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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Vol. XVIII
referred to before. Things may have afterwards resumed the norinal condition including the restoration to office of previous employees, when the charter I was issued. This would also account for the peculiar name Vidyādhuru as Silābhanja II's successor, who should have bee: in the ordinary course named as Digbhañja 111, (who should be no other than the deceased eider brother of Vidyādhara in the present case). I feel this is rather a wild conjecture, bat until evidence to the contrary is available, there is nothing strange about it. In Origga the Šāstraie custom of continuing ancestral namest has survived even up to the present day. For instance, the Raja of Bāra is either : Sūdhaladēva or a Tribhuvanadeva and I have personally known three generations, Sir Sadhalndēva, bis son Tribhuvanadeva and his grandson Südhaladēva ayain. In Pāl Lahrā, situated between Bāmra and Keonjhar, the Rāja is either " Pāt Ganeshvara Pal" or "Pat Muni Pal". In the Bbaña family the recurring names appear to have been four', Viz.. Sila, Dig, Satru and Rana, and ench has had a repetition according to the inscriptions found. There is nothing to prevent the discovery of a third name-sake of any or all of them.
There are a number of geographical names in the records which have been yet found, but no serious attempt was ever made to identify them. In an appendix to this article I have tried to identify not only places mentioned in the four records in hand, about which I have added a #pecial note in the end, but also those mentioved in charter's previously edited. It will be seen from them that the oldest charters D and E refer to villages in the extremo north of the Mayarabhañja State, A, B and C to those in the Baudh State to the west, and the remaining ones to those in the Ganjām District. This gives an indication of the extent of the Bhanja kingdom, which apparently included almost all the tributary states of Orissa together with the Dorthern portion of the Ganjam District covering about 16,000 square miles, about Lalf of which is occupied by Mayirbhañja and Keonjhar States, both of which were owned by Ubhaya-Khiñjal-yadhipati, or the lord of both the Khiñjalis. This title was retained by the latest king of the family, tis., Yasabhañja of charter K, who styled himself as Samasta-Khiñjalides-adhipati or the lord of the whole Khiñjali country', which can be no other than the present Keonjhar. The aspirate of the first letter disappeared, a soft . after i crept in after the Oriya mode of pronunciation and the l at the end changed into r, which transformed the original name into Keonjhari or Keonjhar.
The latest Imperial Gazetteers stutes." Keonjhar is divided into two widely assimila: tracts, Lower Keonjhar being a region of valleys ard lowlands, while Upper Keonjhar includes
Cf. V. A. Smith, Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXV, p. 291.
. The traditions of the various Raj families of these states support it ; for itstauce. the Keonjhar Rāja cluidos descent from a brother of the Bhañjn king of Mayürbhanja State, which is referred to later ou in some details. Pal Lekvá was admittedly subordinate of Keonjhar, which claims that one of its Raju got Achanalik frore. the Puri king. The Daspalla chief traces his origin to & younger son of Raja Narayana Bhanj of Baudh, where they say the original Raja was a Brahman, but was ousted by the Bhanja chiefs (Cunuingham, Arch. Rep., Vol. XIII, p. 110). The Bonni State of whiclı Rehrakhol is a branch has peacock for its crost with a curious
tory, which looks like variant of the origin of Mayurablañs kinge discussed later on The Bouai legend avers that its original ancestor when born was abandoned and was in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy when #peacock swallowed it and kept it in his craw, until the danger was over. The infant was born under: Kadamba tree, so the family came to be called Kadambavami, but it regards the peacock as sacred. This Wacock totem certainly establishes # connection with the Mayürnbhanja family. The Bimra family are (langavamsis, whose connection with the Bhañjas has been shown later on. The chiefs of Dhenkanal admit that they were feudatories of the old Orissa Rajas, who conferred the title of Samanta on them. The Athamalik KAJA who bears similar title has a tradition of his origin similar to that of Mayurabbañja, 1.e., from an emigrant from Jaipur. The Khandapara and Nayógarh States, the latter being an offshoot of the former, got the title of Raja daring the Maratha campaign of O.. . None of the other states, Baramba, Hindol, Narsinghpur, Nilgiri, Bangir, Talchor and Tigaria, encompass an area of more than 400 square miles and could not but lave by a kaburdicate to the Bhanjas. if they existed as separate entities in those times, Bee h o is toho in Inlia", Tar! VIII, Lucknow edition.
See Yol. LXV, p. 202.
