān and Kṛiṣhṇa Chandra Bhañja wrote to him promising submission and to wait on him at Jaleswar. The Mughal *Faujdār* of Remuna wrote to the new *Ṣūbāhdār* that the agents of these two Zamindars had met him with the purpose of arranging interviews for their master. The *Faujdār* was ordered to reassure them and send them back with messages to their master that they may wait on the *Ṣūbāhdār* at Jaleswar without suspicion or fear. Bahādur Khān did not turn up but Kṛiṣhṇa Chandra Bhañja came and met with a horrible fate. His offences were terrible. "He kept one thousand horses and ten or twelve thousand foot soldiers, and was obeyed and helped by all the Zamindars of this country. (During the anarchy) he had plundered the tract from Bhadrak to Medinipur, carried off the ryots in his own country, increased their cultivation and ruined the imperial dominions" (p. 107). Once more the *Muraqāt* quietly admits that after the fall of the pseudo-*Gajapatis* of Khurda, the Bhañja chiefs had attained the paramount power in Orissa and they had done more damage to Mughal dominion than the rest of the rebellious Oriyā chiefs put together. Kṛiṣhṇa Chandra Bhañja of Mayurbhañj met Khān-i-Daurān after waiting for a month on the pretext of finding an auspicious day and offered excuses for his disloyal conduct. During the discussion on settlement of accounts there was a quarrel and, unable to bear the insults of the new *Ṣūbāhdār* Kṛiṣhṇa Chandra attacked him but was slain with his party. Kṛiṣhṇa Chandra Bhañja is mentioned in the *Rasika-maṅgala* by Gopījanavallabhadāsa, a disciple of the Vaishṇava saint Rasikānanda written about five or six years before his murder, as a chief devoted to Neo-Vaishnavism.