State Formation Legitimacy and Society in Medieval Orissa: A Comparative Study of Sambalpur and Khurda

This work is an intervention in the historiography of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Orissa in the complex intersection between the State, legitimacy, and society. An analysis has been made of the endogenous and exogenous circumstances related to the formation of the State, the social structure, cultural identity, and political framework of the State of Sambalpur in the western part of Orissa and the State of Khurda in the coastal part of Orissa. In its essence, this book shows the complex patterns of state formation and multiple processes of the legitimacy of Sambalpur and Khurda. As a result, the states emerged as regional powers in the two geopolitical regions of Medieval Orissa.