164 ON ORISSA PROPER 



ing the sway of the Princes of the Ganga Vansa line, for a period of neai% 

 ly four centuries, the boundaries of the Raj of Orissa may be stated as fol- 

 lows, with sufficient accuracy for a general description. North, aline drawn 

 from the Tribeni or Tirveni ghat above Hoogly, through Bishenpur to the 

 frontier of Patkum ; east, the river Hoogly and the sea ; south the Goda- 

 veri or Ganga Godaveri; and west, a line carried from Sinhbhum to Sone- 

 pur, skirting Gangpur, Sembhelpur and its dependencies, and thence 

 through Bastar to Jayapnr, and the Godaveri. Thus in the more prosperous 

 days of the Orissan monarchy, and that too at no very remote period, it 

 comprised within its limits four of our modern zillahs entire, and portions 

 of three others, viz. Midnapore, Cuttack, Ganjam, and Vizagapatam, with 

 parts of the Jungle Mehals, Hoogly, and Rajamundry, besides a portion 

 of the hills and woodland country of Gondwana. The degree of autho- 

 rity exercised by the sovereign power throughout this extensive territory, 

 fluctuated of course greatly at different periods, depending on the per- 

 sonal character of the reigning Prince, the circumstances of the times, 

 and the conduct, resources and dispositions of the numerous dependant 

 Rajas and feudatories, whose principalities or jurisdictions have at all 

 times formed so remarkable and important a feature in the political 

 geography of Orissa. Occasionally the conquests of the Gajapati Princes 

 extended into the more remote parts of Telingana, and even to the Car- 

 natic, but it appears that they never obtained a firm footing in any ac- 

 quisitions ; South of the Godaveri and during the last century of their in- 

 dependance, their possession even of Raj amen dry was much contested and 

 disturbed by the Bahmini sovereigns of the Deccan. One of the first ar- 

 rangements of the ministers of Akber on annexing Orissa to the Dewani 

 of the Mogul empire, was to join Hoogly and its ten dependent Mehals, 

 to Bengal. The Mogul Subah of Orissa then comprised the whole coun- 

 try stretching from Tumlook and Midnapore on the north, to the fort of 

 Rajamendry or Raj Mahendri south, divided into the five unequally apporti- 

 oned,* Sircars, called Jeilasore, Budruck, Cuttack, Calinga Dundpat,t and 



* The three first of these were after Akber's reign subdivided into lesser Sircars, which will be enu- 

 merated in another place. 



t Dundpat implies one of the larger territorial divisions under the old Una Raj, 



