Medieval Orissa: A Socio-Economic Study

The present work deals with an important aspect of Orissa history. The period from A.D. 1038 to A.D. 1568 marks the ascendancy of the later Eastern Gangas followed by the Suryavamsi Gajapatis which led to the emergence of a ?Regional Hindu Kingdom? in Eastern India. The Gangas extended their kingdom from the river Hooghly (Ganga) in the north to the river Godavari (Gautami Ganga) in the South. Also, the Suryavamsi Gajapatis at the beginning of their rule further expanded Orissa kingdom towards South upon Srirangam. The rising tide of the Eastern invasion in Northern and Eastern India could not stem the flow of political developments in Orissa. Orissa remained as an independent kingdom upto A.D. 1568 and only during the weak rule of Mukundadeva, it was conquered by the Turko-Afghans. The main objective of the study is to investigate the pattern of socio-economic life of the people of Orissa from A.D. 1038-1568. The Later Eastern Ganga period marked the material prosperity with rise in agrarian products and flourishing trade and commerce, whereas the Suryavamsi Gajapati period ended with decline in its materials prosperity of Orissa has been investigated in this work. This period marked the decline in trade and commerce, rampant immortality in the society and defects in the government machinery which explain the decline in the life of the people of the then Orissa which ultimately paved the way for the Turko-Afghan conquest of Orissa in A.D. 1568.