Kala Pahad -- The Destroyer of Hinduism!!!

Kala Pahad :
Kalpahad means 'black mountain'. This Kalapahad was a blck character in the
history of Orissa & the Hindus. He was a brahmin, changed his religion, started destroying all
the religion places of Hindus.A General of Bengal Governor Suleiman Kirrani, named
Kalachand Roy or Kala Pahad fell in love with the daughter of kirrani and got married on the
condition that he converted to Islam. But repentance came who wanted to come back to
Hinduism. For this he came to Puri to convert himself again to Hinduism-but the orthodox
pandas of Puri Jagannath temple refused him to accept as Hindu In tune with the dictates of
this new faith, he now believed that idol worship was a heathen activity, and went about
destroying all Hindu idols in the region and embraced the new faith with the passion of the
convert.

He invaded Orissa in 1568 and marched up to Puri. Kaala Pahaad wanted to burn the idols of
Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra, and in one of his attacks on the temple at
Puri he did succeed in wrenching the idols from the temple. He threw the idols
unceremoniously on the street and kicked them around a bit before carting them all the way to
the banks of Hooghly and set fire to them. However, the ’brahmapinda’ or the core saligram
stone (considered a sacred stone that is alive) had been removed from the idols beforehand by
the priests who had anticipated the attack and had been hidden at Sonpur. When the priests of
Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar apprehended his attack they filled the sanctum sanctorum
with husk. Kala Pahad tried his best to take it out, but in the end set fire to the dump. After he
left, the priests put the fire out, but by then the sivalingam had cracked and been disfigured.
(src :- nilachakra.org)

After the defeat in the Battle of Tribeni, Sulaiman Karrani was forced to make peace. He
realized that he would never be able to conquer Bhurishrestha unless he could defeat Rajiv
Lochan Ray in the battlefield, which was next to impossible. So he invited him to his palace
and trapped him into a love affair with his daughter. He offered Rajiv Lochan Ray to convert
to Islam to which he offered to convert his daughter toHinduism and marry her. However,
King Gajapati Mukunda Deva was opposed to such a matrimonial alliance and wrongly
decreed that conversion to Hinduism was illegal. Enraged, Rajiv Lochan Rayconverted and
married Karrani's daughter taking the name of Kalapahad (Black Hill - the destroyer). He
led Karrani's revenge over Mukundadeva and attacked Orissa. He defeated Mukundadeva and
sacked major towns and religious places of Orissa including
Hijli,Cuttack,Jajpur,Sambalpur,Konark,Ekamrakhsetra,Puri etc. in 1568 (src wiki)

History of Kala Pahad in Odisha:-

Islam first arrived in the Eastern Indian state of Orissa in the 16th century after
the invasion of a Brahman named Kala Paharh, and a Hindu convert to Islam, a vassal of
Suleiman Kirrani the Sultanate of Bengal, after defeat and death of Raja Mukund Dev
of Cuttack in 1568 CE. Suleiman Kirrani was the Governor of Bengal appointed
by Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great. Kirrani was invited by Raja Mukund Dev to defeat Raja
Ramchandra Bhanja the Gajapati King of Orissa, his arch enemy. (src wiki)
Relation of Kala Pahada with Samaleswari temple :-

It is said that in 16th century Kala Pahad, the general of the King of Bengal,
attacked Orissa and defeated and killed the last Hindu emperor, Gajapati Mukunda Dev, in the
16th century. He ravaged some of the famous temples of Midnapore, the Khirachora Gopinath
temple of Balasore, the Khiching temple of Mayurbhanj, the temples of Konark Bhubaneswar,
Puri, Jajpur & Cuttack. Then he attacked Sambalpur. Myth says that he had his camp along
with his soldiers here in a ground.It is said that, Goddess Samleswari, after whom Sambalpur
city is named as Sambalpur, came in the form of a woman selling butter milk. This, they
purchased , drank & died. He was buried right there and a 'tomb' was built .
The legend goes that Kala Pahad was defeated due to Maa Samaleswari. Kala Pahad's tomb
and those of his soldiers are located on the outskirts of Sambalpur. (src wiki)

