253 ON ORISSA PROPER 



class, copied from the Puranas, but embellished or disfigured by a plenti- 

 ful admixture of local traditions. Their later annals assume an air of authen- 

 ticity about the date of the accession of the family called theKesari Vansa, 

 473 A.D. prior to which the accounts are so replete with obvious false- 

 hoods, contradiction, inconsistency, and anachronism, as to be equally un- 

 intelligible and unworthy of notice. The memory of a few great names 

 and events, only, has been preserved up to the fourth and fifth centuries of 

 the Christian sera, and to adapt these to their favorite system of chronolo- 

 gy, the brahmins, who will never admit want of information on any subject, 

 have been obliged to give an expansion to the reigns of their traditionary 

 Ilajas, in some cases of five or six hundred years, and in all, far beyond the 

 natural or possible term of the human life.* As, however, it will not be 

 uninteresting to those curious in researches into Hindu antiquity, to learn 

 what traditions the natives of this district have preserved regarding their 

 history in the earlier ages, I shall begin my sketch of the contents of their 

 annals from the remotest period to which they profess to go back. 



The sources from which my information has been chiefly derived are, 1st. 

 A work in Sanscrit called the Vansavali, belonging to a learned brahmin 

 of Puri, said to have been originally composed by some of his ancestors 

 three or four centuries back, and continued down in the family to the pre- 

 sent date. 2d The chapter of the Mandala Panji or Records preserved 

 jn the temple of Jagannath, called the Raj Charitra or "Annals of the 



* Mr. Mill's observation on Hindu history does not hold good with regard to Orissa ; " Whilstwe 

 receive accounts, the most precise and confident regarding the times of remote antiquity, not a 

 name of a prince in after ages is presented in Hi.idu records. A great prince, named Vicramaditya, 

 is said to have extended widely his conquests and dominion and to have reigned at Magud'ha 396 

 years after Chandrabija. From that time even fiction is silent. We hear no more of the Hindus and 

 their transactions till the era of Mohammedan conquest; when the Persians alone become our instruc- 

 tors." The writings called classical indeed conduct us no further than the period indicated in the 

 above passage, but the detail which I propose to give will show (whatever may be thought of the va- 

 lue or authenticity of my materials) that the Hindus of this province do possess accounts, which carry 

 an appearance of truth, and which they themselves believe, of their more modern kings and their, 

 actions. 



