152 
[No. 2, 
Antiquities of Jujpixr in Or is a. 
earliest seat of royalty in Orisa, tlie court of the king’s being held 
there uninterruptedly for more than five centuries until the year 
989 A. D., when Raja Nirupa Kes'ari “ planted a city on the 
site of modern Cuttack.” Jajpiir did not, however, thereby lose 
much of its importance. It was one of the five Katakas, or forti¬ 
fied capitals, of Gangadhar Dev, and during the independence of 
the country, must have been held as an important pass to Orisa 
proper, down to the year 1253, A. D., to which time the kings of 
Orisa were known abroad as the ‘ Rajahs of Jajpur.’* 
The place is also noted in history as the scene where the famous 
battle between the fanatic Kalapahar, the general of Sulaiman Af¬ 
ghan, and Talinga Mukund Dev was fought (A. D. 1558), when 
the last reigning king fell, and the independence of Orisa was 
lost. The mutilation of the images of gods and goddesses, the 
desecration of temples, and the raising of Saracen minarets on 
their ruins still testify as to how the day was lost, and the 
saying— 
*TteTv$, 
^Tfw«T C*TteT?T 
*TTf*b 
‘‘In came Kalapahar, 
Broke down every iron bar, 
Drank the water of the Mahanadi: 
Forced Makunda Rani to hold bones on golden plates,” 
keeps up the memory of the Afghan oppressions. 
The battle was fought at a place called ‘ Oabiru Tikri’ about 
four miles to the north-east of Jajpiir. There is a large tank in the 
field, which is pointed out as the spot near which the Afghan army 
was encamped. The place is still dreaded. It is believed that 
whole armies are now lying sunk in the adjacent marshes where 
they still beat their drums and blow their trumpets at dead of 
night, and are expected to rise hereafter, and regain the country for 
Raja Birakishor of Khurda. There is a saying, however, which 
runs counter to this belief: 
* See Major Stewart’s Bengal, pp. 38 and 41. 
