History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c47.5

v2.c47.5

When we meet with Orissan art for the first time the empire of the Guptas was a thing of the past and the early mediaeval period of the history of Northen India had already begun. In this period very little is known of the history of the country itself except that the Śailodbhavas had successfully defied the arms of the great Harshavardhana for a long time. Of the early mediaeval art of Orissa, which can not be earlier than the sixth century A. D., very little is known even now, as no systematic survey has been attempted after the preliminary and pioneer accounts of the seventies of the last century. The great Buddhist establishment, which still remains without a name around Udaygiri, Ratnangiri and Lalitagiri in the Cuttack district of Orissa, serves only as a quarry for railways and is the only locality from which collectors still find it possible to cart away priceless objects of art for their collections.