274 ON ORISSA PROPER 



Major Stewart, in his history of Bengal, places an invasion of Orissa by 

 the Musselmans of Bengal during this reign, that is, A. D. 1243. The 

 Chronicles of the country contain no mention of such an event. I have 

 not Major Stewart's authorities at hand to refer to, but strongly suspect 

 that he has been led into an error by mistaking some word resembling Ja- 

 jipur, for Jajipur in Orissa. He expresses himself thus, " In the year 

 "641 (A. D. 1243) the Raja of Jagepur (Orissa) having given some cause 

 "of offence, Toghan khan marched to Ketasun on the frontier of Jagepur 

 " where he found the army of the Raja had thrown up intrenchments to op- 

 " pose him." In a battle which ensued, the invaders were defeated, and 

 the Hindus elated with their victory pursued them and ventured even to 

 lay siege to Gour, but assistance arriving they retired. Now, in the first 

 place, Jajipur was never a separate principality as here described, and 

 there is no such place in Orissa as Ketasun. Ferishteh is altogether silent 

 on the subject in his history of Bengal, but in his general history he ascribes 

 the siege of Gour, in the very year in question, to a party of Mogul Tartars 

 who had invaded Bengal by way of Chitta, Thibet, &c. Dow's mistake of a 

 similar nature is scarcely worth noticing. He makes Sultan Balin pursue the 

 rebel Toghral into Jajnagar (A. D. 1239), which he calls Orissa, whereas 

 it is evident from the mention of Sunargaon, as lying on the road, that Jajna- 

 gar is some place beyond the Ganges. 



After Raja Langora Narsinh Deo, five other princes named Narsinh 

 (Nara Sinha) and six with the title of Bhanu, whom some describe as a se- 

 parate family called Suraj-bansi (Surya Vansa), ruled over Orissa, until 

 A. D. 1451. Their reigns are for the most part undistinguished by events of 

 importance, but they have left some public works which coupled with other 

 monuments of the Ganga Vansa Rajas, give a favorable impression of the 

 public spirit and munificence of that race. Amongst these the fine bridge 

 at the entrance of Puri called the Athara Naleb, said to have been built 

 A. D. 1300, by Raja Kabir Narsinh Deo, is the most worthy of notice. 

 A dreadful scarcity is recorded to have happened early in the 14th cen- 