Relation of Kala Pahada with Madal Panji :-

Madala Panji language is Oriya and was recorded in Oriya and Telugu script, preserved in the
Manuscript Library in Madras, which speaks about the story regarding image of Nila Madhaba
or Lord Jagannath of Udra desa, as Orissa 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,Muslim general of Nawab of Bangal( authenticity needs
citation ). (src wiki)
History with konark :-
The most popular theory about the root of the fall of Konark temple rests with the
Kalapahad. According to the history of Orissa, Kalapahad invaded Orissa in 1508. He
destroyed Konark temple, as well as a number of Hindu temples in Orissa. The Madala Panji of
Puri Jagannath temple describes how Kalapahad attacked Orissa in 1568. Including Konark
temple, he broke most of the images in most of the Hindu temples in Orissa. Though it was
impossible to break the Sun temple of Konark, the stone walls of which are of 20 feet (6.1 m)
to 25 feet (7.6 m) thick, he somehow managed to displace theDadhinauti (Arch stone) and
thus made a way for the temple to collapse. He also broke most of the images and other side
temples of Konark. Due to displacement of the Dadhinauti, the temple gradually collapsed and
the roof of the Mukasala was also damaged, due to the stones falling down from the temple
top.
Consequently, Orissa came under Muslim control in 1568. There were attempts to destroy the
Hindu temples. The Pandas of Puri, to save the sanctity of the Puri temple, took away the
Jagannath from the temple and kept the image in a secret place. Similarly, it is said that the
Pandas of Konark took away the presiding deity of the Sun temple and buried it under the sand
for years. Latter on the image was said to have been removed to Puri and kept in the temple of
Indra, in the compound of the Puri Jagannath temple. According to others, the Puja image of
the Konark temple is yet to be discovered. But others hold the view that the Sun image now
kept in the National Museum of Delhi was the presiding deity of the Konark Sun temple.

However, the Sun worship in the Konark temple was ended upon the removal of the image
from the temple. This resulted in the end of pilgrimages to Konark. The port at Konark was
also closed, due to pirate attacks. Konark was as glorious a city for Sun worship as it was for
commercial activities, but after the cessation of these activities, Konark became deserted and
was left to be enveloped by a dense forest over the years.

In 1626, the then king of Khurda (now a district in Orissa), Raja Narasimha Dev, son of
Purusottam Dev, took away the Sun image to Puri along with two other moving deities - Sun
and Moon. Now they are found in a temple in the compound of Puri Jagannath temple.

It is recorded in the Madala Panji of Puri temple that in 1028, Raja Narasimha Dev ordered
measurements to be taken of all the temples at Konark. At the time of measurement, the Sun
temple was in existence up to its Amalak sila, i.e. about 200 feet (61 m) in height. Kalapahad
had only destroyed its Kalas, the crowning stone and the Padma-Dhwaja, the lotus finial and
the upper portions.

As described earlier there was a big block of stone called Navagraha Paata placed in front of
the Mukhasala. The then king of Khurda removed the block. The king had taken away many
sculptured stones from Konark and constructed some portions of Puri temple with them.
During Maratha's time the outer compound wall of the Puri temple was constructed of stones
from Konark temple.

It is reported that among all the temples the Naata Mandir or the Dancing hall of Konark was
in its original form for the longest period, and that it was broken intentionally since it was
considered an unnecessary structure during the Maratha administration.

In the year 1779, a Maratha Sadhu had taken away the Aruna Khumba (Pillar) from Konark
and put it in front of the Lion's Gate of Puri Jagannath temple. Thus by the end of 18th century,
Konark lost all its glories and had been turned to a dense forest. In course of time, the temple
area thus became devoid of people, covered with dense forest, filled with sand, overrun by wild
animals and became the abode of pirates. It is said that even the locals feared to go to Konark
in broad daylight.
All these theories with the detailed explanations are given in Pt. Sada Shiv Rathsharma's book
titled Sun Temple of Konark, which initiated further research works on the Konark Temple
thereby fetching him the Padmashree award and perhaps the first for an Oriya. All further
writings have been a subset of this book and no other theory has been proposed. (src :- wiki)

History with Urgatara :-

The left side of the image is the present Gaja Laxmi Temple which is destroyed by Kala
Pahada, very nearChilika lake was flowing at that time, fisher man were always target a hill
which is named Hatia Pahaad for returning there home, after down from their boat they first
worship Maa Gaja Laxmi. Maa Ugra Tara temple is near about 1 km from this place. Kala
Pahada when enter Orissa to destroy this temple, they thought Laxmi Temple is the real Ugra
Tara Temple, so they destroy completely, Idol is already taken by some local priest. as per
image there is one well found in front of present temple, still now also some evidence as stone
recovering.
There is real no history about when & how Ugra Tara deities is placed. Maa is placed
at Mulijhara Garda, where one water fountain is always flowing. mean time of attack Kala
Pahad they loot Tara Temple too & kill localSamantara king too. after long long year this
place was untouched & plants grown fully.
at Maa cocks sacrifice thing is still continue, story behind of that near Kandha Nayagarh is
there, local king of that place always offer cocks & other bird at Maa, after long
worshiping Puri Gajapati King acknowledge about this place, he send some of priests &
solders from Virabhadrapur Village (near Puri) to serve Maa Ugra Tara. he gave land & home
to stay now this village is named Gopinathpur. this place was fully packed with jungle at that
time. (src :-ugratara.org)

This Minakhi temple was Destroyed by Kala pahar too