Eastern Ganga Dynasty of Odisha

                                        Jagannatha temple of Puri 

Eastern Ganga dynasty was a kingdom in India, ruling over an area corresponding to present day Odisha, the coastal plain between the Ganga and the Godavari. Eastern Gangas, who had been ruling since the close of the 5th century, were great temple builders. The temples built by them survive to be awe-inspiring spectacles for the people who throng to them. Chief among them are Jagannatha temple of Puri and the Sun Temple (also known as Black Pagoda) at Konark. The dynasty is called Eastern Gangas to differentiate them from Western Gangas, a separate dynasty, ruling in Mysore. 

Nothing much can be said with certainty about the early history of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. One of the rulers of the dynasty was Vajrahasta III whose coronation took place in AD 1038. He adopted the titles of Trikalingadhipati and Anantavarman. He was succeeded by his son Rajaraja I who entered into a conflict with the Cholas. Peace was concluded by a marriage alliance under which Rajaraja I married a Chola princess, Rajasundari.

Rajasundari gave birth to Anantavarman Chodagangadeva who succeeded his father, Rajaraja I, in 1077. Anantavarman Chodagangadeva was so called because he was the son of Rajaraja I (a Ganga ruler) and Rajasundari (a Chola princess). Anantavarman Chodagangadeva is known for starting the construction of famed Jagannatha Temple at Puri. 

In 1206 Ghiyas-ud-din Iwaz Shah, a lieutenant of Afghan military chief Bakhtiyar Khilji, invaded Odisha and defeated Rajaraja III who had ascended the Eastern Ganga throne in 1198. However, his son Anangabhima III (A.D.1207-1238) succeeded in driving the Muslims from Odisha. Anangabhima III had dedicated his kingdom to Lord Purushottama Jagannath and proclaimed himself as the deputy of the divinity of Puri. After Anangabhima III his son Narasimha I came to the throne. Narasimha I built the famous temple of Sun God at Konark. With his death in A.D. 1264, the Ganga dynasty began to lose its prominence. 

Narasiriiha I was succeeded by his son Bhanudeva I, who after a reign of fifteen years, was succeeded by his infant son Narasiriiha II. Narahari Tirtha, the famous Vaishnava scholar and disciple of Madhvacharya (founder of Dvaita school of philosophy), acted as the regent of Narasiriiha II for the first twelve years of latter's reign. 

Another ruler of the dynasty was Bhanudeva III (reigned 1352–1378) during whose reign the kingdom was invaded by Tughlaq Sultan, Firuz Tughluq, resulting in the flight of Bhanudeva III and desecration of the famous temple of Jagannatha at Puri. 

The throne of Bhanudeva IV, the last ruler of the dynasty, was usurped by his minister Kapilendra who founded a new dynasty, the Suryavamsha dynasty or Gajapati dynasty in c. A.D. 1434-5.  

Kanva Dynasty

Kanva dynasty was an ancient Indian dynasty which ruled from 72 BC to 28 BC in parts of eastern and central India. The founder of the dynasty was Vasudeva who brought an end to the Shunga (also spelt Sunga) kingdom by ordering the killing of its last ruler Devabhuti or Devabhumi of whom the former was a minister. This has been attested by 7th-century Sanskrit author Bana, who describes how Devabhuti fell prey to an assassination plot by Vasudeva and was eventually killed by a slave girl dressed in the guise of a queen.

According to the Puranas, Vasudeva ruled for 9 years and was succeeded by his son named Bhumimitra who ruled for 14 years. Next in the line of the Kanvas was Bumimitra’s son Narayana who ruled for 12 years. The fourth and last ruler of the dynasty was Narayana’s son Susarman who reigned for 10 years. Susarman was killed by the Satavahana (Andhra) ruler  and with this the Kanva dynasty came to an end. Kanva dynasty is also known as Kanvayanas. 

Like the Shungs, the Kanvas were also brahmanas.

Zia Nakhshabi

Zia Nakhshabi (d.1350) was a famous Sufi saint and scholar during the reign of Tughlaq Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq. He is credited with translating Chintamani Bhatta’s Sanskrit work Suka-saptati (Parrot’s Seventy) into Persian. The text translated by him is known as Tutinama (Stories from a Parrot) which was in time translated into Turkish and other European languages.

Zia Nakhshabi had also translated Koka-shastra (also known as Rati-rahasyam: Mysteries of Passion), a popular early medieval Sanskrit work on erotica written by Kukkoka (Kokapandita).

