MARCH 1, 1872.]
75
JUNGLE FORTS OF ORISSA.
been built—those, namely, in which the limits of
ly another reason for assigning those forts to
the Oriyā monarchy extended so far to the north
a much later epoch.
ward as the banks of the Subarnarekha river.
In 1550 the throne of Orissa was occupied by a prince from the Telugu or Telinga country, celebrated under the name of Te ling a M u kund Deb. He was the last independent
The general absence of historical data in India prior to the coming of the Muhammadans is, in Orissa, relieved by the scanty and untrustworthy panji or daily record of occurrences kept in the national temple of Jagannāth,-the omissions or inaccuracies of which may occasionally be cor rected or supplied from the pānjis and Vansâvalis
kept in the minor temples and monasteries throughout the province, and by one or two con nected histories written on palm-leaf, which are
in the possession of private families. The chief interest of Oriyā history centres round the great cities of the southern part of the province –K at a k, Jajpur, and Puri. North era Orissa is seldom mentioned. Only twice in the annals of the country is it asserted that its boundaries extended beyond the Kā i s b a n s, a small stream near Sohroh at that point where
the hill-ranges trend eastward to the sea. The long narrow slip between the Kān s b a n s and Sub a r n are k h fi appears to have been for centuries a forest. This supposition is confirmed
by the frequency of names of places in which the word ban (Sansk: vana) occurs as B a n ch as, i.e. “forest-tilth,” Ban āhār, i.e. “forest enclosure,” B a m p a d d a , i. e., B a n-pa d d a
sovereign of Orissa, and of him again it is re corded that his sway extended to Tribeni Ghat
on the Hugli river, where he built a temple and bathing-steps. In his reign northern Orissa became for the first time important, for then the invasions of the Musalmans, hitherto few and far between, just began to be constant and
successful. “Sulimán Gurzani, the Afghan King of Bengal,” waged a long war with M u kund
D e b, who, to oppose him, built a strong fort in a commanding position
in the
northern
frontier. This fort, or chain of forts, I appre hend to have been those we are now discuss–
ing. No more commanding situation could well be found than R a i b a niy an on its laterite ridge overlooking the passage of the Sub arm a re k h a, and backed by the impenetrable forest.
This position too is on the edge of the country inhabited by the Oriya-speaking race. The situa tion of the main entrance, and the much greater
strength of the fortifications on the northern side, seem to show that it was from that direction that the danger came. Seven miles west of
—“forest-clearing,” B an k a t i-" forest-cut
R fi i b an iy an is the fort of D e ill g a on
ting,” and the like. In the reign of G ange s h war Deb (A. D. 1151), the Orissan monarchy is said to have ex tended from the Ganges to the Godāvari. By the Ganges is here of course meant, as always in Oriyā history, the branch which flows by Hugli. Whether this is merely an exaggeration or not we cannot tell; it probably is so, as in the cele brated speech of his great-grandson A n a ng Bh im Deb, the most illustrious prince of the
“temple-village” which—as will be seen from the appendix—is in still better preservation than Rai b an i y a n, and, as evidence of its date,
Gañgåbańsi dynasty (A. D. 1196), recorded by Stirling, the king is reported to have said that he had extended the boundaries of his kingdom on the north from the Kāāsbäns to the D at à i
Burh i river (the modern Budā Balang, which flows past the town of Balasor). The Gangā
bañsis were great builders, and their temples,
contains the two stone horsemen so celebrated
in Orissan legend. It is related that when Rājā Pu r s h o t t a m Deb was march ing (circa A.D. 1490) southwards to the con quest of Kanjiveram (Kānjikaveri), his army was preceded by two youths, one on a black and the other on a white horse, by whose auspi cious aid he gained the victory. The youths then disappeared after declaring themselves to be Krishna and Baladeva.” The fort which con tains these two images cannot well be older than the legend which they preserve. Further, it may be urged that, in the early times of Gangesh war Deb, there existed no ne cessity for strong forts on the northern frontier,
palaces and tanks still adorn the southern part of the province. I do not think it probable that they would have been contented with so com paratively clumsy and inartistic forts as those
tribes, and whose possession seems to have been little cared for by the Rājās themselves. It
now under consideration.
I shall show present
was not till the encroachments of the Musal
- The similarity of this legend to that of the appearance
ly related in Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, must strike
ºf “the great twin-brethren,” Castor and Pollux, so vivid
which was then inhabited only by wild forest
every classical reader.
