History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c11.203

c11.203

XLV. *Wu-tu* (Odra) or modern Orissa, and *Kung-yu*(*gu* or *ya*)-to or Kongodha, identical with the modern Ganjam district¹. Yuan Chwang is silent about the government of both, but he describes the latter as a great military country: "As the towns were naturally strong there was a gallant army, which kept the neighbouring countries in awe, and so there was no powerful enemy."² At the time of the pilgrim's arrival in these parts, as we know from the *Life*,³ this country had been attacked and subjugated by the king of Kanauj. It was then "apparently a part of that great sovereign's kingdom." Thus it appears that Harṣa made this region a strong military outpost of his far-flung empire, probably with a view to preventing any foreign incursions on the borders, threatened as they were by the eastward advance of Pulakeśi II, who is credited with the conquest of Kośala and Kalinga in the Aihole inscription.⁴ Regarding Orissa, there are grounds to infer that it came within the pale of Harṣa's sovereignty. For the *Life* tells us that after the subjugation of Kongodha Śīlāditya camped in Orissa for a time,⁵ and made a munificent gift of "the revenue of eighty large towns of Orissa" to Jayasena, "the admiration of the period," who in his characteristic other-worldliness declined the king's repeated offers.⁶