The Maratha Period After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 the Mughal empire slowly started to disintegrate, and the Nawabs of Bengal strenghtened their power. Gradually under the Nawabs the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa became almost independent during the period from 1713 to 1733. The Marathas also started to have a very strong influence in Orissa, during the reigns of the next Kings of Khurda Harekrishna Deva, Gopinath Deva and Ramachandra Deva II. Ramachandra Deva II Ramachandra Deva II became King in 1726. The first Nawab, Murshid Quli Khan appointed his son in law Shuya ud din as Subahdar. Their rule was still quite tolerant and peaceful. However, the next Nawab Shuja ud din and his son the Subahdar Taqi Khan installed in 1727 were very cruel and greedy, so that many times both the King and the Jagannatha Deities had to hide into the hills in the south of Orissa. In 1729 Ramachandra Deva sent his general (bakhisi) to central Orissa to strengthen the control over the region, but a mutiny of the soldiers (paiks) in the next year caused the defeat of the army. The Nawab Taqi Khan even captured Ramachandra and kept him a prisoner, and moreover forced him to marry his daughter and to convert to Islam. It is said that because of this reason, Ramachandra Deva was not allowed to enter the temple any more, so the Patita Pavana Deity of Jagannatha was installed in the entrance hall of the temple just behind the Simha Dvara. This version of the story was presented by the Rani Surjyamani when she petitioned the Government for the recognition of the royal rights of his son Mukunda Deva; however it appears quite controversial, as it seems that the Patita Pavana Deity already existed at the Simha Dvara gate 100 years before Ramachandra Deva II, because it is mentioned in the Jagannatha charitamrita written by Divakara Dasa in the 1600s. At the time of their father’s defeat, the sons of Ramachandra Deva had fled to Athagarh; claiming independence from their father’s authority, they fought the Muslims back and delivered Khurda. At that point Taqi Khan reinstalled Ramachandra Deva on the throne and sent his high officer with him to control Puri and the temple. In 1732 finally Ramachandra Deva regained the confidence of the temple priests and he was entrusted with the care of the Deities when he fled again to Atagarh; however the Nawab changed his mind and declared Virakeshari, the son of Ramachandra, as the new king of Khurda. In 1733 Ramachandra returned to Puri for the Navakalevara rituals bringing the Brahma padartha of Jagannatha, but Taqi Khan attacked Ramachandra in Khurda just after the Ratha yatra, and the new Jagannatha Deities were again taken to Marada in Athargarh for another 2 and a half years, until the death of Taqi Khan (1734), when Ramachandra returned to Khurda only to be defeated by the Subahdar (Murshid Quli Khan II). Padmanabha Deva of Patia (Cuttack) was appointed as the new Gajapati, but he soon proved himself incapable of paying the heavy taxes demanded by the Nawab. After four years of reign, Padmanabha Deva was overthrown by Birakishore (or Vira Keshari) Deva (son of Ramachandra Deva II), with the help of Murshid Qui II. Birakishore (Vira Keshari) Deva (1739-1792) repaired the temple of Jagannatha, rebuilding the Bhoga mandapa and the Simhasana and constructing the Snana vedi and the Kanaka mandapa (the area where a part of the mahaprasada rice is dried to be packed as nirmalya). He also repaired the temple entrance and offered several ornaments to the Deities. The temple administration was entrusted to three Praharis under the supreme authority of the Ekadi Pandita from Cuttack. Finally the central Mughal government had decided that it was better to exploit the temple and the pilgrims with taxes than to stop the festivals: the annual tax revenue came to about 900,000 rupees (as in 1739). The Subahdar sent Mir Habib to Atargarh to retrieve the Jagannatha Deities so that the worship could resume regularly: this decision was taken by the same Murshid and Mir Habib who had destroyed hundreds of temples in Bengal. Birakishore was also reinstalled on the throne after agreeing to pay the pilgrim taxes (jatri hasili) plus the