Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c11.26

c11.26

A copper-plate inscription¹ was discovered at Sumandala near Khallikot in the Ganjam District. It records the grant of a piece of land in the Khallikot area by a chief named Dharmarāja in 569 A.D. The said chief acknowledged the suzerainty of a king named Pṛthivīvigraha who is stated to have been ruling the Kaliṅga rāṣṭra as a nominal feudatory of the Gupta emperors. This inscription shows beyond doubt that the south-western part of coastal Orissa enjoyed the ancient name of Kaliṅga as late as the second half of the sixth century A.D. Soon however the name of the kingdom of the Vigraha dynasty, to which Pṛthivīvigraha belonged, had to be changed.