The Madala Panji is a chronicle of the Jagannath Temple, Puri, Odisha, India. It describes the historical events of Odisha related to Lord Jagannath and the Jagannath Temple.[1] The Madala Panji dates from the 12th century.[2]
The Madala Panji was traditionally written on a year-to-year basis [3] on Vijaya-Dashami day. The Karanas (official history writers of Puri, a caste of Odisha, involved in keeping the chronicle. This ritual is cited as a proof that the tradition of keeping this chronicle began with Odia king Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev (1078–1150) himself. There are some, like Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab, Dr.Nilakantha Dash and Dr. Krushna Chandra Panigrahi who hold that the Panji dates from the reign of Ramachandra Deva I who re-established the worship of Lord Jagannatha after Kalapahad said to have destroyed it. The arguments are complex, but it is likely that much of the early record was indeed lost in the period that followed Kala Pahad and was rewritten in a fashion that mixed legend with history.
According to the tradition, Chodaganga created 24 families of Karanas to preserve the temple records. Of these, five were entrusted with the writing and preservation of the Madala Panji. They are:
In subsequent stage, due to the bulky size of Madala Panji, its content covering different dimensions related to temple management, it was divided into four parts:
There are also five different categories of Panjis. No one has seen them all.
Besides the Madala, there were other Karans who wrote regional chronicles, known as Chakadas. "All the Kadatas and Chakadas taken together will be about a cartload."
Madala Panji language is Odia and was recorded in Odia and Telugu script, preserved in the Manuscript Library in Madras, which speaks about the story regarding image of Neela Madhava or Lord Jagannath of Udra desa, as Odisha was known in Middle Ages. It seems to have re-written during 16th century when the King of Khurda had newly installed the images after destruction made by Kalapahad, the notorious general of the Sultan of Bengal.
Notable Odia writer and Padma Shri awardee Artaballabha Mohanty has published the only available print record of Madala Panji.[5]