debts accumulated by Padmanabha. In 1742 the Maratha King of Nagpur, Raghuji Bhonsha, started a campaign against the Nawab of Bengal, but without interfering with the local power structure of the Subedar and the Gajapati of Khurda. In March 1743 the Marathas under Raghuji Bhonsle marched on Cuttack. Birakisore Deva sent a messenger (Bahadur Khan) to the Marathas, and the messenger returned to assure the temple Sevakas that the Marathas would not disturb the temple worship. Between 1742 and 1751 there was a struggle between Raghuji Bhonsla and Alivardi Khan, and Orissa fell into a state of anarchy. Murshid Qui II was defeated by Alivardi Khan, who had seized the throne of Bengal, and driven out of Orissa. Mir Habib had allied with the Marathas and convinced them to attack Bengal. In March 1743 the Marathas under Raghuji Bhonsle marched on Cuttack. Birakisore Deva sent a messenger (Bahadur Khan), who returned to assure the temple Sevakas that the Marathas would not disturb the temple worship. Birakishore tried to gather support from his traditional feudatory Kings and allies, and in 1746 he offered special honors to the Raja of Atargarh, Harichandana Jagadeva, during his visit to Puri, with the permission to use vehicles drawn by two horses and wear a turban with a silver elephant emblem. To reciprocate, the Raja of Atargarh offered a village to cover the income for the amrta manohi offerings to Jagannatha. To further strengthen the alliance and to encourage him to help in the fight against Asaf Jah of Hyderabad (who had engaged Birakishore’s general Bakshi Hamir Khan at Banpur), Birakishore appointed the raja of Atargarh as manager of the Puri temple, and granted him the privilege of beating the big drum (nagara) in procession, carried on the back of a war elephant. In 1751 Alivardi Khan signed a treaty with the Marathas and delivered Orissa to them, retaining the right to appoint Depty Subedars until 1759. In 1759 Shiva Bhatta Sathe (also called Seo Bhatt) became the new Hindu Subahdar of Orissa and dismantled the Khurda territory to weaken the power of the Gajapati, bringing Orissa totally under the control of the Marathas. In 1760 a Hindu King from Paralakhemundi or Khimidi, Jagannatha Narayana Deva, invaded Khurda and Birakishore Deva asked for the help of the Maratha Seo Bhatt Sathe. However, Birakishore was unable to pay the expensive bill for the campaign (100,000 rupees) and after the army of the Paralakhemundi King had been fought off, the King of Khurda had to mortgage vast lands to the Maratha ruler, including the land where the Jagannatha temple stood in Puri. The two most fertile pargana districts of Khurda, Lembai and Rahang, were directly confiscated by the Maratha ruler, and the samanta rajas of 14 States were made independent from the control of Khurda (Dhenkanal, Banki, Narsimgpur, Tigiria, Talcher, Khandpara,, Daspalla, Hindol, Angul and Band). Puri was occupied and the Marathas took over the temple administration (as the richest source of income of the region) installing their own officers in control. The authority of the Gajapati remained only in name, in the calendar based on the calculation of reign years (anka) and send “royal letters” (chamu chitan) of introduction for the samanta rajas to the temple manager in Puri, announcing the visit of the feudatory Kings to the temple, listing the special ritual privileges during their visit, including the donation/gift they were entitled to from the temple treasure and the gifts that the visiting Rajas were supposed to bring for Jagannatha. Records of such letters exist especially for the Rajas of Baramba, Tigeria, Khandapara and Ranpur, whose support was essential for the Gajapati power, but also from Kujang, Nayagarh, Barhi, Angul, Dhenkanal, Talcher, Sonpur, Ghumsur, Banpur, Atargarh, Khallikota, Tekkali, and even from allies such as the Kings of Assam and Delhi. The visiting Kings received the sari turban as a sign of their intimate relationship with the service of Jagannatha (just like the temple servants when they start their service). It is said that Birakishore Deva became crazy and killed four of his sons, so with the support of the people Subedar Rajaram Pandit (1778-1793) deposed and imprisoned him, appointing