Kapilendradeva

Who is Kapilendradeva?

Kapilendra Deva or Kapileshvara Deva was the emperor of Kalinga-Utkal and the founder of the Gajapati dynasty which annexed large swathes of territory in Telengana, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south to Madhya Pradhesh in central India and most of present day Bengal in the north. His name is also written as Kapilendra Routray or Sri Sri Kapilendra Deva. In claiming descent from the surya-vaMsha of the mahabharata, he also took the title shri shri ... gajapati gauDesvara naba koTi karnATa kalbargesvara This title is still used by the solar dynasty kings of Puri on ritual occasions.

Kapilendra's ancestors were feudatory chiefs under the Ganga dynasty, but with the weakening of their authority, Kapilendra mounted a rebellion and seized power in 1434. In his early years, he overcame a number of challenges from other chiefs, and also an invasion by Sultan Ahmed Shah of Bengal. By 1443, with the help of his able minister Gopinath Mahapatra, he had consolidated his power. In 1444, while Kapilendra was fighting the Sultan of Jaunpur Mahmud Shah in the north, the kingdom was invaded from the south by the Reddy kingdom of Rajamundry and king Devaraya II of Vijayanagar. His son Hamvira defeated the Reddys and the Gajapati kingdom eventually came to occupy a large region from Midnapore in Bengal till Guntur in Andhra. In the meanwhile Gajapati Kapilendra Deva defeated the Sultan of Jaunpur and crushed the Bengal Sultan, Ahmed Shah to secure the northern and north western frontiers of the empire.The sultanates of Jaunpur and Bengal were supported by the sultanate at Delhi. The victories of Kapilendra Deva echoed right up to the walls of the Siri fort and was instrumental in checking the ambitions of the Delhi sultanate.