272 ON DRX3SA PROPER 



courtiers all replied that so good a work could not too soon be taken in 

 hand, and that after the sagacity and prudence displayed by his majesty, 

 any advice on their parts must be superfluous. An officer named Parama- 

 Iians Bajpoi was therefore directed to take the work in hand forthwith, 

 and twelve lacs and fifty thousand marhs of gold with jewels to the value of 

 2,50,000 were set apart for the purpose. 



The marh of gold is stated to be equivalent to five mashas weight, a va- 

 luation which would raise the amount of the revenues of Orissa accord- 

 ing to the above statement, far beyond what we can believe them ever to 

 have stood at, even allowing, as offered in explanation, that the gold of that 

 age was very impure, and that the statement includes the gross rents of 

 the whole of the lands of the country, both the royal domains and those 

 now held by the hill Zemindars and Poligars. It appears unaccountable 



too, why the sum total of the revenues should be stated in gold, when we 

 know that cowris always formed the principal currency of the district. 

 As I am unable to furnish any satisfactory elucidation of these points, I 

 must leave the statement as it stands, content with having presented a faitji-? 

 ful translation, 



On the above occasion, likewise, a new coin and seal were struck by the 

 Raja's orders, with the titles which are used to this day by the Khurda 

 Rajas, who claim to represent the majesty of this once powerful race. 

 They run thus, " Vira Sri Gajapati, Gaureswara navakotikernatotkalaver- 

 geswaradhirai, Bhiita bhairava deva, Sadhusasanotkarana, Rawat Rai, 

 Atula balaprakarmasangrama Sahasra balm, Kshetriya Kuladhumraketu," 

 &c. 4S The illustrious Hero, the Gajapati (Lord of Elephants,) Sovereign of 

 Gaura (Bengal,) Supreme Monarch over the rulers of the tribes of Utkala, 

 Kernata, and the nine forts, a divinity terrible as Bhairava to the wicked, 

 the protector of the grants enjoyed by the pious ; king of kings : like the 

 lord of a thousand arms in the field of battle by his unequalled might, and 

 a comet (or portent) to the martial racey' 



