Abhilash Mohanty

quora.com/How-was-life-in-Odisha-during-the-Mughal-rule-16th-18th-century/answer/Abhilash-Mohanty-34

Since joining Quora this month, I’ve had a total of 4 answers and 3 comments collapsed. I
expect even more to be similarly reported and collapsed as well. Of my four censored
answers, one has been collapsed for “poor readability” while two others have been
collapsed for “not being in English”- because I used a Sanskrit quote in one and a German
reference- with a translation alongside- in the other. All Appeals till date, have failed.

I am, now, half-minded to report every answer I do see on this two-bit Site with even a
single word not in the Angrej language. Somehow I doubt any action will be taken on non-
Bharatas. After all, we are aware of how things work here: Suryanarayanan R's answer to
Does Quora discriminate against Hindus?

Anyway…

The other BNBR-ed cases are more interesting. One of my first answers on this Site was
banned because I quoted a rather unpolitically correct line by a certain 15th Century Oriya
general after the objects of his ire sacked a town, raped the women, murdered the men, and
carried off all survivors into slavery. This general had… not been amused, and had
expressed so in rather… strong words. Alas- his words, faithfully reported by moi, were
judged far too extreme and thus my post was collapsed. In case of the three comments,
two saw a similar pattern.

What was interesting was thus. I have strong reason to suspect the majority of those
reporting my posts were fellow Oriyas.

As such- I am aware that my answer will not be kosher among among modern secular
broad-minded Oriyas, let alone the typical young Indian. It would be easy to write a popular,
much-up-voted, “safe” answer; with enough references to “rich Jagannath culture” and
“remote location of Orissa” and “Orissa was pointless for larger kingdoms”, it’d be easy for
me to both avoid the attentions of the ever-virtuous Quora Moderators, and garner the
cheers of both our ever-progressive Oriya youth and our chirruping Indian bourgeoisie.

But it won’t be an Arya act.

When I joined Quora, I had a choice, a fork in the road. One was the easy road- to flaunt my
educational degrees, to display my real image, to preach love and joy and success, to take
refuge in white lies and soft nothings. Others have done it; others have succeeded.

But it won’t be an Arya act.

What gives our choices resonance, is what we chose to give up for them. I have made my
choice- and it cost me. So be it.

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At the time of writing these words, I do not expect this answer to stay up for long . Neither
do I expect it to avoid the attentions of the ever-virtuous Moderators and ever-progressive
educated sophisticated modern Indian and Oriya youth; soon it’ll be reported, collapsed,
and forgotten. And even those who bother to read it will forget; so be it.

That I spoke the truth will be enough for me.

This is, for the first time in the English language, a short history of the Oriya peoples and
the struggle of our noble ancestor in defence of our lands, our gods, our peoples against
the might of the Mughal tyrants.

May these feeble words of mine be worthy of telling their tale.

“The inhabitants of Orissa are fierce peoples, and they posses a considerable degree of
personal courage… (they) are seldom of peace, and are exceptional fighting men.”

-Excerpt from Leckie’s Journal on Orissa, published 1690 from the original 16th Century text.

After the great defence in the distant North was broken in the late 12th Century, certain
aliens - presumably Martians- swept into the Continent slaughtering and destroying at will.
They were stopped in their tracks by the then High-king of Orissa- Anangabhima III
Chodaganga, marking the beginning of almost four hundred years of fierce combat, Atrocity
and counter-Atrocity, and one of the single greatest examples of existential conflict ever
seen in the history of the Bharatavarsha.

Read more: The Lakhnauti Campaign : The Wars That Will Not be Named ― Kapil Routray
[WeReform News]

The great war dragged on for centuries; generations of Oriyas lived and died under the
shadow of constant war.

Out of the crucible of Struggle, arose what one can convincingly argue was the single
greatest high-point of medieval Hindu polity. For Centuries, outnumbered Oriyas- with
limited fertile land, few perennial sources of water, and almost entirely surrounded by foes-
kept up a heroic struggle in the defence of our lands, our gods, our people, and our faith.
Against every town sacked, every village plundered and enslaved, every single Oriya
tortured or murdered or raped, every single atrocity committed by Martians which we are
not allowed to name even now, the umbrella of justice and the sword of retribution was
extended - be it under the Bull standard of the Chodaganga or the Solar banner of the
Routrays.

