History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c48.38

v2.c48.38

What, then, is the real origin of these claims to Rajput ancestry on the part of the chiefs of Orissa? Vizianagram is certainly not in Orissa but I have included it within this enquiry because it fell within the zone of influence of Orissa up to 1550 and in the southernmost limit on eastern coast within which Rajput origin is claimed by Indian chiefs. In all three cases we find that a date is claimed for the migration when the Rajput had no existence and when the migration could not have taken place. The connected circumstances are such as to make the migration theory absolutely improbable. In the case of Patna only persistent and intelligent attempts have been have been made by State officials and state historiographers to make the claim more acceptable in the light of modern research, but older records of English writers and modern discoveries in ancient Indian chronology have proved these claims to be entirely false. The only cause which I can assign for this craze for Rajput origin is the preponderance of the Rajputs as warriors and mercenaries in the 17th century when under the Mughals they spread their fame from Balkh to Assam and from Kashmir to Ahmadnagar. Rajputs of Malwa entered the service of the Sultans of Ahmadnagar and Golkonda and there was a rush for Rajput ancestry all over India even on the part of princes whose blood was blue when the Agnikula Rajput was a barbarian clothed in his war paint. The real origin of the Bhanja chief of Mayurbhanja is now being recognised by critical scholars like Rai Bahadur Ramaprasad Chanda¹ and Rai Bahadur Hira Lal.² We must close our enquiry regarding the Rajput origins in Orissa at this point.