Forgotten Eastern Ganga Dynasty and its Rigorous Tussles to Secure Ancient Odisha

Almost every serious history enthusiast in this country comes across the subject of Eastern Ganga (pronounced as Gangaw in Odia) Dynasty and yet strangely; the subject is, overlooked repeatedly across our national history. The general approach on this particular historical juncture ends in brief literature of concoctions and conflicting statements across loads of academic documents. It is not within my capacity to put down every achievement of this dynasty into one article. However, the magnificence in narrative of the dynasty’s struggle to power and ceaseless existence in the eastern coastal frontiers of the Indian Subcontinent for nearly a millennium according to proven archeology cannot, be ignored. Discussing some of its coherent military achievements might open a brainstorming window for some of us into the other aspects of this critical part of Odisha’s history.

Historically the Eastern Gangas existed in Odisha and parts of Northern Andhra Pradesh as a ruling family since the late third or late fourth century. During the previous Somavanshi rule, most of the Ganga families were limited to Southern Odisha (undivided Ganjam and Koraput) and Northern Coastal Andhra Pradesh. It was not until the rule of ‘Anantavarman’ Vajrahasta V in the mid eleventh century that a Ganga family broke out of their limits as subordinates and started military expansion of their power in the region. There were five prominent dominions of the Kalinga Ganga family in those days ruling from five different administrative centers namely - Kalinganagara (Srikakulam), Svetaka Mandala (Ganjam), Giri Kalinga (Simhapur), Ambabadi Mandala (Gunupur, Rayagada) and Vartanni Mandala (Hinjilikatu, Ganjam).  The heartland of the Gangas had three parts of Kalinga namely, Daksina Kalinga (Pithapura), Madhya Kalinga (Yellamanchili Kalinga or Visakhapatnam) and Uttara Kalinga (districts of Srikakulam, Ganjam, Gajapati and Rayagada). 

‘Anantavarman’ Vajrahasta V:

During the rule of Vajrahasta V from 1038-1070 A.D the Gangas started playing a prominent role from the southern horizon of the already weakening later Somavanshi kingdom. He introduced the Anka year of calculation system for the regnal years of the kings and this continued as a standard norm for future kings of ancient Odisha. One of his predecessors had tried to unite the Ganga dominions in the Kalinga Dandapat area unsuccessfully. Vajrahasta V had not only united the Ganga domain but also had defeated the Somavanshis in his northern frontiers. He established firm diplomatic and military relations with the Kalachuris (enemies of the Somavanshi) by marrying a princess from their family. He was also married to a princess of Ceylonese royal descent. The Vaidumvas clan of Kanchipuram were his maternal side of the family.

A Vaidumvas family member named as Aditya Chotta served in his military who later helped him in uniting Kalinga. The Korni copper plate grant of Chodaganga Deva mentions that Vajrahasta V made land grants to 300 Brahmins, which implies him conducting a Rajasyuya Yajna on his own right after the unification of the Kalinga tract. For the first time Vajrahasta V accepts titles as Trikalingadhipati (lord of the three Kalingas) and Sakalakalingadhipati (lord of complete Kalinga) in the Ganga family after his one and half a dozen known ancestors had ruled with the same farfetched ambition. Thus began the imperial era of the Eastern Gangas. 

‘Devendravarman’ Rajaraja Deva I:

Rajaraja Deva I proved his efficiency in expanding his father Vajrahasta V’s ambition over the united Ganga dominions.  He ascended the throne in 1070 A.D, the same as the year of ascension of the Chola Kulottunga I (later crowned as Chola emperor). One of his Ganga Prasasti inscriptions clearly says that he fought the Chola king over the territories of Vengi in the south, which means he invaded the opponent to be certain. After the defeat of the Cholas, Kulottunga I gave his daughter (sister?) Rajasundari in marriage to Rajaraja I.

Despite ruling for only eight years, Rajaraja I was able to defeat the Somavanshi ruler ‘Mahasivagupta’ Janmenjaya II at the time when that dynasty was at its pinnacle of achievements taking into consideration the completion of architectural marvels like the Lingaraja Temple a few years before. The Southern portion of the Somavanshi territory becomes a Ganga domain. The Dirghasi temple inscription of Rajaraja I mentions his Brahmin commander in chief called Vanapati had assisted him in defeating all the enemies on multiple fronts like the Chola, Utkala (Somavanshis), Gidrisingi, Khemidi, Dakshina Koshala (Kalachuris) and Vengi (Eastern Chalukyas).  