One key aspect in this form of warfare that leaps out is the fact that Oriyas- almost
uniquely among medieval Hindu states- practiced cruel and vicious forms of warfare- as
vicious as the Martians themselves, possibly inspired by the enemies our ancestors fought
so long and so bitterly. This wasn’t without parallel; individual lords among other Hindu
counterparts of Orissa at the time- such as the Empire of Vijayanagara- are known to have
committed similar actions. Emperor Krishnadeva Raya himself was noted for erecting
pyramids of Martian skulls at times.

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However in consistency of such atrocities, both as a reply to Martian ones as well as
Imperial policy, Oriya forces stand apart from any organized Hindu polity of the time.
Modern conceptions of “bhakti” and “inclusiveness of the Jagannath faith”
notwithstanding, it is evident that the hallmark of Oriya piety under the Golden Age of
Orissa was written in blood and fire.

As the forts and cities of Madhyadesha burnt, Oriya troops under Gajapati Narasimhadeva I
and Bhnudeva I Chodaganga sallied out and took city after city across Bengal and Bihar-
crushing all resistance and liberating the East for almost half a century.

As the Yadavas in the hills and forests of the Vindhyas fell, Oriyas under Gajapati
Bhanudeva II Chodaganga impaled defeated invaders on the walls of Raibania fortress, on
eternal vigilance against the hordes of Delhi.

As Madurai burnt, Oriyas under Gajapati Narasimhadeva II Chodaganga crushed one of the
greatest armies ever raised in history- flaying alive those of that once-great Martian horde
who didn’t drown int the waters of the Subarnarekha.

Gajapati Kapilendradeva Routray sacked Bidar. Jagamaladeva Ratha flayed alive his
Martian prisoners. For every year more endured, Oriyas grew steadily more and more single-
minded in our efforts to keep Srikhetra free of any alien strain, no matter what the cost.

To brook the growth of alien colonies in the shadow of the Oriya gestalt, the Oriya state?
Absurd!

Not for the Oriyas the prospect of being swamped by treacherous “loyal Martian” like in
Vijayanagara nor for Oriyas, the threat of being swallowed alive in our own lands as in
modern-day Kashmir. The Oriyas brooked no “poor refugees”, “no hard-working migrants”,
“no loyal mercenaries for hire”, nothing. Orissa was the realm of Jagannath; and to be part
of the Empires of the Oriyas- be it the humblest of tribal hunter-gatherers in the forests of
Mahakantara or the Gajapati himself in his gilded halls of Cuttack- was to bow to our
undying Lord.

“Every Afghan who took part in the campaign, obtained as booty one or two gold images. Our
Lord destroyed temple at Puri which contained 700 idols of the Kaffirs, made of gold, the
biggest of which weight 30 Mans (~650 kilograms)”

-M A Rahim, quoting from the notes of N’imat Allah in the Historyof the Afghans in India AD
1545–1631

But to live in Kali Yuga is to decline, shrivel and die.

Such was the fate of the Empires of the Oriyas as well. in our glory, our power, our wrath,
we Oriyas grew arrogant- and were punished for it. Brother killed brother; Generals rose in
revolt, the Empire tottered and reeled like a drunk on the streets, unaware of his
approaching death.

Riven by Civil War, Factional conflict, and the treachery of those like the general Mukunda
Harichandan, Raghubhanja Chhotaray, and the dog Rajiblochana Ray- the thrones of Orissa
tottered. Cuttack fell. The Srimandir was set ablaze. It was, as if, it was sunset already for
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Oriyas- soon the temples of our gods would’ve been but dust, the memory of our ancestors
forgotten forever, us few Oriyas swamped by waves and waves of the hordes from the
North where scheming Martians waited to devour Dharma.

What an ignominious end to a thousand years of self-rule under our Lord Jagannath!

