Durjaya (Andhra chieftain)
Durjaya (Sanskrit for "difficult to conquer" or "invincible")[1] was a legendary chieftain of present Andhra. Many ruling dynasties in Andhra and Telangana, such as the Kakatiyas, Velanati Chodas, the Konakandravadis, the Ivani Kandravadis, the Kondapadumatis, Natavadis, the Paricchedis and the Chagis claimed to be his descendants.[2][3]
History[edit]
Background[edit]
After the fall of the Mathar Empire of Kalinga, two dynasties named Durjaya dynasty and Chandra dynasty emerged in ancient Odisha. Ranadurjay defeated to the Vashishtha dynasty king Anantavarma and established the Durjaya dynasty rule in Kalinga. Ranadurjaya son Vikramendra and his successor Son Prithvi Maharaj (563–613 AD) ruled for 49 years. According to the two copper plate inscriptions found in Triphali and Paralakhemundi, his imperial boundaries extend from the Rupanarayan to the Krishna river[4]. It does not have the name of which dynasty prithvi-maharaja belonged to. It only says that he was Kashyap Gotri. Therefore, R. S. Panchamukhi has argued that the durjayas are descendants of Kashyapa Gotri Karikaal-Chola[5]. Linking a powerful dynasty of Kalinga with the Chola dynasty over the gotra is a ridiculous argument. Because at that time there was not only the Kashyapa Gotra of the Chola dynasty in India, but it was the tribe of different dynasties of India. Even many kings of Odisha had kashyapa gotra[6].
Dynasties[edit]
During the time of Lokvigraha (600 AD), ancient capital city of Kalinga was known as Uttara Toshali. Because the Central Kalinga of Ganga kingdom is known as Kalinga, he changed the name for his independence. Lokavigraha was the eighteenth Tosalaadhipati, or the ruler of Toshali divided into eighteen parts. Its boundary extended from the present-day Rupnarayan River to the Mahanadi[7].
At this time the ruler of the West-northern Toshali was Shambhuyash of Mudgala kingdom. According to the Soro copperplate inscription of Sambhuyasha and the Patiya Killa copperplate inscription of his feudal king Shivaraja, he defeated lokavigraha, the last king of the Vigraha dynasty of North Toshali, and united both Toshali and made Birjanagar the capital of new Toshali empire. At that time the king of South Kalinga Prithvi maharaj defeated Sambhuyash and took possession of Toshali. When Prithvi Maharaj was handed over to Birjanagar, the capital of Shambhuyash, the border of his kingdom extended from the Rupnarayan to the Krushnabeni river. The Paralakhemundi plates (No, 15) corroborated the above fact while hinting about his victory over Kalinga or Sakala Kalinga as, in the 49th regnal year, he granted a village named Gollavalli from his military camp, fixed at Biraja Nagara or Jajpur of present Odisha [8]. As the only Kalinga hero after Kharavela and Shatrubhanja, he brought together kalinga divided into four parts. After three hundred long years, the border of Kalinga once again extended from the Rupnarayan river to the Krishna river.
Destruction of empire[edit]
A few years later, Prithvi Maharaj was defeated by Pulakeshi II (610–642 AD) the Chalukya king of Badami and left the capital Pistpur to Jajnagar. He ruled the Kingdom of Toshali from here, taking as his new capital which was established as a capital earlier at Birjanagar in Toshali by Sambuyash. After taking over the south Kalinga capital, Pisthapur, Pulakeshi II handed over the reins of the kingdom to his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana (624-641 AD). Its boundaries extended from the Vanshadhara river to the Krishna river. One of the most important historical events of this period was the battle between Harshavardhana of the north and The Chalukya King Pulakeshi II of the south over the Congod and Vallabhi, in which Harshavardhana was defeated. King Prithvi Maharaja of Birjanagar was defeated by Karnasuvarna (now Bengal) King Shashanka (613 AD) and died. The kingdom of Shashanka expended his border vanshdhara river and the Durjaya dynasty fell.
References[edit]
- ^ "Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary --द". Retrieved 9 June 2023 – via French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Inria).
- ^ Talbot, Cynthia (20 September 2001). Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-19-803123-9.
- ^ A Thousand Laurels--Dr. Sadiq Naqvi: Studies on Medieval India with Special Reference to Deccan. Department of History, Osmania University. 2005. p. 638.
It is interesting to note that the feudatory chiefs such as the Velanati Chodas, Haihayas, Kondapadumatis, Natavadis, Chagis etc., who emerged as political power during the medieval periods claim the lineage from Durjaya.
- ^ Panchamukhi, R. S. (1935–36). "Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja: 46th Year". Epigraphia indica. XXIII: 88-99.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Panchamukhi, R. S. (1935–36). "Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja: 46th Year". Epigraphia indica. XXIII: 96.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Prusty, Subrat Kumar (2017). Sastriya Bhasa Odia (1st ed.). BJB Nagar, Bhubaneswar-14, Odisha: Institute of Odia Studies and Research. p. 72.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "The Matharas & The Sri Rama-Kasypas (Historical notes)". Inscriptions of Orissa. 1 (2): 65-66. 1958.
- ^ "The Matharas & The Sri Rama-Kasypas (Historical notes)". Inscriptions of Orissa. 1 (2): 64. 1958.
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