‘Gangeswara’ ‘Anantavarman’ Chodaganga Deva: 

Chodaganga Deva is the most debated character among historians as he has left behind numerous inscriptions in his ancient empire. Seemingly, he lost, his father Rajaraja Deva I at the age of five while his younger brother Parmardi was only three years. He was heir to the expanding Ganga dominion, which was directly in conflict with the Cholas and Somavanshis.  The territory of Vengi becomes a part of fierce contest for the Gangas though ruled by the Cholas directly after defeating the Eastern Chalukiyas. Kulotunga I had sent three out if his four sons as the governors of Vengi after the defeat from Rajaraja I and marital agreement over his daughter (?) Rajasundari (Chodaganga’s mother) with him. During the second governor Virachoda from 1078-1084 A.D and while Chodaganga was a teenager, two Chola officers were in appointment of Kalinganagara as Puravari and Lenka as per inscriptions of Lingaraja and Mukhalingam temples indicating both the ruling families had good relations. However, during the rule of the third governor Vikramchoda Chola, hostilities began again.

The Tamil classic Kalingattuparani says that due to non-payment of tributes (in defiance to Chola authority) Kulotunga sent the Chola army under a Pallava named Karunakara Tondaiman, who laid waste to the Ganga kingdom and returned to his master collecting lots of wealth. Inscriptional records provide more details about these events. A historical estimation says that Chodaganga was married to Chodadevi, a Chola princess as per Daksarama inscription. Virachoda the former governor of Vengi had married off his daughter to him and settled in Kalinga acting as a guardian to him. Loosing large parts of his kingdom to the Chola forces due to his inexperience in war, Chodaganga is, invited by the Somavanshi Brahmin minister and general, Vasudeva Ratha to oust the incompetent Somavanshi king. According to folklores, Chodaganga Deva reached at Bhubaneswar with his army and dressed as a performer at the Somavanshi court in Jajpur, he sneaked into their defenses with some of his companions. The overthrowing of the Somavanshi rule was an internal coup, which reinstated Chodaganga as king. Dagoba inscription says that he fought with the Pala king of Bengal, Ramapala with the help his rival Sena chief, Vijaya Sena and defeated him at Aramayinagar. After Vikramchoda left the Vengi territory in 1112 A.D., Chodaganga recaptured the lost parts of his kingdom and Vengi. His later period Daksarama grant and Mukhlingam inscription prove this along with his claims in other inscriptions describing the vast territory of his empire.

To claim the western borders, Chodaganga fought the Kalchuris first for the Dandabhukti (Mayurbhanj and Singhabhum) region, where the the Kalachuri king of Tumana, Ratandeva II was present during Chodaganga’s conquests and lost to him. A second attempt made by Chodaganga Deva was to retrieve the lost Sambalpur-Sonepur-Raipur tracts from the Kalachuris but he failed in doing so as proven by Kalachuri inscriptions. He faced odds of failure in his campaign to the west. 

 

Chodaganga Deva unified most of the ancient Kalingan geography except the western regions and an imperial era began. He was the undisputed ruler of a landmass stretching from the river Ganga to Godavari after a long era of conflicts.

‘Devendravarman’ Rajaraja Deva III:

Bakhtiyar Khilji, the infamous Afghan born Turk general of Qutb-Al-Din- Aibak occupied most of Bihar, Bengal and parts of Assam with his overwhelming assaults. The revered ancient University of Nalanda and its treasure trove of ancient documented knowledge disappears. Earlier Alauddin Khilji and his general Malik Kafur had captured the Deccan kingdoms and advanced South until Madurai moving around in a safe distance from the Eastern Ganga frontiers for unknown reasons. Bakhtiyar sent two of his lieutenants Muhammed-I-Sheran and Ahmed-I-Sheran to capture the Ganga domain. The discrepancy of accounts during these events is that the Muslim chronicle Tabaqat-I-Nasiri says that the Sheran brothers returned from their campaign midway as Ali Mardan Khilji, a Khilji commander murdered Bakhtiyar. Many historians including some from Odisha have unilaterally agreed that this is true because a Muslim Chronicler who did not necessarily live during these events has noted down so. The Daksharama temple inscription of Rajaraja Deva III openly declares to the public that he has inflicted a crushing defeat on the Sheran brothers while naming his general Konkana Chamunatha and mentioning a specific hero in the battle called Kondamaa Raju.  One has to understand that such inscriptions cannot lie completely because they are, laid in open for the common people to see in a place of worship i.e. a Temple. This facilitates individual scrutiny by commoners. A ruler does not inscribe false boasts openly to identify himself as a liar among his subjects. Moreover, it was a taller boast on behalf of him to rather inscribe that the enemy got scared and ran away from the battlefield instead of engraving that they actually dared his might in the battlefield.

