The Military Achievements of Emperor Langula Narasingha Deba I

As glorious as they were so is their legacy over the ages. The eastern Ganga Dynasty is fondly narrated by historians as an offshoot of the Cholas from south India; however the Gangas were present in Odisha for more than at least four centuries before their rise to prominence. Concentrated in the Kalinga Mandala of South Odisha and Northern Andhra, they swiftly rose to power when the Somavanshi rulers were declining in the Utkala region of northern Odisha. I will come forth with the narratives of the brilliant initial rulers of the Prachya Gangas like ChodaGanga Deba and Ananga Bhima Deba III in subsequent articles. I have decided to start the insight into this dynasty from the most illustrious builder of the Konark Sun Temple and a brilliant military commander, the Emperor Langula Narasingha Deba I.  

History has been unfair to this brilliant emperor who was highly successful in blowing crushing defeats on the intolerant Muslim expansionists while the rest of India had started falling one by one into their grasp after the defeat of the Hindu king of Delhi, Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Despite being the builder of the most beautiful wonder of India i.e. the Konark Temple, his achievements have been shrouded in darkness mostly by the hegemony of the colonial era Bengali historians who were always close to the British publishers of Indian heritage and wanted to hide the facts of their land being overrun by an Odia king’s mighty army in the past. But we should not also forget that the most of the initial historical accounts of Odisha were also constructed by few classic Bengali scholars like R.D. Banarjee, B.C. Majumdar, R.C. Majumdar, etc.

Narasingha Deba I was born to another brilliant militarily powerful king Ananga Bhima Deba III and Queen Kastura Debi. He was brought up in an environment when his father was constantly facing attacks from the Afghan –Turk Muslim armies of Bengal in alliance with the Delhi Sultanate. Odisha (Kalinga) was successful in repulsing the enemies from all the three sides which is the Kaktiyas of South, Kalachuri Haihayas of Central India and Afghan –Turks of Bengal in the North. His father had brilliantly established a matrimonial alliance with the Kalachuri clan of the Western frontiers that were constantly battling with him for control over the Sambalpur – Bolangir Tracts. The princess of Odisha, Chandrika was married off to Prince Paramadri Deb of the clan and peace was actually established on the western frontiers after the region was completely won by the Prachya Gangas. The Kalchuris were also the last independent Hindu kingdom of Central India that was distantly related to the Rajputs and other clans of Northern Maharashtra. The offer of matrimonial alliance with another mighty Hindu Kingdom would have sounded logical considering the ruthless Muslim expansion all over India. The Prachya Ganga control in the Chatishgarh part of India was authenticated through the finding of many Ganga Fanams (coins) of their era. 

Ananga Bhima Deba III had repulsed the Muslim attack on the northern territories and had defeated them in counter attack battles with the help of his brave Brahmin minister, Vishnu. He had established his new administrative capital at the newly fortified capital city Abhibnav Varansi Kataka (Cuttack) on the banks of Mahanadi that was militarily secure with carefully planned fortifications like the Barabati fort which was also built by him. The enormous fort complex which has now been reduced to ruble was capable of holding 6000 war elephants, 12000 Cavalry, 10000 archers and 70000 infantry of the Odishan army during his time. There is no doubt that Narasingha Deba I was brought up under strict Hindu ethical education and military code when the whole of India was bearing the brunt of the Muslim expansion and the his kingdom was the next in line to face the inevitable.

During this time Muslim Amirs were constantly rebelling against the central authority of the slave dynasty after the death of Shamsuddin Iltutmish. Tughan Tughral Khan was the prominent rebel who happened to be the governor of Bengal at the time when Narasingha Deba ascended the throne. During the disturbances caused for succession of the Delhi throne throughout the rule of Sultan Ruknuddin Firoz Shah, Razziya Sultana, Sultans Muizzuddin Bahram and Alauddin Masaud Shah, Tughan was free to stage a rebel in the North-eastern frontier of the expanding Musalman Empire of India. This created the situation of power struggle against the mighty Prachya Gangas of Odisha. The only victorious candidate would be decided by whoever launched the pre emptive initial attack on the other.

Battle of Katasin (1243 A.D)

His first offensive steps against the constantly warring Muslim state of Bengal came in the 1243 A.D. As a child he must have witnessed the benefits of aggressive policy of his father against enemy states rather than being defensive. His Haihaya Kalchuri brother in law, Paramdri Dev who is also considered to be an exceptionally brave warrior led the huge Ganga army along with the Kalchuri conscripts across the semi independent but small Hindu states of southern Bengal. The then governor of Bengal under the administration of the Delhi Sultanate, Tughral Tughan Khan launched a powerful Muslim counter attack to face the Odishan Hindu army. As a strategic decision, the Odishan army retreated to a more defendable position at the fort of Katasin (Kantei in Medinapur, W.B). The Muslim army motivated by the retreat of the Odia forces followed them into the thick jungles and unreliable cane bushes of Katasin. This event is mentioned in the Muslim document of the same time known as Tabaqat-i-Nasiri Minhaj. Unaware of the guerilla tactics adopted by the Odia forces the Muslim army halted there, assuming that the enemy had completely retreated from the territory. Once they had settled in set up camps for resting, the hiding Odia army pounced back on them from multiple directions of the thick jungles and a massive slaughter ensued. Tughan Khan himself fled the battle field escaping narrowly from the death. The Radha province of Bengal came under the Odishan control after this victory.