The sceptre of this horror was- for a time- broken by Gajapati Ramachandradeva I Routray
of the Bhoi lineage. As Cuttack was lost, he rallied Oriya forces at Khurda- barely forty
kilometres away- and struck back.

“He shattered the forts of the Turakas and drove them beyond the river”

- Chaininka Chakada

… and shortly the countryside had been cleansed of the Martians- be they soldiers or
settlers.

By 1570 CE, Orissa was free again. Yet again, it seemed that Oriya arms had carried the
day in defence of Dharma.

But alas- it was not to be.

As always base treachery had achieved what strength of Arms had kept at bay for so long.
The Arch-traitor Man Singh in service of the Mughal Emperor Akbar was invited in Orissa by
defeated rival factions in the Oriya Civil War. Man Singh- with his superior Artillery tore
through the defenses along the Subarnarekha- already weakened in the long Civil War and
the Afghan invasions- and marched south with an Army, far greater than anything Oriyas
could muster.

In desperation- Gajapati Ramachandradeva I and his generals- Bira Bala Bikrama Singha
and Srikrushna Vidhyadhara- stitched an alliance with the Afghans, and after a failed
attempt at a peace treaty by the prince Birabaradeva, clashed against the Mughal Empire.

The War was brutal.

For two years, the battered forces of the once-great Oriya State clashed again and against
the hordes of the Mughals. The Mughals had numbers of half a Continent on their side;
Orissa-never the most populous of states- had lost hundreds of thousands in the Civil War
and the Afghan Wars. the Mughals had some of the finest Artillery in the World; Oriyas had
been without even a centralized military command for over twenty years. The Mughals had
countless allies and n lack of traitors in their service; the only support Oriyas had was from
the aliens we’d been fighting barely an year ago. One after the other, the Gadajats of Orissa
fell. One after the other, the Zamindaris of Orissa were smashed to dust. Famine, Want, and
Death swept our lands. Sahajpala, Kharagarh, Kalupada, Bhumal, Konon, Lonagarh,
Bhumala- all fell; and then even Cuttack fell- barely three years after being reconquered by
our ancestors.

And yet, the War went on.

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Mughal camps were set afire at night. Martian zamindars would be appointed lords over
empty hamlets one morn- and their corpses and that of their families would be found in
their beds the next. From within forests and hills and empty riverbeds and barren fields, the
struggle-bloody and brutal beyond all accounting- went on.

And Oriyas won.

Against all odds, against all but certain annihilation, against the might of Mughal Empire,
against all the hordes an uncaring Yuga and a lost Continent could throw at this final
bastion of Dharma upon Earth- our ancestors won.

“…During Chandana Jatra, King Man Singh proceeded towards Puri… the Priests of the
Jagannath Temple asked Man Singh to whom he would offer the Power and Authority of the
King of Orissa, Man Singh took up Khadi Prasada from the priests and offered it to King
Ramachandradeva proclaiming him as the king of Orissa…”

-Ganesh Chandra Ratha, quoting from the Madala Panji

It was a hollow victory.

Gajapati Ramachandradeva I had brought an end to nigh thirty years of constant War and
ensured a stable Oriya rule over Oriyas- but he had managed this only b y accepting Mughal
Overlordship and, even worse, denying the ultimate authority of Jagannath as the Lord of
Orissa. The Zamindars seethed and Priests grumbled- but Oriyas were, after all, still too
weak to voice much dissent in public. Nevertheless, the turbulent and war-like nature of
Oriyas, along with the genocidal warfare being practiced in the lands, made it imperative
for general Man Singh himself to stay as the governor of Orissa- partly because of his
massive military might as well as on account of his being a Hindu.

Once he left, trouble began.

Emperor Akbar had, as good policy and as he was the only sane Mughal to ever take the
Throne, allow King Man Singh to mostly leave Orissa and Oriyas to our own account. Taxes
were low, Administration was being brought back on track, and Law and Order was strictly
maintained.

Not so under the new regime.