Why epigraphic chronicles can lie to a certain extent because people who do not witness the incidents often write on them. Their words are made available to just a certain learned section of the ancient society and again specifically who could read them. Minhaj Juzani wrote about this in Tabaqat-I-Nisari on a second hand basis after four decades of the said incident. If we consider both the claims then it could also mean that the Sheran brothers actually abandoned further continuation of ongoing hostilities when their leader was dead elsewhere. The forces of Rajaraja I may have gained a victory on whatever smaller contingents are, left behind while the Sherans retreated.  Because Minhaj is, also correct about the Sherans as they actually went back and imprisoned the murderer. Rajaraja Deva III not only protected Odisha from the invading Turks but also prepped his successor to restructure the defenses for the upcoming threats.

‘Rauta’ Anangabhima Deva III:

The Ananta Vasudeva temple inscription describes Anangabhima Deva III (son of Rajaraja Deva III) as a hero born in the lineage of Chodaganga Deva. He was extremely proud of his swift cavalry, crossed the territories of the invading Yavanas and defeats them. Anangabhima III was a man of foresight. Anticipating the immediate threats from the Turkic rulers of Bengal and Delhi, he first decides to neutralize the Kalachuri threat on his western frontiers that existed since the earlier Somavanshi rulers. With the help of his Brhamin general Vishnu, he first retrieves the lost Sonepur-Sambalpur-Raipur tracts after the battle of Seori Narayana on the left bank of river Mahanadi and in today’s Raipur district. This was a long awaited achievement for the Gangas since their rise to imperial status. However, Anangabhima sees the usefulness of the Kalachuris as hard fighters and establishes a marital relation with them, sealing an alliance for future conflicts with the greater threat of Turks swarming up around his kingdom. He accepts the Kalachuri-Haihaya prince Parmardi Deva as his son in law. Parmardi Deva was a heroic fighter who commanded the Ganga forces in the Bengal invasion by Narasimha Deva I later.

Anangabhima III moved his capital to Cuttack and reconstructed the fort of Barabati on the banks of the river Mahanadi with a capacity to host at least 10,000 archers and several other numbers of men from different divisions of his army during any hostilities. Ghiyassudin Iwaz Shah, the rebel governor of Bengal province who broke away from Delhi Sultanate, invaded the Ganga territory. From the inscriptions found at Chateswara and Anantavasudeva Temple, Anangabhima III has clearly mentioned that his commander Vishnu defeated them in high pitched battles and the Yavanas (Turks) were chased beyond their frontiers.  Vishnu or Vishnu Mohapatra is an unsung hero of Odia history.

Historian T.V. Mahalingam notes that Anangabhima Deva III had raided southern India as far as Kanchi whilst an ongoing political unrest in the Chola court. One of the Chola subjects imprisons the Chola king Rajaraja III. The inscriptions of the Hoysala king Vira Narasimha II corroborates the fact. It mentions that the he freed the Chola king and uprooted a Dustha (contingent) of Tri-Kalinga forces occupying Kanchipuram. On the other hand, the inscriptions of Anangabhima Deva III’s wife Somala Devi is still at the Allalanatha Perumal temple of Kanchipuram dating to his 19^th regnal year. This implies that amidst continuing hostilities with the Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva, he also raided further south. 

