Two branches
The Bhañjas held the forested interior of Odisha, away from the coastal kingdoms, in two main lines: the Khiñjali branch in the Baudh and Sonepur country, and the Khijjinga branch in what became Mayurbhanj. Their charters claim an origin from a peacock's egg, and the peacock — mayūra — gives Mayurbhanj its name.
They were usually subordinate to whichever coastal power was dominant, and their long survival owed something to the difficulty of the country they held.
Continuity
Bhañja temples at Baudh, Ranipur-Jharial and elsewhere show a regional variant of the Odishan style, and the family patronised both Brahmanical and Jain establishments.
The Bhañjas of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar continued as ruling houses through the Mughal and British periods and acceded to India in 1949, making theirs one of the longest continuous dynastic lines in the subcontinent — over a thousand years in the same country, though with many interruptions and changes of status along the way.
Further reading
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Gordon, Stewart. The Marathas 1600-1818. Cambridge University Press, 1993
- Hawley, John Stratton. A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement. Harvard University Press, 2015
- Jackson, Peter. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press, 1999
- Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass, 1976
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.