his grandson Divya Singha Deva II (1780-1795) with the endorsement of the Marathas on the condition that the Raja paid an annual tribute of 10,000 rupees to the Marathas. The next Raja, Mukunda Deva II (1795-1817) also continued to pay the tribute. The Marathas’ Subadars entrusted the supervision of the temple to a Puri Mahanta (Baba Brahmachary), who delegated his employee Brindaban Das to collect the offerings made to Jagannatha by the devotees of Calcutta. On his death, he left the amount to Keshu Potdar, who refused to deposit it with the agent of the Mahanta, so Subedar Sadasiva Rao (1793-1803) asked the authorities in Calcutta to take the required action to recover the money. The Marathas managed the finances of the temple, finally enabling it to flourish again after 200 years of Muslim oppression, destruction, looting and terror. Although their interest was not purely devotional as they levied heavy taxes on the pilgrims, they had no ideological objection to Jagannatha worship and in fact they seemed to identify Jagannatha as Vitthal, their traditional rastra devata, as they did not install any such temple in Puri. The Maharathas also covered financial deficits in the temple administration caused by misappropriation or negligent management by the Sevakas, also sanctioning money for important festivals and for the construction of the Rathas, recovering funds from the pilgrim tax introduced by the Muslims. Also a tax on the Pratiharis was introduced, allowing them to collect higher fees from pilgrims. Chimna Sau Bapu visited the temple and offered jewels and costly clothes to the Deities, as well as an elephant and the villages of Swanlo and Mohuree (in Sattais Hazar Mahal) for its maintenance. Raghujee Bhonsle established the offering of Mohan Bhoga and granted land to Mahanta Jayaram Das for its maintenance. The Marathas also brought stones from the abandoned Konark temple to repair the Jagannatha Puri temple, as well as the Aruna stambha. The management of the temple was no easy task either. In one instance, the Vaishnava Vairagis (probably helped by the Marathi Guru Brahmachary Baba, who was repairing the Garbha griha) removed and destroyed a Deity of Bhairava that was sitting on the Ratnavedi; the sannyasis from the Shankara line protested with the mother and brother of Raghujee Bhonsle, who ordered that Enkajee Subhdeo (Naib-Subedar, 1792-1793) to prepare a new identical Bhairava image and install it properly. The Vaishnava Mohantas refused to allow the installation, stopped taking Mahaprasada and convinced the temple manager Harbans Ray to take sides with them. On his advice, Raghujee revoked his earlier instructions and ordered (1798-1799) the two Maratha officers at Cuttack, Raghunath Krishna and Lachhman Janardan, not to allow the worship of the image prepared by Enkajee. The Deula Karana Debsingh Patjoshi, was ordered not to introduce any innovation, put the image in another place and persuade the Vaishnavites to resume accepting Mahaprasadam. However, the soft management by the Marathas gradually caused the deterioration of the discipline inside the temple, with whimsical service, greedy exploitation of pilgrims, and a sort of trade-unionism that led to the creation of the new power authority in the temple. The pilgrims were also harassed by oppressive taxes and repeated demands of payment, with numerous toll gates on the road starting from the border of Mayurbhanj, where the Tahasildars who collected the payments extorted money without much care for the fees fixed by the Government, which were not low either. The tax-paying pilgrims were divided into two different classes: the more affluent and the lower class (Bharangs). The wealthy pilgrims who came from the north (Bengal) were charged 10 rupees at Atharnala gate, while those who came from south (Tamil) were charged 6 rupees at Lokanath gath. Besides that fee, there was a general fee of 15 annas for admission into the temple. The sannyasis, desis (local residents living between the Vaitarani and the Rishikulya rivers), and kangals (paupers and beggars) were exempted from payment of taxes.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:39:15 +0000
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