English
The Aryan’ population: of Bengal Proper, if represented by numbers, would scarcely exceed five millions out of the forty million inhabitants: We now turn to the history of Orissa. Orissa, like Bengal, was probably first colonized by Aryans in the Rationalistic Period, but unlike Bengali, Orissa has me: morials of the early Aryan settlers in its rock-cut caves and palaces, Buddhist missionaries came to this land 252 “PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. _-to spread that religion and spend their lives in calm and austere contemplation in caves ; and some of the caves must be referred to a period a century or more before the time of Asoka. Half-way between Cuttack and Puri, two sandstone hills rise abruptly from the jungles, and the peaks and sides of these hills, the Khandagiri and the Udayagiri are honeycombed with cells, caves, and other edifices. The oldest of them consist of single cells, scarcely fit for the habitation of men, except of such who had determined to pass their lives in austere seclusion. In course of time larger caves were excavated and even ornamented with sculp- ture, and the Iast works were commodious residences, fit for assemblies of monks, and even for kings and queens. There can be little doubt that Asoka’s conquest of Kalinga fostered these fine Buddhist excavations ; and we have seen before that some of Asoka’s inscrip- tions have been found in Orissa. We know little of the history of Orissa during the Buddhist Period. The history of that province was first explored by Stirling who published the results of his labours in Vol. XV. of the Asiatic Researches. The subject has since received the attention of Sir William Hunter and of Dr, Rajendra Lala Mitra. It would seem that the last of the Buddhist kings were called Yavanas ; but itis not known if they were so called because descended from the Bactrian Greeks, pr simply because they were Buddhists. Yayati Kesari achat, CHAP, IIL] BENGAL AND ORISSA. 253 expelled the Yavanas in 474 A. D., and began the Ke- sari or “Lion line,” and introduced Hinduism in its Pauranik form. The Kesari dynasty reigned for nearly seven centuries, and the authentic history of Orissa begins with the commencement of this dynasty. The following chronological list, taken from Dr. eiuntens work, may. interest our readers. | — Yayati Kesari 476 | Madhusfidana Kesari oe §=—9O4 Stirya * ‘we $26 | Dharma o” “as 920 Ananta is e+ §83 | Jana ” +. 930 Alabu ” ‘e+ 623 } Nripa ey ae O4t Kanaka re . 677 | Makara PY 4. 983 Vira. ¢ -- 693 | Tripura. sg, as O65 Padma ‘3 e-. 70 | Madhava ar oe QFE Vriddha i - 706 | Govinda -y, ae 989 Bata ” s 715 | Nritya <3 +s 969 Gaja 29 nee 726 | Narasinha ._,, ey 103 Vasanta as eo 738 | Kurma 33 e+ 1024 Gandharva 45. . e+ 740 | Matsya eg e+ 1034 Janamejaya ~,, e+ 9754 | Var&ha 55 ++ FOSO Bharata o” 763}.Vamana. ,, s+ 1065 Kali 5 ee 778 | Parasu an + 1078 Kamala ” e. 792 | Chandra 9 +. 1080 Kundala ‘ee §=Srx | Sajana ” : e+ 1092 Chandra ” - 829 | Salini Tan . ee 1099 Vira Chandra ,, +. 846 | Puranjana, ‘t os 1104 Amrita - 4. 865 | Vishay we TOP Vijaya si ~ 4, 875 | Indra * reas 537°) Chandrapila 4, +. 890 | Suvarna +9 1123 to ay ; {Extinction of the Kesari Line.] The Kesari kings had their capital at Bhuvanesyara, which they beautified with numerous temples and edi- 2h _PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. fices, the remains of which are among the noblest speci- mens of Hindu architecture in India, The whole ' place is still crowded with such buildings and must have been, during the ascendancy of the Kesari line, the most. magnificent city in India for temples and beautiful edi- fices. ; _ The first king, Yay4ti Kesari is said to have founded this capital, the name of which implies that the Siva or - Bhuvanesvara was then the most: popular deity of the Orissa Hindus. Jajpur was another capital of YayAti, and the collesal statues there found also attest to the power and greatness of the dynasty, and to their de- -votion to Siva and his consort.. Nripa Kesari who ‘reigned from 941 to 953 A. D., is said to have founded the city of Cuttack. A new dynasty known as the GangA Vansa, or the Gangetic Line succeeded the Lion. dynasty. The origin of this dynasty is still involved in obscu- rity, but the name of the family as well as traditions connect them with Bengal ; and it is probable they came from near Midnapur and the ancient Tamralipta or Tumlook. The rise of this dynasty marks a religious revolution ; and as the Lion dynasty had supplanted Buddhism by Siva worship, so the Gangetic house supplanted Siva worship by Vishnu worship. But nevertheless none of these creeds was altogether extinct in Orissa, on the contrary, the three religions ran in parallel streams contracting or expanding in, influence CHAP. IIL] BENGAL AND ORISSA. 