29$ ON ORISSA PROPER 



this important period. According- to the Mandala Panji, when the priests 

 at Puri saw the turn which matters were taking, they again for the third 

 time in their annals, hurried away the helpless god in a covered cart, and 

 buried him in a pit at Parikud, on the Chilka Lake. Kalapahar was not 

 however to be defrauded of so rich a prize, and having traced out the place 

 of concealment, he dug up Sri Jeo and carried him off on an elephant, as 

 far as the Ganges, after breaking in pieces every image in the Khetr. He 

 then collected a large pile of wood, and setting fire to it, threw the idol on 

 the burning heap, but immediately all his limbs dropped off and he perished 

 miserably. A bystander observed, " this is a punishment for the indignity 

 offered to the Deo of Orissa," and snatching the image from the flames, 

 threw it into the river. The whole proceeding had been watched by Besar 

 Mainti, a faithful votary of Jagannath, who followed the half burnt image 

 as it floated down the stream, and at last when unperceived, managed to> 

 extract from it the sacred part (Brahm or spirit in the original), and brought 

 it back secretly to Orissa, where it was carefully deposited in charge of the 

 Khandait of Kujang. 



It appears from Ferishteh, that the Afghans under Daood Khan, the soza 

 of Soloman Karsani (or Gurzani), were allowed to retain possession of 

 Orissa for some time after the overthrow of the native government ; but hav- 

 ing drawn down upon themselves the vengeance of the Emperor Akber by 

 their turbulence and violent proceedings, they were several times attacked;, 

 first by Monaim Khan and afterwards by Khan Jehan, who wrested their 

 new acquisition from them about 1578 A. D. and annexed it to the rent 

 roll of the empire. Ferishteh in this place calls the province Orissa, and 

 Katak, Benares. 



The XXria historians go on to relate, that, at the expiration of the twen- 

 ty-one years of anarchy and interregnum, the ministers and principal men 

 of the country beginning to recover from their depression and alarm, as- 

 sembled together to consult about the affairs of the nation, and chose as 



