Beneath its shade to vagrant thought resigned;
While zephyr's wing, dipped in violet's dew
During the medieval age, especially prior to the 'Mughal Invasion', Orissa was ruled by Karrani Afghans, who had replaced Mukund Deva, a Gajapati ruler of Telugu Eastern Chalukya origin, and sent Kalapahad to destroy not just the Jagannath Temple but also the Konark Sun Temple.
Mukunda Deva or Mukunda Harichandana's claim of origin from Eastern Chalukyas comes from Madala Panji, and hence should be taken with a pinch of salt, but regardless the text provides us with valuable information regarding affairs associated with the Puri Jagannath Temple.
Mukunda Deva was the governor of the region under Chakrapratap of the Bhoi Dynasty, and had assumed power by installing Chakrapratap's youngest son, Raghuram Jena. He later assassinated the puppet king Raghuram to assume power for himself.
Mukunda Deva took the reins in 1559 AD, and immediately came in conflict with the Bengal Sultan, the Afghan Suleiman Karrani primarily for two reasons.
1. He gave refuge to Ibrahim Khan Sur, Karrani's enemy and gave him lands, he also refused to hand over Sur when Karrani asked.
2. Secondly Mukund Deva, in 1566 AD, due to the presence of both Golkonda and Bengal Sultanates on either side sent his ambassador Paramananda Ray to the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar, in trying to forge an alliance with the Mughals against Orissa's mightier neighbors.
In late 1567, Akbar would attack Mewar and remain engaged in the Siege of Chittorgarh alone till early 1568, engaging the bulk of his forces there.
This gave an opening to Karranis who attacked Orissa, for which Mukunda Deva was completely unprepared, politically and militarily.
He sent two generals Chhotray and Raghubhanja to fight the Karrani forces, but instead they turned on Mukund Deva, who had to flee and take shelter in the fort of Kotsama. Even there, his nobles were divided. A battle ensued within the fort itself and Mukund Deva was killed.
Thus the 'Most Powerful Odia Hindu Gajapati Empire' fell easy prey to the Bengal Sultanate of the Karrani Afghans, who wrecked havoc and destroyed a multitude of temples across Orissa, including the Jagannath Temple, and the Konark Sun Temple. Here Kalapahad was instrumental.
NOTE: Folk histories of the region however give a different account of the nature of Mukunda Deva's death. They say he fought valiantly in Gohira Tikri near Jajpur and was defeated and killed.
By late 1568, Orissa was under absolute Karrani rule. Earlier, Mukund Deva was in the process of joining the Mughal Empire and the Afghan invasion of Orissa brought the relations between Delhi's Mughal Sultanate and Bengal's Karrani Afghan Sultanate to a breaking point.
In 1572 AD, Suleiman Karrani died, and soon after his son and heir Bayezid was assassinated. Suleiman also, in 1565 AD had submitted to Emperor Akbar and without him or his son, the Afghan nobles decided they will break away and rebel against the Mughal Empire.
Two days after Bayezid's assassination by his brother-in-law Hansu, Daud Khan Karrani, Bayezid's brother marched against Hansu, defeated and killed him. As per Riyaz-us-Salatin, Daud was young, impulsive, impressionable and disproportionately inclined towards carnal pursuits.
His reign was marked by many depositions and demotions of Afghan nobles of the Karrani court, destabilizing Bengal Sultanate. Seeing the developments in Bengal, Akbar with generals like Raja Todar Mal advanced east, and on March 3, 1575, it culminated in the Battle of Tukaroi.
It's important to add here that Akbar led the Mughal forces till January 18, 1575 and returned to his capital after appointing Munim Khan as the Governor of Bengal. The leftover of his campaign to deal with the rebellious Bengal Sultan was left to Raja Todar Mal and he succeeded.
The Battle of Tukaroi led to the Treaty of Katak, where Daud Khan Karrani ceded all of his territories to the Mughal Empire, save for Orissa, which he still retained. Bengal's Mughal Governor Munim Khan however died soon after at the age of 80, creating an opening for Daud Khan.
Daud Khan Karrani, feeling adventurous at the death of the Mughal Bengal Governor attacked Bengal leading to the Battle of Rajmahal on July 12, 1576, not surprisingly ending in Mughal Victory.
BENGAL (WITH ORISSA AS ITS PART) WAS NOW A PROPER MUGHAL SUBAH
Raja Todar Mal was governing the affairs of Bengal, including Orissa, however after his departure to Delhi in 1582, it went down south again.
Led by Qutlu Khan Lohani, who previously helped Hansu to kill Bayezid, and then helped Daud to kill Hansu, the Afghans rose in rebellion.
Qutlu Khan Lohani marched into Orissa and defeated the Gajapati chief of Khurda Ramachandra Deva and occupied Puri. Ramachandra sought help from his masters the Mughals, against Lohani, and offered great presents to the Mughal officials who were already in pursuit of Lohani.
Not only the local officials in Bengal, but Ramachandra Deva sent his nephew with sixty noted elephants laden with presents to Emperor Akbar, to help him against Qutlu Khan Lohani.
