Odi: ଭଞ୍ଜନଗର bhañjanagara
‘Poet King City’ [Russellkonda] Town, Odisha
Under British rule this city was called Russellkonda [Tel: konda ‘hill’, ‘hillock’] after George Russell, dispatched to Odisha from the Madras Board of Revenue in 1836 to quell revolt among Hindu chiefs and tribal groups in the region. He declared martial law and brutally suppressed the rebellion, and then used the pretext of eradicating the ‘meriah’ human sacrifice as a pretext for a bloody conquest of the Khonds.
Bhanjanagar [Hin/Skt: nagar/am, ‘city’, ‘town’] is named after Odisha’s own Upendra Bhanja, a 17th-18thC Kabi Samrat, ‘poet king’.
For related place names see Indian Place names and Odisha place names.
