Vishwanath Dev Gajapati

Vishwanath Dev Gajapati was the king of Kalinga who established a kingdom in the region of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, historically known as Kalinga. He belonged to the Suryavansh dynasty that was installed in the region by his grandfather Vinayak Dev who was a prince of the ancient branch of the dynasty, he migrated from Kashmir to Nandapur - a kingdom in Southern Odisha.^[1]

Early life[]

Vishwanath Dev was the son of Rajah Bhairav Dev of Nandapur who were a vassal state of the Gajapatis. The Suryavansh dynasty arrived in the region in mid-15th century from Kashmir with the arrival of Vinayak Dev who married Princess Lilavati the daughter of last Silavamsi ruler and ascended the small kingdom of Nandapur. Later, Vinayak conquered the southern territories up to Rajahmundry and Srikakulam in the east.^[2] This kingdom however remained loyal and was annexed to the Gajapati empire. Evidently, Vishwanath is the fourth king in Vinayak's line and ascended the throne in 1527 during the reign of Prataprudra Deva. In 1509, his father Bhairav Dev along with other vassal kingdoms accompanied Prataprudra Deva in the battle of Kondapalli fort against Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar Empire. Therefore, Vishwanath remained an ally of the Gajapati emperor.

Reign[]

After the death of Prataprudra Deva in 1540 his sons Kalua Deva and Khakura Deva were made kings and later assassinated by their minister Govinda Vidyadhar. This usurpation led to the fall of the Gajapati empire and all vassal kingdoms claimed independence. Bhoi dynasty remained the ruler of Puri and the region adjoining the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal typically North Eastern Odisha.^[3] Vishwanath Dev led an expedition against the Bhoi kings by sending his army with Mukunda Harichandran of Cossimkota. He was sent to annex the northern region and impel Govinda Vidyadhar into accepting the suzerainty of Vishwanath whose southern territory touched the Krishna-Godavari region of Telangana.^[4] The fifth report on the affairs of the company describe him as :

...Wistna Dev (Vishwanath Dev), a powerful prince of Odisha, having united under his sceptre all the ancient domains from the confines of Bengal and Jhadkhand to those of Telangana on the south, which contained in his fold innumerable feudatories that paid homage to his royal seat...^[5]

He built the city of Rayagada and Majhighariani Temple on the banks of Nagavali. During his era, the kingdom flourished in the field of commerce, art and literature. A very learned brahmin named Simha Vajapeya attended the court of Vishwanath and wrote treatises on Law and Philosophy. With the help of this brahmin the king was able to perform the famous Vajapeya Yagna at the newly formed town named Vishwanathpur. The record of this yagna is still present in the genealogy of the Vajapeya family of Biranarasingh Pur near Puri.^[6]He adopted the title of 'Gajapati' which meant 'owner of elephants' and in Odisha a symbolic term for an emperor. This title was made popular by the Gajapati dynasty of Cuttack who ruled over an empire.

Aftermath and death[]

Everything went well until Mukunda Dev rebelled and killed the last two successors of the Bhoi dynasty and also crushed the rebellion of Raghubhanj Chottaray. He declared himself as an independent ruler in 1559 but soon Sulaiman Khan Karrani formed a kingdom in the region of Bengal which proved a potential threat to Mukund Dev.^[3] Therefore, after building an empire Vishwanath lost the northern territories to Mukund and was later challenged by Ibrahim Qutb Shah in the banks of Godavari in southern territory. He stopped the advance of the Qutb Shahi army and later signed a peace treaty with the Sultan of Golconda in which both parties agreed to mark Godavari as the border between the two kingdoms.^[7][8] However, this treaty was squashed after the death of Vishwanath Gajapati in 1571 as the Qutb Shahis militarily encroached the eastern parts of the kingdom lying adjacent to Bay of Bengal which made Balaram Dev accept the suzerainty of Golconda.^[9]

References[]

• Singh Deo, Kumar Bidyadhar (1939). Nandapur A Forsaken Kingdom. Utkal Sahitya Press. ISBN 978-81-86772-17-1.^{[unreliable source?]}
• Dr Tara Dutt (2015). Odisha District Gazetteers: Nabarangapur (PDF). Government of Odisha. ISBN 978-81-86772-17-1.
• A Vadivelu (1903). The Aristocracy of Southern India. Vest and Co.
• O'Malley LSS (2007). Bengal District Gazetteer: Nabarangapur. Government of Odisha. ISBN 978-81-86772-17-1.
• John Briggs (2015). History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, till the Year AD 1612. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-81-86772-17-1.