25g and power with the lapse of ages. Vishnu worship, in its peculiar modern form, is the prevailing religion in the present day. We append the following list of the ¢ Gangetic kings. from Dr, Hunter’s work :— 7 . &.D. Chor Ganga Sage ee eos 1132 Gangesvara oo see eee soe FE52 , Ekjatakam Deva aus” aes oo. 1166 Madana Mahadeva ae wes we ITT Ananga Bhima Deva fas vee EQS Rajarajesvara Deva... vow ee F202. Languhya Naraswha_... ts oe 3237 Kesari en aes A ws 1282 Pratapa 3 ; sas tee see 1307 Ghati Kantha,, ave ove woe 1327 Kapila 33 ise bas ese 1329 Sankha Bhasura see ves ene 1330 + Vasudeva a eee see 1337 Bali 4s id “ud ves 1368 Vira 33 Sa oe woe 382 Kali 3 ae pa vss 1408 Neungatanta,, so on ee 1414 Netra ” oes one oo §=-14.29 Kapilendra Deva vee aie eo 1452 Purushottama Deva as ese ou =1479 ~ Pratapa Rudra Deva... vee vo = 1504 Kalinga Deva... _- “ ase S32 : Kalharuga Deva oes ove 1533 to 1534 [Extinction of the Gangetic Line] Some of the earlier kings of this line were among Z the most powerful monarchs of their time. Ganges- 256 PAURANIK PERIOD. [ROOK Vv. vara (1152 to 1166) ruled from the Ganges to the Go- davari, and Ananga Bhima Deva (1175 to 1202), alsoa most powerful king, is said to have built the present temple of Jagannatha. Later on, Purushottama Deva -(1479 to 1504) is said to have defeated the king of Kanchi in Southern India and married his daughter ; and his successor Prétapa Rudra Deva was on the throne when the great Vaishuava reformer Chaitanya visited Orissa. Govinda Vidy4dhara murdered the last king of the Gangetic House and ascended the throne, but conflict with the Mahommedans began in his reign, 1534 to 1541 A.D. Four kings successively ascended the throne, Chakra Pratapa (1541 to 1549), Narasinga Jana (1549 to £550), Raghurama Chotra (1550 to 1551), and Mu- kunda Deva (1551 to 1559 A. D). It was in this last reign that the famous Mahommedan general Kalapahar invaded the province, defeated and ‘slew the king in a battle near Jajpur, plundered the city of Jagannatha, and overthrew the Hindu monarchy. Thus after maintaining its independence for three centuries and a half after the conquest of Northern India and Bengal, Orissa was conquered by the Ma- hommedans about 1560 A. D.. CHAPTER IV. KASHMIR AND SOUTHERN INDIA. WE have in a previous chapter brought down the . history of Kashmir to the time of MAtrigupta, the friend and contemporary of Vikramaditya the Great. We note down the names of Matrigupta’s successors to the middle of the 12th century, when Kalhana’s history comes to a close.* There is a continuation of Kalhana’s history by other writers. We have only to premise that from the time of | Durlabha Vardhana, (the seventh king in succession from Matrigupta), Kalhana’s dates are perfectly reliable. Durlabha Vardhana began his reign in. 598 A. D. accord- ing to Kalhana. Six kings ruled between Matrigupta and Durlabha Vardhana, and if we give an average of 15 years to each of these six reigns, Matrigupta’s reign falls at the commencement of the sixth century A. D. But Kalhana was misled by the Saka Era, and believ- ed Vikramaditya and Matrigupta to tiave reigned about the beginning of that era. He had therefore to spin out the six reigns (between Matrigupta and Durlabha: Vardhana) into five centuries. And this he does by allotting 300 years to one reign, viz, that of Ranaditya, Hence Kalhana’s dates previous to Durlabha Vardhtana’s time are worthless. * We rely, as before, on Mr. Jogesh Chunder Dutt’s translation, - R.C.D, A. LIL . 17 258 A.D. Matrigupta abdicated 550 Pravara Sena ... Yadhisthira Narendraditya ... 550 to 598 Randaditya "Vikramaditya ... —Baladitya aes Durlabha Vardhana (Kalhana’s date) oe we 598 Durlabhaka ” oy eee 634 Chandrdpira ” ay = 684 Tarapira 2 ee 693 Lalitéditya ” 2 . 697 Kuvalayapira 55 ry eee 733 . Vajradinya . 3y5 97 oe 734 Prithivyapira 9 eee AE Sangramapira 4, 4 se 745 Jayapira ss sy see 745 Lalitapira ” 99 see 776 SangrAmapira 5, 45 + 788 ChippataJayfpira,, 795 Ajitapiva ” 9 see St 3 Anangapira- rr) 19 ee 849 . Utpalapira . 99 oe. 852 Avantivarman 4,00 4) 0 855 Sankaravarman 5, 29 +. 883 Gopalavarman 55 “yy wee 902 Sankata 97 9% eae G04 - Sugandha FH eee QOG Partha ” 29 ose 906 PAURANIK PERIOD, [BOOKV. A. D. Nirjitavarman ... we O21 Chakravarman ... eo. 922 Suravarman see 933 Partha (2nd time) 934 Chakravarman (2nd and 3rd time) Sen ae 935 Unmattavanti ... see 937 Suravarma cae ee §=939 Yasaskara ses oe 939 Varnata cee see 948 Sangrama see oe 948 Parvagupta wes ee 943 Kshemagupta ... es 905 Abhimanyu bus cae 958 Nandigupta_... vee 972 Tribhuvanagupta ees 973 Bhimagupta ss... os 975 Didda aes 980 Sangrama wee es. 1003 Hariraja ase ove 1028 | Ananta Deva .., on 1028 Ranaditya eee one 1063 Utkarsa ese eee 1089 Harsha woe se. 1089 Uchchala a... ose KIOL Rodda eee oo TIT Salhana see ooo TUNE Sussala oes eos FUMZ _Bhikshachara ...