‘Languda’ Narasinmha Deva I

(‘Yavanabaniballava’, ‘Hamiramanamardana’):

Narasinmha Deva I (son of Anangabhima Deva III) is one of the greatest military heroes and builders of architectural marvels of his time. His importance in the history of the subcontinent is that he was the first successful monarch who took the war to the invading Turks rather than playing a defensive role after the fall of Chauhans or Chahamanas of Delhi.  The primary accounts about his achievements come from three sources – Sanskrit work of Ekavali by the Ganga court poet Vidyadhara, the Muslim chronicle of Tabaqt-I-Nasiri by Minhaj Shiraj Juzani who lived during his era and the Kenduli inscriptions of his descendant Narasinmha II.  His army comprised of Ganga, Kalachuri, Haihaya, Paramara and Sena kingdom recruits, which signifies he was leading a combined force of many ancient Indian kingdoms that struggled to survive during the Turkish onslaughts on Northern, Central and Eastern India.

Possibly Tughral Tughan Khan, the Mameluk Turk governor of Khilji dynasty at Lakhnauti tried to molest the territorial sanctity of the Gangas in 1241 A.D after which Narasinmha chose to rather invade then wait for the next attack. Kalachuri-Haihaya prince and his brother in law ‘Samantaraya’ Paramardi Deva commanded his forces into Bengal. The Ananta Vasudeva temple inscription tells that Paramardi led the forces of the war loving Narasinmha Deva I. In the year 1243 A.D. the Ganga army invaded Bengal and laid seize on the Turk headquarter of Lakhnauti.  The Turkic forces launched a counter attack. According to modern military strategies, the Bengal invasion consisted three tactics i.e. Deception, Bait and Bleed and Distraction in an open warfare that includes implementation of Guerilla strategies. Seemingly as per Minhaj, the Ganga army retreated until modern day Contai leaving trails for the Turkic army to chase them to their chosen spot. At Contai and amidst the thick cane bushes the Ganga forces dug in two large ditches to halt the advancing cavalry of the enemy and left some war elephants and their fodder unattended at a place to lure the enemy for capturing them. 

As the two armies fought, the Gangas start giving away ground to look like a retreating force. Once the slowed down and lured in Turkic forces are on the other side of the ditches they find that the Ganga forces have fled which actually hid in a safe distance and sent a contingent of 200 foot soldiers, 50 horse men and 5 war elephants from behind the thick cane bushes. The unsuspecting Turks assuming that the battle is over settle down for a midday meal. Nevertheless, the Ganga contingent pounced upon them from their flanks in the middle of their meals. Minhaj specifically mentions that a great number of holy warriors or Jihadis attended martyrdom in this sudden attack and Tughral escaped with his life from the spot to Lakhnauti dispatching messages for help to his Turkic allies. 

The following year in 1244 A.D, Ganga forces invaded again occupying Rarh and then seizing Lakhnauti. In the first day of seize, the Turk commander Karimudin Laghri was killed in the battle with the contingent he led out of the gates of Lakhnauti. According to Minhaj, the Ganga forces retreated on the second day as the message arrived about a large Muslim army coming to reinforce the defenses at Lakhnauti from Awadh. However, this is a self-contradicting note from Minhaj as he says that when the Awadh governor Tamur Khan arrives with the forces, he is enraged to see the infidels surrounding Lakhnauti and quarrels with Tughral. This clearly indicates that the Ganga forces had not left. The further proceedings are abruptly missing from Minhaj’s records.

Minhaj further notes that in the year following 1247 A.D, a new Khilji governor Ikhtiyarudin Yuzbak is in place to deal with the occupying Ganga forces. In the following years, after some initial success over Gaur and Varendra by Ikhtiyar, Paramardi Deva defeats the Turkic forces. When Ikhtiyar gets reinforcements from Delhi, he attacks again and in a raging battle at Mandrana in today’s W. Bengal, Parmardi Deva is martyred. Ganga forces continued to occupy Rarh while Gaur and Varendra passed back on to the Turks. The primary objective of Narasinmha Deva I is completed, as the Turks never again dare to threaten the Ganga frontiers. The Kenduli or Kendupatna inscription of Narasinmha II speaks that the river Ganga darkened like the muddy Yamuna because the flooding tears washed away collyrium from the eyes of several widowed Yavanis of Rarh and Varendra after Narasinmha I’s invasion.

Narasinmha also defeated the Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva, which is evident from his Lingaraja temple inscription and expanded his authority beyond river Godavari. The Sanskrit poet Vidyadhara praises Narasinmha I and II in more than hundred and fifty phrases over his work Ekavali. He mentions Narasinmha I as Yavanbaniballava and Hammiramanamardana, which means conqueror of Yavanas (Turks) and Muslim Amirs (governors).

