The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s13.3

c5.s13.3

Yajñapura—Jājpur in Orissa on the river Baitaraṇī (*Mahābhārata*, Vana, ch. 114). It is said to have been founded by Rājā Yayāti Keśarī in the sixth century. Jājpur is a contraction of Yayātipura. It was the capital of the Keśarī kings till the tenth century, when the seat of government was removed to Kaṭak by Nṛipa Keśarī. The temple of Birajā at Jājpur is one of the fifty-two Pīṭhas where a part of Sati’s body is said to have fallen. Brahma is said to have celebrated the horse-sacrifice ten times at Daśāśvamedha Ghāṭ on the bank of the Baitaraṇī river, and hence the place obtained the name of Yajñapura. The four most important places of pilgrimage in the province of Orissa are Chakra-kshetra or Bhuvanéśvara, Śaṅkha-kshetra or Purī, Padma-kshetra or Koṇārak and Gadā-kshetra or Yājapura. Vishṇu, in order to commemorate his victory over Gayāsura, (the story of the demon being an allegorical representation of the extent of Buddhism in India), left his foot-mark (*Pāda*) at Gaya, his discus (*chakra*) at Bhuvanéśvara, his conch-shell (*Śaṅkha*) at Purī and his lotus (*Padma*) at Koṇārak (Dr. R. Mitra’s *Antiquities of Orissa*, vol. II, pp. 145 and 107; but see Stirling’s *Orissa*). There are many colossal images at Jājpur, especially of Kālī, Barāhīnī and Indrāṇī cut into alto-relievo out of blocks of indurated Mugni or chlorite slate rock (Stirling’s *Orissa*; *JASB.*, 1838, p. 53). See Gayānābhi.