This book discusses Kapilendra Deva, the founder of the Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty of Odisha. Kapilendra ruled in the 15th century and became the greatest Hindu conqueror of that period. He was a warrior king and converted his small kingdom into a huge empire through military conquest. At his peak, his empire extended along the east coast from Jharkhand and Hooghly River of West Bengal in the north to Rameswaram of Tamil Nadu in south. He successfully fought against sultanates of Bengal, Jaunpur, Malwa, Bahmani and Hindu kingdoms of Reddi and Vijayanagar. Odisha saw a great social, cultural, linguistic and religious revival during his reign. The author has done an in-depth analysis of the life of Kapilendra Deva and presented it in a structured manner for the benefit of both serious and general readers.
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Gajapati Kapilendra Deva
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Ashish Iyer –
Gajendra Kapilendra Deva is well-written, and the author, keeping in mind a readership not necessarily restricted to the academic, takes care to steer clear of jargon. He goes deep into detail, analyzing each of Deva’s inscriptions to see how it offers insights into not just Deva’s psyche, but into the times he lived in. Kapilendra had a long reign of around 32 years from 1435 AD to 1467 AD. He ascended the throne of the kingdom of Odisha when it was at one of its weakest points and had shrunk to a mere few districts surrounding the capital Cuttack. In his long career, he was busy in continuous warfare in all directions defeating and conquering territories of the neighbouring kingdoms. By 1464-65 AD the kingdom of Odisha under his leadership became the largest Hindu kingdom of his time when the empire stretched from the North of modern-day Jharkhand state, Hooghly River in North-East to Rameswaram in the South. In the west, it stretched to Mahur Fort in Maharashtra and Telangana. Unlike the many invaders, the Gajapati Kapilendra Deva was committed to preserving culture and refrained from engaging in social degradation or cultural destruction. During the Gajapati Empire’s reign, Odia and surrounding regions experienced a flourishing economy. Cuttack became a huge city during the period of Kapilendra and started growing rapidly. As per one statistic, Cuttack became the 3rd largest city in India and 12th largest in the world. Within the book’s pages, the author acquaints readers with the illustrious rule of the Gajapati Kapilendra Deva’s Kingdom.
This book has photographs maps, timeline, family tree, tables wherever necessary. This kinda book helps you in visualizing and understanding the narrative. For a lucid account of one of the most important personalities and period of Indian history, do read this book. The writer manages to create the era in front of your eyes with maps and so many other details. The book filled a gap in our historiography and opened some doors for history lovers. The contents are divided into twenty one chapters. This book also offers a comprehensive insight into this kingdom’s administration, military, literary work, religion and construction activities. I also appreciate the fact that this book provided maps of India and extensive footnotes which was quite helpful. I especially liked the Introduction, analysis of sources and contemporary neighboring Kingdoms chapters. It helps us in understanding the context of Odia history at that time.
Like Uday Kulkarni, Kedar Phalke and Venkatesh Rangan, Nihar Nanda is here to make his mark. He is here to stay. I hope to see more of his books in the future.