  

Vira-Bhanu Deva II:

The Tughlaq sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq sent his son Ulugh Khan or later known as Mohammed bin Tughlaq on conquest of Southern and Deccan India in the year 1321 A.D. Ulugh captured Telangana, Malabar and regions until Madurai in the Tamil state. The verse no.87 of the Kenduli copper plate grants clearly mentions that the forces of Bhanu Deva II (great grandson of Narasingha Deva I) was actively indulged in a conflict with the Tughlaq forces. Historian M.M.Chakravarti translates the verse as that Bhanu Deva II’s war with Ghiyasuddin began with bloods flowing from many warrior chiefs with their necks wounded by the valor of the king. This means that there were causalities (of aiding insurgents) already before even the Ganga forces battled the Tughlaqs. The verse also mentions many wounded elephants in the battle.

The Srikurmam temple inscription of Bhanu Deva II narrates that his commander Srirama Senapati was in the southern regions of his kingdom as the Kalinga Rakhyapala. The commander has engraved in the inscriptions for himself as the Kumelibhanjan (Destroyer of rebellious activities) and Kondumardan (the destroyer of the Kondus). The words like Khandapalasirachedana in the same inscription also points to certain Chalukya and aboriginal Khandapalas who rebelled against the Ganga authority in the region were, dealt with an iron fist. In the same time, we find Ulugh Khan’s forces taking away some elephants from the forests of Kalinga mentioned in the Muslim chronicles. 

From this, we can conclude that the invasion of the Tughlaq forces on the Deccan in close proximity to the Ganga borders actually fueled rebellious activities by some of the feudal rulers and local chieftains. After a series of anti-insurgency activities by the Ganga forces along with fighting with the Tughlaq forces, the only thing gained by Ulugh was a few elephants from the Kalingan campaign. Bhanu Deva II protected the borders of the Ganga territory after eliminating rebellions incited by the Tughlaqi intelligence in his kingdom.

Bhanu Deva III: 

During the rule of this Ganga monarch, he confronted Firoze Shah Tughlaq, the sultan of Delhi twice at the Bengal frontier kingdom of Panduvah. In the first attack, Firoze Shah’s Tughlaq forces attacked a rebellious Iliyas Shah and surrounded him for 20 days at his capital. In desperation, Iliyas asked for help from Bhanu Deva III, which does reach him. The Dharmalingeswar temple inscription at Panchadharla in Andhra and of Choda III (a Haihaya chieftain) describes the involvement of his grandfather Choda II in the battle with the Tughlaqi forces at Panduvah. The inscription clearly says that Choda II set out to provide protection to the Panduvah Sultan and vanquished the ruler of Delhi. It also says that he presented 22 elephants to the ruler of Utkala i.e. Bhanu Deva III after the victory. The facts can also corroborated by later proceedings as Iliyas breaks away from the Tughlaqs and establishes his new independent Turkic rule in Bengal by the name Iliyas Sahi dynasty and assumes the epithet Samshuddin.

However, this period witnessed Odia forces helping a Turk for the first time and it bounced back in its after effects. During the second invasion of Firoze Shah, the Tughlaq forces not only defeated the Bengal Shah but also bribed some generals from the Ganga army to switch sides for him. As a result and for the first time in history of the Gangas whose ancient orer dependended on absolute loyalty of their subjects, a Muslim army aided by treacherous Ganga commanders invaded Odisha and a widespread plunder and loot campaign ensued. It is said that the loot included 73 elephants mounted with treasures from the temples. In addition, an agreement was reached according to which Odisha was forced to supply a certain amount of elephants to the Tughlaqi forces of Delhi. The difficulties of Odisha did not end there as Iliyas Shah himself raided the plundered Odishan kingdom successfully from the Bengal frontier for the first time. 

A new era also started during the ill-fated rule of Bhanu Deva III as the Rajput Chauhan branch from Garh Sambhor established its new domain in the western tracts of Odisha with Ramai Deva as the new ruler in Patnagarh. Some historical facts say that after the Ganga official left the Patnagarh region disintegrated and eight local chiefs or Gauntias established their own administration as they conspired against and fought each other. Only the Chauhan Ramai Deva managed to establish order in the region.  Many other smaller kingdoms actually came into existence during this period and the power became decentralized weakening the absolute Ganga authority in the region. With these events unfolding, the dirty political culture of treachery and coup attempts started in Odisha, which later resulted in the overthrowing of the Ganga rule in Odisha by Kapilendra Deva in the fifteenth century. Kapilendra Deva build an even greater and new empire from the left overs of the former Imperial Ganga glory but yet never getting rid of the politics of treachery within his ranks. 

