Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c11.38

c11.38

We have seen how in 569 A.D. Pṛthivīvigraha was ruling over Kaliṅga, *i. e.* the north-eastern areas of Kaliṅga roughly identical with the later Dakṣiṇa-Tosalī, and how in 599 A.D. Lokavigraha, another monarch of the same family, not only ruled over South Tosalī but also claimed lordship over North Tosalī. It has also been shown how *Paramabhaṭṭāraka* Śambhuyaśas belonging to the Mudgala *gotra* and the Māna family ruled over Uttara-Tosalī in 579 A. D. and over Dakṣiṇa-Tosalī in 602 A.D. It is clear from these facts that in the latter half of the sixth century there was a struggle between the Vigrahas and the Mānas for the sovereignty of coastal Orissa and that the Vigrahas, who were at first ruling over the whole of Tosalī, both Uttara and Dakṣiṇa, were gradually ousted by the Mānas, first from Uttara-Tosalī and then from Dakṣiṇa-Tosalī. In this way, the whole of coastal Orissa came under the suzerainty of the Mānas about the beginning of the seventh century. If these Mānas may be regarded as belonging to the Uḍra clan, we can explain the popularity of the name Uḍra in the sense of the whole of coastal Orissa from the sixth or seventh century. The fact that they conquered Utkala or Uttara-Tosalī sometime before the expansion of their power over Dakṣiṇa-Tosalī may be the reason underlying the use of Uḍra as a synonym of Utkala first in the sense of the Balasore region and then to indicate the Cuttack-Puri-Ganjam area. If the Māna family belonged to the Uḍra clan, it may be supposed that the Uḍras originally lived in the Mānbhūm-Siṅghbhūm region and the adjoining parts of Orissa.