Thread by @KalingaArya

Today is the coronation day of one of the greatest hindu rulers of India, Gajapati #Kapilendradeva. A ruler who extended his kingdom to one of the largest Hindu empires.
588 years back he was placed in the throne of Odisha kingdom. 🙏🙏🙏

These are the main forts which were known to be under him at the peak of his rule(there could be many more, but we have this much info)
C:Hamvira Mohapatra

At the peak of his power this is the extent of his empire. He became the most powerful hindu ruler of his time in 15th century India #Kapilendradeva

#Kapilendradeva was a warrior king. Most part of his life was full of wars both offensive and defensive.
Here is a rough map of the route followed by his imperial army in the 33 years of rule.

These two maps will tell you about the genius of the man #Kapilendradeva. At the beginning of his rule his kingdom had roughly shrunk to this size(left) and at his peak it became as large as what u see in the image in right. ~15 times. Very few rulers can claim something similar

The interesting thing of the rule of #Kapilendradeva was his use of Indian military tradition to his advantage and succeed. He didn't have Portugese support neither had cavalry superiority based on imported Persian horses. He won wars by infantry & elephant forces.

#Kapilendradeva fought with kingdoms who all were superior to his kingdom in terms of financial, military, manpower resources at the begining of his rule. But, he was a man with superior calibre. Even though he faced setbacks but ultimately became the most powerful hindu ruler.

Odisha during the time of #Kapilendradeva became a total military state. Every family had atleast 1 member in the army. Mahaprabhu Jagannath became the symbol of its sovereignty. Even today we have many military titles as surnames Dalai,Bahinipati, Baliarsingh, Balabantaray etc

#Kapilendradeva had an army of 7 lakh men. He also had 2 lakh elephant forces. This is certainly an exaggeration. However, there is no doubt the elephant forces for Gajapati army was largest of that time in subcontinent. That is why they were called Gajapatis, lord of elephants

#Kapilendradeva 's son Hamavira Deva was one of the best warriors of history of India. His military genius was the reason behind his success in southern India. He defeated larger powers like Vijayanagar, Bahamani & probably Malwa and captured a large chunk of land from them.

#Kapilendradeva was the founder of the Suryavamsa dynasty. He was an empire builder. Due to his military success against various kingdoms he used the epithet, Gajapati Goudeswara Navakoti Karnata Kalabargeswara. This is still used by Gajapati kings of Puri.

Imperial Gajapatis under #Kapilendradeva had their capital in Cuttack and ruled from the fort of Barabati. Cuttack became the third largest city in India and 12th largest in the world during late 15th and early 16th century. Scholars, merchants, refugees across India settled here

#Kapilendradeva chose Purusottama Deva as his successor instead of his valiant warrior son Hamavira Deva. This resulted in a civil war in empire resulting loss of land from north, south and west. History of Odisha would have been different had Hamavira been made the king.

@dpradhanbjp @PandaJay @Culturedeptt @AnubhavMohanty_ @sabyaactor @nilamadhabpanda @akshay_parija @samirdash01 @DianaSahu_TNIE @pratyasharath @sudarsansand @draupadimurmupr @samareshroutray @AprajitaSarangi @pcsarangi @punarbashu @HindolPalace @TheGreatAshB @suryanandannet