“Mughal rule in Orissa practically began during the reign of the Emperor Jehangir, when he
appointed Subahdar in 1607 CE for Orissa>”

-R D Banerjee

Taxes, more and more onerous, sprang up. Temples were being regularly desecrated,
oppression of priest and peasants grew ever greater, when the Martians at Golkonda
invaded Orissa and ripped off Rajahmundry, the Mughals did nothing to aid us Kaffirs. Even
more worryingly, the trickle of Martians entering Orissa had grown into a flood, and there
were fears that Mughal-occupied Cuttack- the centre of Martian Power and an insult to the
memory of the city of kings Markata Keshari and Anangabhima III- would turn into another
Delhi.

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The protests of Oriya zamindars grew ever more- but our Gajapati Purushottamadeva
Routray kept his patience, ever mindful of the treaties he’d signed and the horrors he had
seen in his youth during the First Oriya-Mughal War.

The the Mughal Governor Hashim Khan and his dog Kesho Das Maru, a Rajput, went and
sieged an unprepared Khurda, desecrated the Sri Mandira, and forced the Gajapati to
surrender his own daughter to the accursed Jehangir’s harem and pay over INR 300,000 as
tribute and INR 100,000 as tribute. Complaints brought some sense to the tyrant Jehangir
though- and Hashim Khan was recalled, replaced by King Kalyan Mal. Nonetheless, the
dhimmi proved worse than the Martian- and after one too many clashes, a Mukarran Khan
was installed who began his governorship by attacking the temple of Sakhigopala and
mass-settling Cuttack district with his Martian kin.

“Mukarram Khan, son of Muazam Khan, was appointed Governor of Orissa in 1617 CE… He
created a reign of terror by his iconoclastic activity. Out of panic, the sevak and priests of
Jagannath temple took away the image of Lord Jagannath to Gohapadar…”

-Mohammed Yamin, Islam in Orissa

Protests and remonstrations by the Gajapati lead to this vile treacherous creature accusing
Gajapati Purushottamadeva for rebellion, occupying Khurda, and committing such murders
and atrocities upon Oriyas that the general Husain Ali Khan was asked to intercede by Oriya
zamindars.

However, Oriyas were betrayed again; the semi-sane Husain was asked to resign by the
Mughals- and another villain by the name of Ahmed Beg was raised to governorship in
1621 CE.

The same year, the second Oriya-Mughal War started.

A few years earlier, the Mughal lackey Abu Fazl had estimated Orissa’s fighting strength as
nearly 100,000 Men under an estimated 3000-odd zamindaris; out of which the Gajapati
maintained personal control over 32 of the biggest and 73 fortresses. This was plain
exaggeration; there is no evidence that Oriyas- even at the height of our strength- ever had
a professional force of more than 50,000 men. This great power had been the bulwark of
Orissa across the many centuries of our wars with the countless foes rushing at us from
Morocco to Dhaka- and, though it’d been devastated during the Civil Wars, the Afghan
Wars, and the Mughal Campaigns, the 30-odd years of Peace had more than made up the
numbers.

It was this Force that clashed with the Mughal Governor Ahmed Beg- Oriya Heavy Missile
Cavalry and Light Infantry against Mughal Cavalry, Artillery and Musketry- the finest in the
World.

Mughal barracks were razed to the ground, Martian settlers were scourged off the State or
asked to convert back to the worship of the true gods, army after army sent by the Mughals
was crushed. The gharwapsi of converted Oriyas was in full swing, and new Brahmin

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Shasanas and village grants was started. Matters grew bad enough for fresh armies to be
sent from Bengal; but they were wiped out by Oriya zamindars. At the height of the conflict,
Gajapati Purushottamadeva breath his last. He was 67.

At this point, the Mughals took advantage of the confusion to rally new armies. Fresh forces
from Mughal allies in Golkonda and Bijapur sped north. Gajapati Narasimhadeva appealed
for a respite- and was ignored. A force of over 200,000 troops from all across the Deccan
and Bengal speed to Khurda; and was wiped out.

The War entered a fresh round of brutality Orissa hadn’t seen since the height of the
Routray Empire. For every Oriya village burnt, an entire Mughal Mansab was flayed alive.
For every Oriya town sacked, a Martian community was wiped off the map.

