The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c17.s5.110

v1.c17.s5.110

According to these records, Vajrahasta V appears to have reigned over Kaliṅga from at least 1038 to 1061 A.D. In the Vizagapatam grants of his grandson Coḍagaṅga, he is assigned a reign of 30 to 33 years.² It is difficult to know the real extent of his power but as he assumed imperial titles and in the opening panegyrics of his grants even lays claim to universal sovereignty (*Sāmrājya*) for his family, we may conclude that he at least succeeded in consolidating his rule over portions of Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts. He was succeeded sometime before 1075-76 A.D. by Rājarāja, his son, through the queen Naṅgamā. The Dirghasi stone-inscription is the only record of this reign. It was found among the ruins of a temple near a hill called *Durgā-meṭṭa* in the village of Dirghasi 4 miles north of Kaliṅgapatam in Ganjam district. It contains 23 lines, the first 16 being in Sanskrit verse and the rest in Telugu verse. The alphabet is Telugu. It records that the *Maṇḍalika Mahāpratihāri-mukhya Calamarti-gaṇḍa Bhaṇḍana-vijaya Gaṇḍa-gopāla* Vanapati, son of Gokarṇa, of Ātreya-*gotra* and Brahman caste built a *maṇḍapa* (or *nāṭyaśālā*; see lines 15 and 20) in front of the temple of Durgā, in the town of Dīrgharsī in the reign of Gaṅga king Rājarāja, in the *Saka* year 997 (c. A.D. 1075-76). It also records the grant of a lamp by Padmāvatī.¹