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INTRODUOTION
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scholars and poets is not ruled out, the case of Puruşottama's Dasagrīvavadha is quite different; and we shall see how the contention of Sri MAHAPATRA in in this regard is untenable.
4. The great Mukundadeva praised by Mk can be no other than the Gajapati Mukundadeva (1559–1568), the last and powerful Hindu ruler of Utkala. This Mukundadeva had been wrongly taken by some scholars to be the king of the Bhoi dynasty who ruled in 1664 A. D. according to STERLING. GRIERSCN, who made a critical examination of Mārkandeya’s PS in some of his papers, wrote about his date as follows:-“ Rāmaśarman and Mārkaņdeya probably both belonged to the seventeenth century”. We shall have further discussion on this point later on.
Mukundadeva Śrīcandana or otherwise known as Gajapati Mukundadeva had appeared in a crucial stage in the political scene of Orissa. He was the general of Bhoi dynasty which was founded by Govinda Vidyādhara, the yeneral of Gajapati Pratāparudradeva, the last independent king of solar dynasty. The three kings of whom we hear in the verses of DVM already referred to were the three powerful kings of the solar dynasty who ruled Orissa from 1435 to 1534 A, D. After the death of Pratāparudradeva, his general, Govinda Vidyādhara, killed all his sons and ascended the throne about 1534 A.D. He was the founder of the above Bhoi dynasty which ruled for 25 years until 1559 A. D. when Mukundadeva came into power after dethroning the last king of Bhoi dynasty. In fact, Mukundadeva was the last independent ruler of Orissa who ruled until 1568 A. D. when he
6 See, however, EOLS. p. 5.
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