“From Khurda to Cuttack, every major crossroad was festooned by the carcasses of the
Mlecchas”.

-M J Borah (Guwahati 1936), quoting from the Cakoda Pothi

Not many records of this great War exist- but the damage upon Oriya zamindari as well as
Mughal and Deccani might must’ve been incredible; for within four years, both Gajapati
Narasimhadeva and the villainous Ahmed Beg were on their knees.

It was at this point that the rebelling Mughal Prince Khurram- the future Emperor Shah
Jehan- entered Orissa.

The War was ended upon Khurram’s intermediation- and soon-after accession to the
Throne. Taxes upon Orissa were reduced; from 1628–36 CE, Orissa paid barely INR
50,13,625 as taxes according to the Riyaz-i-Khusbui when we had to pay INR 31,43,316 in
1594 CE alone. Ahmed Beg was re-appointed but a broken reed now, he did nothing as
Gajapati Narasimhadeva I and his zamindars virtually bullied out all Martian settlers and
soldiers from all of Coastal Orissa and restored Temples and Rituals all over our land.

A short spiel of tyranny during this time was the career of Muhammad Baqar Khan, who
served from 1628 CE to 1632 CE.

“(Baqar Khan)… was a cruel and oppressive administrator. (Under trickery), he imprisoned
and tortured the zamindars… 700 prisoners were killed…”

-Mohammed Yamin, Islam in Orissa.

Incensed at the treacherous murder of nearly a fourth of their numbers, Oriya zamindars
again rallied our banners under the leadership of Prince Balabhadradeva, brother of the
aging Gajapati Narasimhadeva, leading to the intervention of Shah Jehan again.

The continued defiance of Oriya zamindars had now lead to a period of almost 50 years
of semi-constant Civil War. The province of Orissa barely generated any revenue for the
Mughals, outside their control over the pigrim taxes of Puri itself. Mughal Armies were over-
stretched, the Gadajats of Mahakantara were defacto independent for all purposes- and
low-key murder and terror campaigns by ordinary Oriyas made settlement of Martian
civilians outside the cities impossible.

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A key example of the sheer instability of Mughal rule over Orissa can be seen as follows:-

The province of Orissa typically generated a revenue of INR 50,00,000 per annum. However
the truth was that, no one knew how much exactly was meant to be levied or how much
was being collected or what exactly was happening. For Mughals, their only surety was their
own might of Arms; beyond the walls of Cuttack and Bhadrak lay only Death for the
average Martian.

“…The annual revenue which was collected by the Mughal government is difficult to
ascertain. At different times various authorities have mentioned different figures as revenue of
Odisha… However, the revenues sent from Odisha from time to time to suggests that
sometimes they were sent together for more, than one year. So no information about the
revenue of Odisha is available for consecutive years. It can well be inferred that almost all the
figures in any way do not refer to the annual standard revenue but only the intermixture of the
heavy arrears of some past years as well as current revenue…

It appears in many cases, the revenue went unpaid for years. Also, very few zamindars in the
Gadajat Areas are known to have paid taxes. Frequent revolts and peace treaties also made it
difficult to ensure collection of taxes. While Orissa had a revenue of INR 56,39,500 in 1654
CE alone, the province was asked to pay only an estimate of INR 45,05,000 revenue in the
years 1638–56 CE, according to the Farhang-i-Kardani, however the rebellious Oriya
zamindars barely paid the Mughal Empire a pittance of INR 11,02,625 according to Sujan Rai
(Passim)- and only after massive campaigns by Shah Shuja himself…”

-Abhijit Sahoo, Lecturer in History, KIIT School of Social Sciences (KSSS) (Partly
paraphrased)

The Mughals, having failed in military efforts, now attempted treachery. Gangadharadeva, a
nephew of Gajapati Narasimhadeva, was propped up by governor Mutquad Khan. In one of
the most gory incidents in modern Oriya history, he was flayed alive and nailed to his own
door under the command of the new Gajapati, Balabhadradeva. A short brutal clash
between Oriyas and the Mughals under Mirza Balaki at Andhari led to another Oriya victory;
a relief Mughal Army arrived weeks later to find an empty ruin of a Fort and thousands of
impaled Corpses.