Lohani eventually left Puri, fled to Dharampur and eventually submitted to the Mughals.
On June 11, 1584, Qutlu Khan was made to leave Bengal and given a jagir in Orissa instead. But as habit would have it, taking advantage of the Mughal administration's liberality, the Afghan again started creating trouble for the Empire.
And now enter the Rajputs into Orissa.
The great state of affairs, as we saw were being handled immaculately by the super-strong and able Complan drinking Gajapatis of Orissa including those of Khurda were now about to reach rock bottom due to the Dark Ages brought by the Evil Rajput Incarnate Maharaja Man Singh of Amber.
(For those Odias who lost the last of their brain cells in the last cyclone that hit them with sarcasm)
Local Hindus pleaded the Mughal Emperor to do something about the Afghans and Maharaja Man Singh who was in Bihar in 1590, now had to go to Orissa to save them.
MahaRaja Man Singh Kachchawa was a well known devotee of Lord Krishna and Vishnu. He had a seven storey temple constructed in Vrindavan dedicated to Lord Krishna for Srila Rupa Goswami, a Gaudiya Vaishnavite saint. The cost of construction was one crore at that time. He was also the first amongst the Hindus in JalaludinAkbar's court to downright reject converting to Akbar's new religion Din-e-Illahi. He was also a patron of Goswami Tulsidas, author of Ramcharitramanas and made his son, Jagat Singh l his disciple.
So, it was no surprise that when he arrived in Bengal, he was keen to get rid of Afghan occupation of Orrisa and Puri Jagannath temple in particular which was under the control of Afghan Sultan Qutlu Khan Lohani and his son Nasir Khan Lohani supported by few local Hindu kingdoms in southern Orrisa.
The effect of Maharaja Man Singh was such that as soon as he entered Orissa, Qutlu Khan died 'unexpectedly', and was now replaced by his son Nasir Khan Lohani.
But in reality it was In 1590 AD Maharaja Man Singh first sent a small army led by his son Jagat Singh l which was pre-emptively ambushed by Afghans under Qutlu Khan. In the bloody fight that ensued, many Amer Nobles got martyred for the cause of Lord Jagganath like Bika Rathore, Mahesh Das and Naru Charan while Qutlu Khan was mortally injured and died ten days later.
On hearing the news of the deaths of his noble commanders, the enraged Man Singh started for Puri at once with a huge army.
On hearing the news of the dreaded Man Singh approaching Puri and knowing full well of his earlier exploits against Afghans in Afghanistan, Nasir Khan Lohani who now was the new Sultan of Orrisa readily surrendered entire Northern Orrisa, gave a tribute of 150 elephants and ceded Jagannath Mandir to Man Singh's control.
Nasir was again inexperienced, that diminished his chances of succeeding against Maharaja Man Singh to zilch. He sued for peace.
When Nasir Khan submitted to Maharaja Man Singh, three terms were made.
1. The Mughal Emperor's name should be used on the Khutba and the coins of Orissa.
2. The Afghan ruler of Orissa remain loyal to the Empire.
3. The Jagannath Temple be handed over by the Afghans to the Empire.
The treaty was made on August 15, 1590, and the Hindus were so pleased with the arrival of Maharaja Man Singh and diffusion of the Afghan problem that counting together the presented as gifts and surrendered ones, 1004 elephants were acquired by Man Singh into the Empire's service.
Even the terms of surrender of the Jagannath Temple, made the switch of its ownership from Afghans to Hindu Rajputs.
Maharaja Man Singh not only acquired the temple, but also repaired and expanded it from its previous damaged condition. The temple as we see today was built by him. This is where the gripe of the Gajapatis of Khurda, under Ramachandra Deva begins against Rajputs. Raja Ramachandra wanted to have the temple to himself, and be appointed the Raja of Orissa, despite repeatedly and humiliatingly losing both the Jagannath Temple, and Orissa to Afghans.
As soon as Nasir Khan Lohani's waqil and regent, Khwaja Isa died, the Afghans rose again and in the absence of Maharaja Man Singh's protection, captured Puri and the Jagannath Temple for the n'th time. During these events, the Raja of Khurda was suspiciously inert, raising suspicion.
In 1592 AD, the Afghans again revolted under the leadership of Isa Khan with support of Hindu Oriya kings in southern Orrisa. Man Singh at this point had had enough of Afghans and decided to exterminate them this time rather than pardoning them. So the two armies on 9th April 1592 AD met near Jaleswar city, where Afghans were brutally massacred, remaining of which fled to Eastern Bengal.
On April 10, 1592, this time with an unforgiving intent, Maharaja Man Singh marched on the Afghans, who not only lost Puri, the Jagannath Temple, and their acquired territories, but also lost their capital of Sarangarh and its fort.
Nasir Khan fled to Bengal and joined Isa Khan.
Nasir Khan Lohani in 1593, flees to Bengal, joins, and forms an alliance with the great Bhuiyans of Bengali folklore, led by their leader Isa Khan - a Bais Rajput from Awadh.
