Kapilendradeva

Kapilendra Deva
Successor	Purushottama Deva
House	Suryavansha
Religion	Hinduism

Kapilendra Deva Routaray (Odia : କପିଳେନ୍ଦ୍ର ଦେବ ରାଉତରାୟ) was an Odia emperor from 1434-1466 AD of a large part of the Indian subcontinent and the founder of the Gajapati dynasty. His name is also written as Kapilendra Routray or Sri Sri Kapilendra Deva. In claiming descent from the Surya Vamsha (Sun dynasty) of the Mahabharata, he also took the title shri shri ...(108 times) Gajapati Gaudesvara Naba Koti Karnata Kalbargesvara. This title literally meant the lord of Bengal (Gauda), of Karnataka region or Vijayanagara kingdom, of Golkonda kingdom and of nine crore subjects. The title is still used by the sun dynasty kings of Puri on ritual occasions.

There are separate theories or concepts about Kapilendra Deva's initial life. In Madala Panji records of Puri temple it states that he was known as Kapila Routa and was born in a poor family whose job was to take care of domesticated cows. Due to a divine symbol of cobra (naga) seated by his head while he was resting, he was predicted to become a king one day. Another note from the same records state that he used to be a robber by profession and appointed his friend from his gang called Kali Dasa as the head priest of his court once he became a king. In the third statement from the same records it states that he used to beg in front of the Puri Jagannath temple as a child and was later adopted by the last Eastern Ganga dynasty ruler Bhanudeva following a divine dream. He was later appointed in his young days as a military general of the Ganga forces and was assigned the task to fight the Muslim forces of Bengal.

Due to the weakening administration of the Eastern Ganga dynasty rulers, Kapilendra Deva mounted the throne with internal support while the last ruler of the dynasty, Bhanu Deva was on a military expedition in the southern territories. He was declared as the new king with a rajyabhishek ceremony at Bhubaneswar. Since the accession was based on a coup or rebellion, some feudal kings of Odisha like Matsarvamshi of Oddadi, Shilavamshis of Nandapur, Bishnukundina of Panchadhara, etc. declined his authority and declared themselves independent. Around the same time, the Sultanate of Jaunpur also posed as an external threat to his kingdom. He appointed his able minister Gopinath Mahapatra to deal with the Jaunpur threat which was successfully executed by him and Kapilendra Deva himself suppressed the internal rebels with force. The rebels were suppressed by the year 1440 A.D. The rebellious troubles dealt by him with force are proven by his Lingaraj Temple declaration in which he has ordered the rebels to accept his rule or be toppled from power.

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Wikipedia