Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c11.37

c11.37

¹ It is not impossible that they had their capital at the city of Khijjinga, modern Khiching in the northern part of the Mayurbhanj District of Orissa (cf. *Indo-Asian Culture*, Vol. VIII, 1958, pp. 429-30). R.P. Chanda was inclined to assign the earliest antiquities discovered at Khiching to the age of the Ādi-Bhañjas who began to rule from about the beginning of the eleventh century A. D. J. N. Banerjea assigns some of these sculptures to the tenth century and others vaguely to the early medieval period. There is little doubt that some Khiching sculptures are earlier than the eleventh century and this fact shows that Khiching was the seat of some pre-Ādi-Bhañja rulers, since the excellent art of Khiching could have scarcely flourished without royal patronage. We have now inscriptions of the pre-Ādi-Bhañja rulers, Dhruvarāja and Kumāravarman, who ruled in the area in the tenth century A. D. Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 82 ff.