Man Singh then started for Southern orrisa to subdue the local Hindu Oriya kings who had supported the Afghans earlier, the strongest of whom was Raja of Khurda. One by one all the Rajas were crushed under the might of Man Singh.
But that's a different historical arc, albeit a connected, and an interesting one.
The inaction of Ramachandra of Khurda, irked Maharaja Man Singh, and he moved to Puri, to visit both the Jagannath Temple and Ramachandra to seek explanation for his involvement with the Afghans.
Ramachandra instead prepared a defensive garrison at Khurda and insulted Maharaja Man Singh.
In retaliation to his previous violations, Raja Man Singh laid siege on Khurda, and panicking Ramachandra Deva asked for help from Emperor Akbar who instead made Maharaja Man Singh return from Khurda. But not before the Oriya Raja of Khurda was the last to submit to Man Singh. The Raja of Khurda swore allegiance to Man Singh and offered his daughter in marriage, whom Man Singh happily married. The Oriya princess would be his 4th wife after the other two Rajput queens and Bibi Mubarak (Akbar's niece) that he had previously married. It was only poetic that Lord Jagannath would reward his humble servant with a new wife for his services.
Later however, Ramchandra did come and pay respects to Maharaja Man Singh.
In 1592, in a treaty between local chiefs and Maharaja Man Singh, Orissa was divided and reorganized into two regions, the Coastal Region (called Mughalbandi) under direct control of the Empire, and the Hill Tracts ruled by semi autonomous local chiefs.
Maharaja Man Singh wrested the temple of Jagannath at Puri from occupying Afghans. Having vaquished the Afghans, he washed his blood-stained sword in the water of the sea at Puri. Raja Man Singh constructed a temple for the main deity of Jagannath. He was a great devotee of Hinduism. Khurda again was part of that treaty and Ramachandra, to his contentment, became the Raja of a large state of about 35000 sq km. He for the remainder of his life, stuck with the Mughal Empire loyally and refrained from any act of defiance or aggression whatsoever.
In 1592, Orissa was absorbed into the Bengal Subah and Maharaja Man Singh ruled the region directly along with the rest of Bengal till 1598 with his grandson Maha Singh (b. 1585) as his deputy, who would later take the full charge of his grandfather's role from 1598 till 1605.
In 1598 Maharaja Man Singh had gone to Agra to visit Emperor Akbar. Seeing the opportunity, the Afghans made one last effort to take Bengal and Orissa, collected a large force at Bhadrak and managed to defeat the reduced imperial forces under Maha Singh, who was then 12 years of age.
This final foray led by Usman Khan, nephew of Qutlu Khan Lohani however was all for naught, as Raja Man Singh returned later that year to destroy the Afghan menace once and for all. Under Kachhwaha rule, peace came to Orissa and Holy Jagannath Dham became a hub of national pilgrimage.
Fast Forward to 1605 - On 27th October, Emperor Akbar dies, and in comes Emperor Jehangir, with his new administration, and new administrative policies.
Orissa was created into a separate Subah from Bengal with Hashim Khan appointed as the Subahdar on September 26, 1607.
Thus, the campaign of Orrisa ended. Jagannath Puri Mandir was once again in Hindu control and Afghan presence wiped out from the Oriya lands. Man Singh Ruled over these lands for quite some time (16 years) before leaving Lord Jagannath's abode, returning home to Amer.
Two years later, in 1609, Ramachandra Deva is succeeded by his son Purushottam Deva.
Apparently this is the same year when Purushottam Deva battles against Raja Kesho Das Maru, who makes his garrison in the Jagannath Temple, upon which Purushottam Deva lays siege on the temple.
However, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri claims that he was deployed on the Emperor's orders, after a complain was recieved against the then Governor of Orissa, Hashim Khan.
To corroborate this, Hashim Khan is also transferred to Kashmir soon after in 1611.
There is no mention of Khurda.
We also know as per the treaty agreed to by Purushottam Deva's father Ramachandra Deva, Puri and the Jagannath Temple were not part of his domain.
The whole story of his siege on the temple seems to be a folk story, not grounded in history.
That he may have disciplined Purushottam Deva after laying siege on Khurda however, seems more plausible.
Perhaps the ineptness of Hashim Khan the Subahdar of Orissa and regime change in both Orissa and Delhi would have allowed him to see prospects in territorial adventurism.
Perhaps the humiliation of defeat after ill planned misadventures have planted these inspired stories. If you agree that Puri was ceded to the Mughals in Akbar's era then what was Purushottam doing there just 4 years after Akbar's death and 1st year of his own ascension.
Kesho Das even if one takes their account, when taking historical references actually protected the temple and the holy city of Puri from Purushottam Deva of Khurda who had opportunistically and treacherously breached his own father's treaty. What was he thinking?
We think here we should rest our case here. The Rajputs protected and nurtured Orissa and its Hinduism whereas the rulers of Khurda allied out of pure unprovoked spite and greed with those Afghans who destroyed the Jagannath Temple, the Konark Sun Temple and many more. Rest importance of history is not about Maharaja Man Singh here, but the historical identity of the Afghanistanis reaching Puri is most important. This is where ancient geographical note on Odishan history should focus.
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