KINGDOM AT THE CROSSROADS: GEOPOLITICS OF KHURDA KINGDOM IN EARLY MODERN ORISSA

Abstract

This paper aims to examine how political crises of mid 16^thcentury became the centrifugal force for establishment of new state over the unexplored strategic mountain range of coastal Orissa; and how the state has taken a leaf from the pan-Indian Empires that were going through a major political crisis. However, when the state tried to expand her hegemony from the mountain range to the productive alluvial tract and religious-ritual center of the old empire, it faced utmost external invasion. The findings of the paper suggest that the state has succeeded in taking advantage of natural protections provided by the forests and hills of the geo-political region of Khurda, where its rulers had concentrated military strength in the forts and attempted to hold the fertile alluvial land of the area around the temple town of Puri, which also provided politico-ritual legitimacy to the kingdom of Khurda. Nevertheless, the contention over the fertile alluvial land of Puri resulted in the loss of this precious territory to the Marathas.