Biswanathpur is a village in

Ganjam Ganjam is a town and a notified area council in Ganjam district in the state of Odisha, India. Brahmapur, Odisha, Brahmapur, one of the major city of Odisha, is situated in this district on the eastern coastline. Geography Ganjam is located at ...

district in the south of

Odisha, India Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the third ...

, bordering

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. This village owes its name to

Vishwanath Dev Gajapati Vishwanath Dev Gajapati was the king of Jeypore who established a kingdom in the region of southern Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh. The Silavamsa king Pratap Ganga Raja died without any male heir, only leaving behind his wife and daughter Lil ...

, the Suryavanshi king of Kalinga who founded this place after conducting a royal ancient ritual known as 'Vajapeya Yagna'. It is located southeast of

Berhampur Berhampur (; also known as Brahmapur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Odisha, India. Known as the "Silk City" it is the headquarter of Ganjam district, Ganjam district and home to Odisha's one of the major and the oldest railway station ...

and northeast of

Ichchapuram Ichchapuram is a town in the Srikakulam district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the border of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and is nearly 142 km from the district capital, Srikakulam. Ichchapuram municipality is the lar ...

History

Vishwanath Dev was a king of Nandapur and a tributary of the

Gajapati Empire The Gajapati Empire was a Medieval India, medieval Hindu monarchy in the Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent, originally from the region of Odisha that reigned from c.1434 to 1541. It succeeded the Eastern Ganga dynasty, Eastern Gangas as ...

. After the death of

Prataprudra Deva Prataparudra Deva ( Odia: ଗଜପତି ପ୍ରତାପରୁଦ୍ର ଦେବ) was the third Gajapati emperor of Odisha from the Suryavamsa Gajapati Empire founded by his grandfather Kapilendra Deva. He reigned from 1497 to 1540 CE. ...

, his heirs were assassinated by his minister Govinda Vidyadhar. The fall of the Gajapatis left a political vacuum and eventually all vassal and tributary kingdoms under the Gajapatis claimed independence. At that point of time, Vishwanath began expanding his territories towards the northern region or Utkala (Ut:''Uttar'',Kal:''Kalinga''). In 1542, he sent Mukund Harichandran Bahubalendra to seize the fort of Govinda Vidyadhar in

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

. Mukund was a feudal chief of Krishnakota (

Kasimkota Kasimkota is a village in Anakapalli district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Kasimkota was one of the notable villages affected by Cyclone Hudhud. Kasimkota railway station is a ''D–category'' station of Vijayawada division was op ...

) feudatory of his kingdom. Evidently, Mukund was successful in forcing Govinda Vidyadhar into surrendering the whole northern territory and convinced him to become a tributary of Vishwanath. Later, Vishwanath appointed Mukund as the minister of Govinda Vidyadhar's kingdom who later went on to occupy the kingdom of Utkala. After claiming the northern territories, Vishwanath founded a kingdom that touched the confines of modern-day

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

in the north to

Godavari River The Godavari (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges River, Ganga River and drains the third largest Drainage basin, basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. It ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

in the south. As a result, he conducted a vedic ritual known as ‘Vajapeya Yagna' that is second only to the

Ashvamedha The Ashvamedha () was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accompanied by the king's warriors would be released to wander ...

. After the completion of the ritual he donated 'Dana Sasana' or a gift decree and named the place as Vishwanathpur.

Education

The village has Biswanathpur primary school and C.D.T.Vidya Mandir (High school).

References

* {{Ganjam district Villages in Ganjam district