An edict of Narashingha Deba I’s descendents found from Kendupatna in Odisha described that the Muslims were slain in such big numbers that the river Ganga turned muddy in color like Yamuna as an effect of black eye liners flowing into them from its banks along with the tears of their women wearing them.

Battle of Lakhnauti (1244 A.D)

In the subsequent year of 1244 A.D the forces of Langula Narasingha Deba I again marched into the other side of the river Ganga into the province of Varendra and led seize on the fort of Lakhnauti or Gaud. Tughan Tughral Khan appealed for help from the governor of Awadh, Qamruddin Tamur Khan who arrived with large reinforcement in the close vicinity of Lakhnauti. By this time the Odia army had taken over the fort and the Muslim commander Fakr-Ul-Mulk-Karimuddin-Laghri was killed. The province of Gaud and Varendra were ransacked and plundered. Muslims were stuck with terror from the Odia army. Seeing the major fort of Bengal surrounded by the Hindu army of Odisha, Qamruddin quarreled with Tughan and dishonorably discharged him from the position of Governor in Bengal assuming the position himself. 

Battles of Umurdan (1247 to 1256 A.D)

In 1247 A.D, the Delhi Sultanate had appointed a new militarily experienced governor of Bengal, lkhtiyar-ud-Din Yuzbak with obviously the first task to get rid of the Odia Hindu forces from Bengal and the secondly of Tughan Khan who was now plotting a rebellion.  Tughan was planning to claim independence from Delhi for Bengal. Yuzbak was reinforced with large amount of supplies and soldiers from the Delhi sultanate to secure the eastern frontiers. A series of four major battles followed in the heartland of Bengal between both Prachya Gangas and Muslim Afghan –Turk forces.  Tabaqat-i-Nasiri Minhaj mentions that two of the battles were initially won by Yuzbak but in the third battle, Parmadri Dev inflicted a crushing defeat on the Muslim forces despite their advantage of support from the Delhi Sultanate. Yuzbak appealed for more reinforcements from Delhi and marched in to Umurdan or Amarda fort in 1256 A.D. Here the brave Haihaya Kalachuri Paramadri Dev was killed in the battle and the Muslims succeeded to an extent. The Muslims never attempted to march further into Odisha as they were exhausted from battle and feared the massive retaliation from the Ganga forces.

Clashes with Kaktiya king Ganapatideva

The Lingaraj and Bhimeswar temple inscriptions give a testimony to the continuing hostilities between Kakatiya king, Ganapati and Narasingha Deba I. Ganapati had also indulged unsuccessfully with the father of Narasingha, Ananga Bhima Deba III who had crossed into the Vengi territory south of Godavari defeating the Kakatiyas. Ganapatideva had attacked the territories of southern Odisha or the Kalinga Mandala when the Gangas were busy dealing with the Muslims and was capable of capturing some portions north of Godavari which is proven by the 1237 A.D Draksharama inscriptions of Kakatiya general Mallala Hemadi Reddi but was eventually kept at the bay by the might of the Ganga forces under the command of Narasingha Deba I whose presence in the region can be felt by the temples built by him like at Sri Kurmam and at Simanchalam. 

Conclusion

Emperor Langula Narasingha Deba I was ruling one of the last standing powerful kingdoms of ancient India while others were crumbling under the ruthless expansion of Muslim forces in India. He was the first Hindu warrior king who had decided to play by the rules of the enemy and not follow the traditional Hindu war code that had ethical rules in it. This included the guerrilla warfare tactics instead of head on battle and ransacking captured enemy territories. Due to his offensive military policy, the Muslims were taken aback by surprise, kept at bay and were neither capable of conquering Assam in the north east nor Odisha with parts of Central India for a long time. The Muslim blind conquest was halted in India by the militarily intelligent tactician and commander of a large Ganga army. The Konark temple about which I will produce certain more facts in subsequent articles was erected as a symbol of his Hindu suzerainty over  the few left out Hindu administered states of India that were dealing with the Muslim expansionists.  

[References : History of Odisha (R.D.Banarjee), Treasures of the Sun God (Arun Gupta) and Copper-plate inscription of Narsimha-deva II of Orissa, dated 1217 by Nagendra-natha Vasu.]

Research Document Submitted by Manjit Keshari Nayak

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