268- ON ORISSA PROPER 



period fertile in great names and events of importance, and which forms 

 unquestionably the most brilliant and interesting portion of Orissan his- 

 tory, if such terms may be applied to the annals of a hitherto unknown 

 dynasty, governing one only of the many provinces which now constitute 

 the British empire in India. 



Churang, or Sarang Deo, held the reins of government for twenty years* 

 and conformably with his supernatural origin is believed to have been a skil- 

 ful magician. It is said of him that he established the records of the Jagan- 

 nath Temple called the Mandala Panji, and was a great worshipper of 

 certain forms of Devi to the neglect of all the other gods and goddesses. 

 The memory of his reign and of his singular name, which is certainly not an 

 Uria one, is preserved in a Sai or quarter of the town of Puri, with a tank 

 called the Churang Sai. Tradition also ascribes to him the building of forts 

 and palaces both at Sarangher and Cuttack Choudwar. 



His son Gangeswara Deo succeeded A. D. 1151. His dominions reach-* 

 ed from the Ganges to the Godaveri. He had five kutuks or Royal metro- 

 polises, viz. Jajpur, Choudwar, Amravati, Chatta or Chatna and Bira- 

 nassi, the modern Cuttack. The account which places Amravati, a town 

 near the Kistna in the heart of the Deccan, amongst the capital cities of 

 this Raja, is one of the commoner genealogies to which I attach no great 

 degree of credit. It is not improbable, however, that the place may have 

 formed part of a principality held by Churang Deo when invited to ascend 

 the throne of Orissa, which thereby became annexed, temporarily to the lat- 

 ter Raj; and claims and political relations arising out of the possession of 

 it, may have been one cause of the frequent expeditions south of the Goda- 

 veri and the interference in the affairs of Telingana and the Carnatic, which 

 we shall find to be henceforwards exercised by the Ganga Vansa Rajas. 



As a specimen of the morals of the Court of Orissa in this age it should 

 be mentioned, that Raja Gangeswara Deo committed incest with his own 