Shortly after, Dharmadeva Rajaguru, Minister of Gajapati Mukundadeva, declared Oriya

independence in the year 1658 CE. For the second time in a century, Oriyas breathed once
again in a free Orissa.

And then came the hordes of Aurangzeb and began the Third Oriya-Mughal War

“…Khan-i-Dauran was sent to deal with the Odishan zamindars and the king of Khurda. He
killed many recalcitrant zamindars and proceeded towards Khurda… Abu Nasir, one of the
sons of Sayasta Khan marched to Jajpur and Jhankada and broke the temples, establishing
mosques nearby…”

-Manas Kumar Das, The Modern History of Orissa

Oriya blood flowed across our lands like water. Entire towns were wiped off the map,
villages swept off the Earth like Hemanta storms chastising autumn leaves. So many
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Oriyas died in the Northern provinces that they became majority Bengali-speaking.
Aurangzeb’s hordes- who were still to draw swords against Shivaji Maharaj in the West-
had come in full force against our Ancestors- and the litany of murdered, raped, and
enslaved kinsfolk of mine would drive even a stone to tears, but given what degenerate
times we live in and the nature of our modern Oriya youth, I will neither waste words nor
grief.

Eighty thousand men had descended upon Orissa under the Khan-i-Dauran; another sixty
thousand under Ihtisham Khan, yet another fifty thousand under Abu Nasir. Even Shivaji
himself would face fewer when he would clash against Shaista Khan at Pune two years
later!

What was the Oriya response?

“… Raja Krishna Chandra, Chief of Mayurbhanja, established his hold over the territory from
Midnapur to Bhadrak. Raja of Keonjhar, Lakshminarayan Bhanja, occupied the fort of
Panchira by driving away the Mughals. The zamindars of Hinjli,… Ranpur, Sarangagarh,
Dompada, Malipara, and Khallikote indulged in rebellious activities… Raja Mukundadeva,
the Raja of Khurda, was the most powerful of the Rajas of Orissa. Other zamindars worshiped
him like a God and any disobedience to him was regarded as a sin…Ihtisham Khan was sent…
to restore Mughal authority…unable to succeed, hardly after one year, he was recalled…”

-Mohammed Yamin, Islam in Orissa.

From the Subarnarekha to the Godavari, scarcely one district was there which didn’t see the
construction of pyramids of human skulls. Scarcely one Mughal camp remained which
hadn’t been faced with the sceptre of its soldiery flayed alive. Famine struck, trade
vanished, blood flowed like rivers. The Khan-i-Dauran, declaring a puppet Gajapati with the
captive Bhramarabaradeva, younger brother of Mukundadeva. marched south. He slew
King Krishna Chandra Bhanja at Jaleshwara, sacked the capital at Khurda itself, and forced
the surrender of most Oriya forces under the general Jayaramadeva Bhanja at Remuna.
Slowly, over the course of two years of grinding attritional warfare, the Kings of Ganjam and
Keonjhar were crushed, and the zamindars of Ranpur, Malipara, and Dompara pacified.

After three years of horrible warfare- with all Orissa in ruins, our Gajapati Mukundadeva had
to accept Mughal suzerainty again, paying a war indemnity of around INR 35,00,000. After
six years- six wondrous, bloody years, we Oriyas were slaves again.

Gajapati Mukundadeva Routray of the Bhoi lineage- the last free king of the Oriyas- died
soon after of small pox and sorrow.

By now, nearly two centuries of near-constant warfare had taken their toll. Oriya cities
were but ruins, trade was a thing of the past, farms were barren, and few Oriyas remained
across vast territories. In the north, the now Oriya-minority areas in Jaleshwar Sarkar were
merged with Bengal Subah while in the South, the Nizam quietly occupied most of the
Godavari mouth. Neither Oriyas nor eve the Mughal Governors had either the ability nor the
attitude to oppose. Far too many men had died; for the first time in history, Oriyas were too

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weak to protest much and regular taxes- around INR 35,00,000 per annum (mark the fall
from the earlier estimates a century ago; how much devastation did our ancestors go
through!)- began to be collected from our lands.