A Brief about the Ganga Military: 

The Imperial Ganga army consisted of multiple conscripts from different warrior backgrounds and kingdoms. The best view into their military structure is from the depictions in the temples built by them. The primary infantry soldier was a man who had his long hair tied to the back or top of his head like a hair bun. They wore large bracelets and anklets. Armor was seldom a part of their battle gear as the men under command operated in harsh tropical regions and extreme topography of the battlefields. Weight load on body directly affects maneuverability and movement. The shields held by them are round in shape unlike the rectangular ones from the Somavanshi era. Shields are very large to cover a leaning soldier from neck to feet while he looks out. Shields are in use to cover the men carrying projectile weapons from the elephant backs. Cavalry was an inseparable part of the army and as mentioned earlier from inscriptional records, Anangabhima Deva III was very proud of his fast moving cavalry. One structure of a warhorse from Konark temple premises that is now a part of the Odisha government and state symbol clearly shows an unmounted rider holding a sword and probably covering a soldier hidden behind his own shield under the horse or possibly trampling him under his horse’s hoofs . The best part to see here is that there is quiver of arrows hanging from the rider’s saddle. In another, such depiction in the walls of the Konark ruins, it shows a cavalryman shooting arrows from the back of a jumping horse. Therefore, it clearly depicts that horse mounted archery was also a part of the Ganga army and it was not only the Mongols who were holding such arrow shooting swift cavalries in the thirteenth century. The Ganga cavalry is also depicted charging while holding thrusting spears. Archery also seems to be a very prevalent way of Ganga war making. Anangabhima Deva III also mentions in his Chateswar temple inscription that his commander Vishnu was able to shoot the enemies by pulling the arrow on the bowstring until his ears. A few depictions also show archers on foot escorted by soldiers holding on to smaller round shields.

Vidyadhara in his Ekavali mentions Narasinmha I or II is the lord of a stream of Battalions or a huge army. From inscriptional records, we find that the Gangas had a minister of war whose rank is Sandhivigrahi. Military commanders have the ranks like Vahinipati, Samantaraya and Chammunatha or Chamupati. Chamupati is specifically a leader of a Chamu (Chaauni in Odia) or a military detachment, which has a strength of 2187 Chariots, 2187 cavalry riders, 729 war elephants and 3646 infantry soldiers. Chodaganga in his Ronaki inscriptions mentions to have 99,000 elephants under his command, which accounts for a strength of whole army with not less than 8, 00,000 men and 3, 00,000 animals of cavalry and elephant corps according to ancient military way of forming battalions called Gulma. An interesting way of looking at the Ganga way of naval warfare is to look out for Kalinga Maghaa landing on northern Sri Lanka with 24,000 soldiers. This is a clear indication to amphibian warfare capabilities existing in Kalinga for landing troops on distant coastal regions.

Gangas ruled over an area largely covered with wide forests and with the best breeding grounds for thousands of untamed elephants. Firoze Shah Tughlaq’s special interest in getting elephants from the defeated Bhanu Deva III is an indication of how efficiently the elephants were, trained by the mahouts of Kalinga to perform in war as a terrifying weapon. Narasinmha Deva I is, found to be the first king of Odisha who also bore an epithet Gajapati or the lord of war elephants. This epithet becomes a standard for the next line of kings to rule Odisha. Even though there were, a number of kings of smaller domains in the later phase of Odishan history only the Kings ruling the spiritual center of Odisha could take the title ‘Gajapati’ or the distant Ganga family members ruling in the southern regions of Odisha could do so. However, certain south Indian kings from Kanchipuram and Vijayanagara did try to immitate this way of bearing same epithets but were never equivalent to the Odishan Gajapatis in stature or respect. The military institution of the Gangas in all is a separate aspect of study on their existence as fine emperors, which cannot be covered in a few words of this article.

