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YAŠASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
the cult of Jagannātha inevitably led to the decay of the older cults of Śiva at Bhuvanesvara and elsewhere.
In the tenth century or thereabouts the Saiva centre at Bhuvaneśvara appears to have been as important as any other centre of Saiva worship in Central or Western or South India. About this time Bhuvanesvara was included in the dominions of the Somavamsi kings, who at first ruled in the Eastern part of Mahākosala corresponding to the Chattisgarh Division of Central Provinces, and later extended their control over portions of northern and central Orissa. These kings appear to have been Saivas. Mahābhavagupta Janamejaya who appears to have reigned at the beginning of the tenth century is described in one of his charters as a devout worshipper of Siva. His successor Mahāśivagupta Yayāti is probably the same as the king Yayāti-Kesari who, according to Orissan tradition, built the massive temple of Lingarāja at Bhuvaneśvara. As we have seen, even on architectural grounds, this edifice has been assigned to the tenth century. Similarly, the temple of Brahmeśvara at Bhuvanesvara is said to have been built by the mother of Udyotakeśarī, described as seventh in descent from Janamejaya, probably the same as Mahābhavagupta Janamejaya. The temple thus appears to have been erected in the early part of the eleventh centui
Among the kings of earlier dynasties who ruled in different parts of Orissa, Sagguyayyana of the Māna dynasty, who reigned in Southern Tosali or Tosala (the area to the south of the Chilka lake), is described as paramamāhesvara or devout worshipper of Siva in an inscription issued by his feudatory Sivarāja in the Gupta year 283 = 603 A. D. The early Karas who ruled over Central Orissa in the eighth century A. D. were Buddhists. Among the later Karas, the queen Tribhuvana Mahādevī is described as a devout worshipper of Vişnu; while the Hindol plate of Subhakara II records the grant of a village in Northern Tosali or Tosala ( the area around Bhuvanesvara and Puri) for the benefit of the temple of Pulindeśvara and the maintenance of Saiva ascetics. Among the Bhañja chiefs of Khiñjali' who ruled in the eighth and ninth centuries, Satrubhañja, one of whose grants was issued in 744 A. D., and his successor Raņabhañja I are described in their inscriptions as worshippers of Vişnu; but Netrbh añja, the son of Raṇabhañja I, is called a devout worshipper of Siva. The tutelary deity of these Bhañjas was Stambheśvarī who appears to have been a tribal goddess like Maniyādevi of Bundelkhand (see above), or the more famous Vindhyavāsini Devi worshipped by the Sabaras. The cult of these goddesses was, as a rule, affiliated to the Tantric aspect of medieval
1. Orissa in the eight 283.= 603 A. D." Tiption issued by his fama
1 R. D. Banerjea (op. cit.), Vol. I, Chap. XIV; Vol. II, pp. 356, 366, 373.
Ibid. Vol. I, p. 118. 3 R. D. Banerjea (op. cit.), Vol. I, p. 158. 4 The territory corresponding to the States of Gangpur, Bonai, Bamra, Rairakho,
Wortion of labor. mostly inhabited by Sonpur, Patna and Karond with a portion of Sambalpur, mostly inhabited by aboriginal tribes, was known as Khiñjali. It was divided into two parts by the
river Mahanadi. R. D. Banerjea (op. cit., Vol. I, p. 6. 5 Ibid. Chap. XII.
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