History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c38.5

v2.c38.5

The new records furnished a list of the *Ṣūbahdārs* of Orissa during the reign of Jahāngīr. The list opens with the name of Hāshim Khān, who was appointed on the 26th September 1607 but was transferred to Kashmir by an order dated 24th May 1611.³ Hāshim Khān's predecessor in office was Quṭbuddīn Khān Kokāh, who was appointed Ṣūbahdār of Bengal and Orissa but was killed in the fight with Sher Afgan alias ’Alī Qūlī Istāj-lū at Burdwan.¹ Hāshim Khān’s period of government corresponds with the last years of the reign of the new Gajapati Ramachandra I and the first two years of his son Purushottama, if Stirling is to be believed.² Hunter, who based his account on the equally unreliable Mādalā Pāñjī as digested for him by Bhavanicharan Bandyopādhyāya in his Purushottama-chandrikā, assigns 1607 as the date of the death of Rāmachandra I.³ Hāshim Khān did not leave Orissa immediately after receiving the order of transfer. He was succeeded by Rājā Kalyān Singh, son of Rājā Toḍar Mall. During the period of office of Hāshim Khān occurred the celebrated siege of the temple of Jagannātha. At the end of the rainy season Hāshim Khān and the Mughal officers in Orissa decided to make war upon the titular Gajapati Purushottama and other "Zamīndārs" of Orissa following the precedent of the warfare carried on against the Afghans of Bengal by Islām Khān Chishtī. A Rajput named Rājā Keshodās Māru of Maidtā⁴ did not wait for the co-operation of his colleagues and set out from his Jāgīr at Cuttack on the plea of pilgrimage. He seized the temple enclosure of Jagannātha and barricaded himself therein. Purushottama came from Khurdah with 10,000 cavalry, three or four lakhs infantry and many raths. The raths were wooden towers on wheels which were filled with soldiers and drawn forward by elephants or men so as to favour escalading. Ten to twenty such *raths* were filled with Oriyās and brought close to the walls of the temple. The Rajputs met them with fire at the end of long poles. At the end many of the *raths* were burnt and the Oriyās failed to storm the enclosure. Purushottama was compelled to sue for peace and sent an ambassador to Keshodās. In the meanwhile news of the Rajput's escapade having reached Bengal, Islām Khān, the Viceroy, sent strict order to Hāshim Khān urging him to advance immediately to the aid of Keshodās. Purushottama now agreed