Eastern Gangas in the Geopolitics of Sri Lanka:

The Imperial Gangas were directly involved in the affairs of the Sri Lankan early medieval politics. Starting from the indication of 'Anantavarman' Vajrahasta V marrying a Ceylonese princess to the invasion of Kalinga Maghaa during the rule of Anangabhma Deva III, the Gangas were deeply involved in the island’s geopolitics because of their direct marital relations with the Sri Lankan royalties. Let me briefly note this. 

The Friendly Era: Mahinda IV (945-961 A.D) who fought the Chola army of Vallabha invading Sri Lanka at Jaffna was married to the daughter of Kalinga Chakravatti that directly refers to Kamarnava I’s ruling years. Her son Sena V ascended the throne at the age of 12. Vijaya Bahu (1064-1095) married a Kalingan princess called Lilokasundari (Trilokasundari). However, the Chola king Pandu is given his sister in marriage after she begged for it despite his disagreement. He fortified Pollonnaruwa and the Chola influence decimated over Lanka. The Chola sons of Mitta are defeated by the son of Vijay Bahu called Jaya Bahu who took control of the kingdom. A native of Kalinga named as Mahinda murdered Vijaya Bahu II (1173-73). The same Mahinda VI is, murdered by Nissanka Malla of Kalingan Ishvaku dynasty in 1187 who is also known as Kalinga Lokeswara. He ruled Pollonnaruwa for ten years along with seven other members of his family to follow on. One of them was his nephew named as Chodaganga. His family ruled for the next 20 years with a gap of for 3 years in the middle. In his Dambulla rock edict, Nissanka Malla claims himself to be from Simhapur (a Ganga Domain).

The Uncordial Era: During the rule of Anangabhima Deva III, a prince by the name Kalinga Maghaa invades the Lankan nation in 1215 A.D with 24,000 conscripts from the mainland and rules the island for the next 21 years until killed in battle by the native resurgent forces of Vijayabahu III, the founder of Dambadeniya kingdom. Kalinga Magha is treated a villain in the island’s history as his period of rule was atrocious and destructive in the Island nation. He is also known as Kalinga Vijayabahu.  Bhuvenaka Bahu I, the later king from 1272 – 1284 A.D is invaded by the Kalinga Rayar (Raja), Chodaganga and other Indian kings. The mention of Kalinga Rayar very well indicates either Langula Narasimha Deva I or his immediate descendants who had expansionist missions in the oceans for controlling the sea trade.

We notice from these extracts of Sri Lankan history that the kings of Kalinga became an enemy of Sri Lankan political order when the marital relations also ceased to exist unlike the previous rulers.

A Resurgent Ganga who Defied the Nizamshahi, French and the British

In the mid eighteenth century, Odisha reduced to a divided group of small principalities that were stuck in the middle of a raging clash of interests between the Marathas, Mughals, French and the British. The glory days of the Gangas and the Gajapatis was over as Quli Qutb Shah gained some southern territories of the Gajapati state from the battle-ravaged last great Gajapati of Odisha, Prataprudra Deva in the sixteenth century.  Later, the Hyderabad Nizamshahi handed over the Northern Circars in 1753 A.D to the French. However, the Ganga family descendants of Paralakhemundi estate were neither loyal to the Nizams nor accepted the French authority.  The energetic ruler of the estate “Jagannath Gajapati” Narayana Deo II challenged the outsiders. When French regents invaded his territory for occupation, he repulsed them and understood that the ancient glory of the Ganga administration and the disintegrating Odia land needed to unite as a combined force to reckon with.

In 1760 A.D, he invaded the weak Bhoi dynasty king of Khurda with the intent to control the ancient spiritual and administrative centers of Odisha. Laying seize to the Chatragarh fort, he defeated the Khurda forces. The Khurda king then pleaded help from the Marathas who appeared with a much superior force at the fort in exchange of promises for regular payments by Khurda. The French regent ruler of Vizianagaram, Sitaram Raju at the same time invades Paralakhemundi and committed atrocities on the commoners under the French authority. Avoiding a multi front war, Narayana Deo II retreats from Chatragarh fort and reinforces the Jelmur (Jalamuri, Srikakulam) fort. In the 1761 A.D, Sitaram Raju and his French high command were defeated for the second time at Jelmur fort.

