1S83 ] J. Beames— Notes on the History of northern Orissa. 237 
’Usman as usual retired to Cuttack, where he was not pursued. In all 
these constant advances and retreats, the Afghans seem always to have 
regarded Bhadrakh as their frontier. Jellasore was the frontier of the 
Imperialists, and the intermediate country was a debateable ground over 
which both parties fought at their pleasure. I mention this fact as con¬ 
firming what I have said on a previous page, that central and northern 
Balasore even down to so late a period as this, contained no towns of impor¬ 
tance but was scantily peopled and not worth fighting for. 
For eleven years ’Usman Khan ruled at Cuttack, but does not 
seem to have exercised much sway over Balasore, as he never during that 
time came into collision with the Imperial garrison at Jellasore, which he 
could not have failed to have done had he ventured so far north. In 1GL1, 
however, he appears to have begun aggressions once more, and encamped 
on the banks of the Subanrekha again with an army of 20,000 horse and 
defied the Emperor’s forces. After a fierce encounter which from the 
accounts given by the native historians appears to have taken place among 
the marshes near Rajghat on the southern side of the river, ’Usman was 
shot in the head and died. His troops fled in disorder and Shujaat Khan, 
the leader of the Mughals, entered the province as a conqueror and annexed 
it finally to the Empire. 
Orissa now enjoyed peace for five years under the able govern¬ 
ment of Ibrahim Khan, and it is from this epoch that we date the rise of 
Balasore as a commercial town. The district produces rice in abundance, 
and when the Afghans ceased to desolate it, it rapidly recovered and began 
to export. The weavers of Balasore whose cloths were long so celebrated 
now begin to be heard of, and it was not many years later than this date 
that the English established themselves as traders in the district. 
In 1621 Prince Khurram son of the Emperor Jehangir (subse¬ 
quently Emperor under the title of Shah Jahan) invaded Orissa through 
the hills, turned out Ahmad Beg, the governor of the province, and after 
appointing Kuli Khan in his place pushed on through Balasore into 
Bengal. He does not seem to have stayed long in Orissa, though his 
rebellion lasted a long time in Bengal and Behar. Orissa does not appear 
to have suffered in any way from the change of governors, nor is there 
anything further to be gleaned from the Persian historians save a string 
of successive governors. We learn incidentally that the cultivation of the 
soil was increasing and was further pi’omoted by the grant of many mili¬ 
tary jagirs to old soldiers of the Empire. One of these jagirs was established 
at Dhamnagar where the descendants of the original grantees still live, and 
a populous Musalman colony has sprung up. It was during this period as 
will be seen hereafter that the English obtained from the Emperor Shah 
Jahan a firman empowering them to open factories at Pipli and Balasore. 
