History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c48.2

v2.c48.2

Like the chiefs of other provinces of India many of the feudatory chiefs and zamindars of Orissa claim to be Rajputs. Yet their genealogical tables and the accounts which they have supplied to the compilers of Imperial and Provincial Gazetteers in this country very often prove the contrary. In almost all cases the chiefs claimed to be of Rajput descent before the British conquest of the country. Many of the modern chiefs of Orissa are really descended from ancient kings of that country and their ancestry can be traced back, historically, much further than those of most of the princely houses of modern Rajputana. The most prominent example is that of Mayurbhanj. In other cases Rajput origin has been claimed on very meagre and insufficient grounds by chiefs of humbler origins and these claims have gone unchallenged so long. The most prominent examples are the families of Vizianagram and Patna-Sonpur.