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FEB. 2, 1872.]
JUNGLE FORTS OF ORISSA.
THE JUNGLE FORTS OF NORTHERN ORISSA.
BY JOHN BEAMES, B.C.S., M.R.A.S., MAGISTRATE OF BALASORE. N ORTHERN ORISSA is, considering its | India, in case however the ordinary maps should
situation within 150 miles of Calcutta, not show the road, or the little town of Jellasore, very isolated and little known. There is how- I would add that the forts are distant from the ever a good historical reason for this. The Kings sea at the mouth of the Subanrekhâ, twenty-six of Orissa fixed their capital always in the southern miles as the crow flies. part of the province, and the long narrow strip of I propose first to describe the forts themcountry between the hills and the sea was only at selves, and secondly to endeavour to arrive at an times, and never for long periods, under their sway. approximation to the date of their foundation, It was covered with dense jungle, which extend- and to collect such few facts respecting their ed apparently with hardly any break to the past history as I can. This enquiry will, if sucbanks of the Hooghly. The Kings of Bengal, cessful, throw considerable light on the relations on the other hand, held their court either at between the Kings of Orissa and their northern Gaur, or some other place far to the north, and neighbours, as well as on the somewhat obscure the lower Gangetic delta was to them also almost subject of the Musalman invasions of the proa terra incognita. The English settlement of vince, in addition to the more purely archæologiCalcutta pushed out feelers along the course of cal interest which it may present. the Ganges, and the wave of conquest and com- It will be seen from the annexed map that merce followed the same path, leaving Midna- the forts are four in number, the two larger pore and Balasore comparatively unheeded and ones being close to the large village of R & ibaunexplored. In the present day the great Im- ņiyan, and the two smaller ones at the village perikl high road from Calcutta to Madras has of Phultâ, or more correctly Phúlhatta. opened up a portion of this country, and is much Of these two small forts nothing now remains frequented, especially by the thousands and tens save the outline of mud walls, with here and of thousands of pilgrims who annually visit the there a scattered mass of laterite stones. great shrine of Jagannath at Puri. But the The whole soil of this neighbourhood for line of traffic, and the road of invading armies in many miles is composed of laterite, a dark former times, did not follow the course of the brick-red stone full of holes like a sponge, but present great avenue of communication, and it very hard. All these forts are built of this is not therefore along the Madras and Calcutta
stone, though in many cases the stones have road that we must look for relics of past times.
either, from having been originally loosely put One hundred and fifteen miles S.W. of Cal
together, or owing to some subsequent violence, cutta, at the town of Jellasore (Jaleshwar) |
become scattered or sunk in the soil. The the road crosses the river Subanrekha (Su var- stones are all hewn and of various sizes, the narekh —" streak of gold") at a spot on the largest and most regularly shaped being found confines of British territory and the territory of the in the most important and probably most antributary Raja of Mohurbhunj (May ûrabhanj). cient portions of the work, the smaller and less The river here winds so as to run for about five carefully hewn in the walls and outworke. The miles nearly parallel to the road on the northern largest stones are about 3 feet in length by a side. Crossing the river we come into the isolated foot in depth, and the same in breadth ; while in pargana of Fattihâbâd, one of the so-called some of the pettier and more modern works, stones Jungle Mehals, which is now included in the dis- not bigger than ordinary bricks are found. Owing trict of Balasore (Baleshwar). Nine miles to the denseness of the jungle, and the great north of Jellasore, and about two from the right number of tigers and bears which find shelter bank of the river, amidst dense grass and tree there, it is very difficult to explore these forts jungle, which is here and there in course of being thoroughly. In three visits which I have rebrought into cultivation, stands the group of cently made to them, I obtained from the Zaforts which I propose to describe. I hope the mindar some thirty or forty coolies armed with above details will enable the reader to form a the useful little Sonthal axe, and these together clear idea of their actual position on the map of with my own Police and Chaukidars were oc
• In writing native Damen I follow Dr. Hunter's rule of well-known places, and the strictly correct Wilsonian system using the received (although often incorrect) spelling for for those that are unknown to the general public.
