Beyond the Empire of Jagannātha: Politics and Culture of Goddess Worship in Early -Medieval North Odisha (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789366276335)

Beyond the Empire of Jagannātha: Politics and Culture of Goddess Worship in Early-Medieval North Odisha studies the well-known temple of Kicakeśvarī at Khiching in the modern district of Mayurbhanj in north Odisha. This was the region over which the celebrated Bhañja rulers of medieval Khijjingakot.t.aman.d.ala ruled, with their centre of power in Khiching, during the early medieval times. The tradition of goddess worship also acted as an important catalyst in stabilizing the relationship between sub-regional rulers and the local population. Besides investigating the wider implications of sub-regional state formation, this book also analyses the fluctuating political relationship between the larger kingdoms of the coast and the local Bhañja principalities. The book brings together epigraphic, ethnographic and archival materials in an attempt to establish a connection between the history of early-medieval Bhañja rulership with developments in relatively modern times.