 

Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji: Founder of Khilji Dynasty

Accession of Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji to the throne of Delhi Sultanate in AD 1290 resulted in the foundation of Khilji Dynasty which ruled till 1320. He became the first Khilji Sultan after murdering Slave Sultan Kaiqubad (grandson of Slave Sultan Balban) and deposing latter’s infant son Kayumars. With the rise of the Khiljis, the Turkish nobility began to lose their influence. 

His coronation was held in Kilokhari (Kilughari), a suburb of Delhi, not in the city, for the dominant Turkish population of Delhi considered him to be an Afghan usurper and consequently resented his accession to the throne.  

Jalaluddin Khilji was in his seventies at the time of his ascension. 

Lenient in his treatment of his opponents and fellow Muslims, Jalaluddin Khilji was averse to punishing even those who sought to overthrow him. When Balban’s nephew Malik Chajju, governor of Kara, unfurled the banner of revolt in the second year of Jalaluddin Khaljis reign, the sultan entertained him with wine and released him from prison where the latter had found himself after being defeated by the Delhi forces.  This behaviour of Jalaluddin Khilji did not go down well with the Khilji nobles. 

Jalaluddin Khilji was killed by his son-in-law and successor Alauddin Khilji in 1296. 

Qiran-us-sadin, Meeting of two Sultans

Qiran-us-sadin is the first historical masnavi of Amir Khusrau, the mediaeval Sufi mystic and poet.

Written in verse in 1289, it describes the much talked about meeting between Bughra Khan, a Bengal Sultan and his son Kaiqubad (Kaiqubad), the last ruler of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. Bughra Khan, who was appointed governor of Bengal by his father Balban, declined to be the Delhi Sultan and instead became an independent ruler of Bengal after the death of his father in 1287. Balban was succeeded by Kaiqubad on the throne of Delhi Sultanate. 

Qiran-us-sadin was written on the instructions of Kaiqubad. 

Riyaz-us-Salatin of Ghulam Husain Salim

Riyaz-us-Salatin is a historical work by Ghulam Husain Salim. Written in Persian, it traces the history of Bengal from Turkish general Bakhtyar Khalji’s invasion of the province in 1204-05 AD to 1788, the date in which the work was completed.

History MCQs – Set 2 - Modern India

1. First session of the Indian National Congress (INC) was conducted in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885. The second session of INC was presided by 

a) Badruddin Tyabji

b) Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

c) Dadabhai Naoroji

d) William Wedderburn

2. Who among the following had popularized the festivals associated with Ganesh and Shivaji during the national movement?

a) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

b) Lala Lajpat Rai 

c) Jyotirao Govindrao Phule

d) Bal Gangadhar Tilak

3. Who had launched the Bardoli satyagraha in February 1928?

a) Sardar Vallabhai Patel 

b) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

c) Vinoba Bhave

d) None of the above

4. Who among the following was a leader of the Indian militant peasant movement Eka (unity) Movement?

a) Madari Pasi

b) Alluri Sitarama Raju

c) Laxman Nayak

d) Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

5. Who was the most prominent leader of Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar?

a) Ganesh Ghosh

b) Satish Chandra Samanta

c) Dinesh Chandra Gupta 

d) Bagha Jatin

6. Who was the Nawab of Bengal when the Battle of Buxar took place?

a) Mir Qasim

b) Siraj-ud-Daulah

c) Mir Jafar

d) Shuja ud daula

7. Who among the following has won Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour and Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan’s highest civilian honour?

a) Morarji Desai

b) Lal Bahadur Shastri

c) Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel

d) Jawaharlal Nehru

8. When did Choudhary Rahmat Ali coin the word Pakistan?

a) 1930

b) 1933

c) 1940

d) 1942

9. Gandhiji had launched Champaran Satyagrah in 1917 for

a) Uplift of Depressed Class of India

b) Unifying Hindu Society

c) Protesting against the injustice meted out to Indigo farmers 

d) All of the above

10. Who among the following was an important Muslim leader of the Swadeshi Movement?

i. Abdul Halim Guznavi 

ii. Liakat Hossain

iii. Liakat Ali Khan

a) i

b) ii

c) i and ii

d) i, ii and iii

Answers

1- c

2- d, Before the advent of the Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) was the tallest Congress leader.

3- a

4- a, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was called the "father of Indian unrest" by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, a British journalist.

Madari Pasi belonged to the ‘untouchable’ Pasi caste that had been classified by the British administration as a “criminal” caste. He was born in the village of Mohanjganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district in 1860. 

5- b

6- a

7- a

8- b, In 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet, "Now or Never: Are We to Live or Perish for Ever?" coining the word Pakistan for the first time.

9- c

10- c