ପୃଷ୍ଠା:Typical selections from Oriya literature.pdf/୨୨

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ଏହି ପୃଷ୍ଠାଟି ସଂଶୋଧିତ ହୋଇନାହିଁ

INTRODUCTION.

XVI

Raipur, for its capital. Raja Tivaradeva of this line became very powerful in the 8th century A.D. on the death of Tivaradeva the crown passed on to his brother's son, Balarjuna, who assumed the title Mahasivagupta. The mother of Balarjuna Maha^ivagupta was a princess of the Gupta family of Magadha it was because of this respectable connection that Balarjuna came to be regarded as a genuine Ksatriya of the orthodox Aryan stock. Referring to the time of the subsequent rulers of Sirpur and Sarabhpur, it is supposed that the sons of Balarjuna Mahasivagupta were ousted from Sirpur and had to seek new kingdom for themselves outside the districts of Raipur and Bilaspur. We get the next Mahasivagupta of this family as the Maharaja of KoSala and Trikalinga having Sonpur on the confluence of the Mahanadi and the Tel for his capital. The name of this Mahasivagupta is Yayati and he is the son of Janamejaya Mahabhavagupta, who first established his rule in the Sambalpur tract, styling himself as the lord of Kosala and Trikalinga. As the names of the kings of this new Lunar dynasty alternate between Mahasivagupta and Mahabhavagupta, we may reasonably infer that Janamejaya was at least fourth in descent from Mahasivagupta of Sirpur, for one of the ousted sons of the Raja of Sirpur must have been a Mahabhavagupta, and che father of Janamejaya must have been a Mahasivagupta. The middle of the 9th century seems therefore to be the likely time when Janamejaya became supreme in Orissa. The Maranjamura Charter of Yayati Mahasivagupta (edited by me in the J.B.O.R.S., 1916) discloses the startling fact that one branch of the family of these Kosala Guptas ruled somewhere in Bengal during these days. The manner in which this fact has been mentioned in the charter, induces me to believe that the Bengal line of the Kosala Guptas was established long before the time of Yayati and Janamejaya, and that the ousted sons of Mahasivagupta of Sirpur established their new kingdom in Orissa, with the aid of their cousins in Bengal. The acquisition of territories in Bengal by a Kosala Gupta seems to have been due to a marital connection at some time previous to the dynastic revolution at Sirpur. It has been gathered from one inscription at Bhubanesvar that Udyota was the last king in the line of these Lunar kings of Orissa. That Udyota made over the charge of the Sambalpur tract to a Governor in the 12th century A.D. is sufficiently clear from the Charter of SomeSvara Deva (edited by me in the 12th volume of the "Epigraphia Indica"). From Janamejaya downwards these Rajas had Bengali Kayasthas in their service these Bengali Kayasthas have described themselves as Ranakas or Ksatriyas of district of

the family of their emplovers vide

and E. I., Vols. The rulers

11

and

my

papers in J.B.O.R.S., 1916,

12).

of the line of the Kosala Guptas brought about such a change in the country as have been of abiding influence the celebrated temple of Bhubanesvar came into existence in

their time, and as in the Sambalpur tract, so in Orissa to the east, learned Brahmans were settled in the country with liberal land grants by them. How Pauranic Hinduism and the form of the Magadhi speech which then prevailed in Bengal could flourish in