The Maratha Wars in the west had removed the crisis of Martian migration into Orissa as
well. Under the Gajapatis Dibyasinghadeva I, Harekrishnadeva, Gopinathadeva and the
Mughal Governors Murshid Quli and Shuja-ud-din, Oriyas and Martians settled into an
uneasy piece…

Read more: Abhilash Mohanty's answer to In the Mughal Dynasty, only Akbar allowed for
the re-conversion of Muslims back to Hindus. Is this true and why did he do so?

Which ended with the tragic saga of Gajapati Ramachandradeva II Routray- whom the few
true Oriya Hindus reading this might recognize as the subject of the novelist Surendra
Mohanty’s historical epics- Nilasaila and Niladri Vijaya, thegreat doomed hero for Orissa
and Oriyas in the Fourth and Last Oriya-Mughal War.

Eleven years, it lasted. Eleven years of tears and blood and grief and rage. Eleven years of
shattered dreams and fleeting wishes and terrible longing and the terrible grief of such
longing.

Had the gods given me the skill and the tongue and, my witless fingers, the magic of
poetry, I would’ve spoken to you- even though these unfeeling texts- of the dignity of the
Gajapatis of the Bhoi line who ruled over us so long and left their mark so deep. Had the
gods given me the art to do so, I would’ve told you of my home, of winter storms and silent
stone. I would’ve sung to you of the morning mist over the rivers and white flowers, the
smell of rain in the month of Ashada and half-forgotten temples in hidden coves on
nameless hills.

Had the gods looked down upon me. laboring silently and praying for this voiceless prose
to please, they would’ve given me the tongue to give tongue to the countless Oriyas who
once died in service to our blood and our gods, our lands and our faith. They would’ve told
me to sing of the field of Khurda- of blood red earth underneath a blood-red sky as Bakshi
Rai and Nilambara Harichandan were swept from the field. They would’ve told me to sing
of Athagarh, and soft rains weeping over the silent forests and knives in the dark, of
treachery and of mercy, of Rathigarh and of Barabati, of tall men standing atop ramparts
amidst fierce Kartika storms and prince Bhagirathideva and the line of my people,
stretching back into the ages…

They would’ve bade me sing of love, of valour, of last stands and heroic deeds, of Fathers
and Sons and Family and Necessity and the choices we must make, of Love and Lovers
and the World and the weight of the World, of Men and Gods and Duty and the Sacrifices
we make for them.

Gajapati Ramchandradeva II Routraya committed suicide in 1736 CE, the last of his line
and arguably one of the greatest.

The World had changed since.

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The Mughal Empire was dying, flickering brightly here and there at times but dying all the
same. With the ascent of Alivardi Khan, even the pretensions of Mughal Imperial Rule was
done with- and put to rest.

Provincial lords were of more account than even the powers of Delhi, and none so mighty
as the rising might of the Marathas. Angrej proliferated on the shores. And slowly, Orissa
fell into a waking dreamless dream… Further horrors were yet to come, and they did come
as the Marathas, Bengali Sultans, Nizam, and the Angrej tore our beloved land apart…

But no longer would the hills and valleys of Orissa echo with the shrieks of bellowing war
conches and the clarion calls of war trumpets. No longer would there be seen Elephant
Standards and Wheel Standards and the icons of the once-invincible Oriya zamindars,
rising like mist on battlefields. No longer would the trumpeting of Oriya war elephants fill
the horizon nor the whistling of Oriya rocketry echo in the sky. Gajapati Padmanabhadeva
bowed out within three years and Gajapati Birakishoredeva stayed at the helm for fifty two-
but neither would really rule over Orissa- once so proud and free and unbowed under the
Earth, from the Ganga to the Godavari to the very reaches of Amarkantak, sleeping a deep
deep sleep quietly from which, I fear, we will never wake again.

Is it mercy? Or is it tragedy? I know not.

There lies a blue mountain in the distance where he dwells and in its shade, lies the World.

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