Chodaganga (The Illustrations Ganga King of Odisha and His Times)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

About the Book In this book an attempt has been made to highlight the remarkable political career of Chodaganga and the socio-cultural milieu of his kingdom in Odisha. Chodaganga was probably a singular ruler of Odisha who held the reins of administration for long seventy years at least fifty years of his active political career were unique in the history of Odisha. His reign constituted a glorious phase in the political and cultural history of early and medieval Odisha. He brought the political unification of the major portions of Odisha and erected the giant structure of an empire in South-Eastern India thus contributing to the formation of greater Ganga state. He was, therefore, to be compared with Mahāmeghavahana Khāravela who ruled Kalinga in the post- Maurya period and with Gajapati Kapilendra Deva who was the king of Odisha three hundred years after the end of his reign. The formation of a regional empire after a long military endeavour was the unique achievement of Chodaganga which lasted for more than three hundred years despite repeated Muslim onslaught from different parts of India. The glory of Chodaganga as a monarch thus rested on his superb statesmanship and his extra-ordinary military generalship which enabled him to be a mighty sovereign of a vast stretch of territory from the Ganges to Godāvarī. He was also the great builder of the famous Jagannatha 996 temple in Puri which stands as a masterpiece of Kalinga art and architecture.

About the Author Kailash Chandra Dash (1954) is a former Associate Professor in History in Government Colleges under the Government of Odisha Education Service, He passed MA in History in First Class from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and got doctorate from Utkal University in 1987 for his studies on the Ganga King Chodaganga and His Times. He had published papers on Odisha History and Culture in Journal of Asiatic society (Kolkata), Studies in History (JNU), Indian Historical Review (ICHR), Journal of Social Change (New Delhi), East and West (Rome), Journal of Indian History (Trivandrum), Journal of Ancient Indian History (Kolkata) and in many other National and International Journals. His published books in English-Legend, History and Culture of India, Calcutta, 1997; Sacred Centre Bhubaneswar Revisited, Pathak Publisher and Distributors, New Delhi, 2024. He had several publications in Odia on Odisha history and culture. He got several awards-Samadrusti Sammana (2006), Ekamra Sammana (2020), Jhankar Award (Prajatantra Prachar Samity) 2020 and Kalinga Prabha Sammana-2022. His research interest- A Discourse on the Traditional Narratives of Eastern India, Madalapanji and Jagannatha Temple.

Preface Fascinating studies on the history and culture of early and medieval Odisha have been presented by historians, but little has hitherto been written on the life and achievements of Anantavarma Chodaganga Deva, the founder of the imperial Ganga dynasty in Odisha. Andrew Stirling, W.W. Hunter and Pyari Mohan Acharya who reconstructed the history of Odisha in the 19th century A.D. based their study on the Rajabhoga sections of Mädalapäñji, the chronicles of the Jagannatha temple of Puri, the accounts of which do not always articulate a complete and correct picture of Odisha History. There's hardly any discussion at length in their respective volumes on the life and times of this remarkable Ganga king of Odisha.2