In 1766 A.D, the Nizamshahi again handed over the same region to the British East India Company as the French retreated due to raging conflicts with the British ships in the South. The company authorities during their assessment of the region’s rulers also noted down that the Zamindar of Paralakhemundi was non-cooperative in their takeover.  The defiance of Narayan Deo II is, noted down with great attention as the “Paralakhemundi Affairs” by the British officers. On 4rth April 1768, the British and the Paralakhemundi forces clashed at Jelmur. The British had the support of the Nizamshahi authorities while the local rulers of Athagarh and Khalikote helped Narayan Deo II.  Due to superior weapons and better supplies of the British, the Parala forces endured defeat and Narayan Deo II fled to live and fight another day. As the British established their own regents in the estate and left, Narayan Deo II reappeared and took over the administration from the British regent with the help of his loyal subjects. Until his natural death in 1771 A.D, Narayana Deo II remained defiant to any foreign authority over his people. The British could never deal with him. His was the first armed rebellion against any European power in Odisha and possibly in whole of undivided India. 

Ending Notes: 

Serious discussion and research on several aspects about the Imperial Gangas besides their military history is a need of the hour. There are few misconceptions in the first place that need to go. Some questions are about their origins. Are they an offshoot of the Mysore Gangavadi? Were they Telugu or Dravidian? The new research throws light on the origins of Eastern Gangas as even older than the Mysore branch. Rajaraja Deva I’s inscription specifically mentions his war with the Drabila or Dramila (Dravida) which signifies that Eastern Gangas identified themselves as Non-Dravidian. Dr. Harihar Kanungo in his books and articles has proved that they existed even during the Mahabharata era and has linked them to many ancient races like the Drahyus and Mahisyas. He also points out that there existed five Ganga princedoms inside the territory of W. Bengal, which are older than that of the Mysore Gangavadi branch. The Odia Saptasati Chandi Purana describes a king founding a new kingdom between Agrabada to Gangabada. This Gangabadi is today a village situated sixteen miles from the Naupada station in Andhra side of the border with Odisha and renamed as Gangabala by the railway authorities. The Kendupatna grant of Narasimha II also mentions this Gangabadi clearly. However, Gangabadi also means the region under the Ganga family’s control.

Third century B.C.E Greek naturalist Pliny writes about the Gangadhikar or Gangahirdae Kalinga along with two other Kalingas in his Natural history. There still exist a community in Mysore known as Gangadikar Vokalingars who, claim descent from the Talakad Gangas of Karnataka.

The conflict with the mention by Chodaganga Deva as descended from the Mysore Gangavadi prince Kamarnava over an inscription is that there is a gap of at least seven hundred years between both of them. Moreover, his grandfather Vajrahasta V and father Rajaraja I claim their descent from Tri Kalinga without any such farfetched connections of ancestry in their inscriptions. Chodaganga Deva claiming his long stretch of ancestry linking up to puranic charachters at a point when he desperately needed widespread recognition by the people is not a new thing in the political history of India.

Several inscriptions found inside present Andhra territory are mostly in Sanskrit with influence of both Odia and Telugu words along with scripts of Odia and Telugu separately from Devanagari. It would be bigotry to link the origin of the Gangas to any linguistic community. Yes, the Gangas did achieve the pinnacle of their greatness as Odia kings later despite their wider origins that trails back to every corner of the Indian subcontinent and broad scale enthusiastic research is required for finding more. 

Note "Ownership of any photographic illustrations or the screenshots is not claimed by the author"

Some References for this Article

• The Orissa Historical Research Journal, Volume IV
• The Orissa Historical Research Journal, Volume V
• Inscriptions of Orissa, Volume III (Part I)
• Inscriptions of Orissa, Volume III (Part II)
• Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, Volume I (Part II)
• History of Orissa by R.D.Banerji, Volume I
• Anchalika Janasruti O Ithihasa by Kailash Chandra Dash
• Orissa Under Anangabhima Deva III and Narasimhadeva I (Paper on http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in) 
• Ekavali Vidyadhara Tarala Of Mallinatha Kamalashankar Pranshankar Trivedi 
• Kalinga Under the Eastern Gangas: Ca. 900 A.D. to Ca. 1200 A.D. by N. Mukunda Rao 
• Itihasa, Paramapara O Shri Jagannath by Harihar Kanungo
• Outlines of Ceylon History by Donald Obeyesekere

Research Document Submitted by Manjit Keshari Nayak 
(About author - Volunteer self research analyst and writer on the History of Odisha)  

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