Kataka

Kataka, now commonly called Cuttack, stands between the Mahanadi and its Kathajodi distributary in Odisha. Its Barabati Fort became the seat of successive ruling houses. Anangabhima III transferred his capital here in the thirteenth century, and the city subsequently served the Ganga, Gajapati and Bhoi rulers. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, two rings of outlying forts on the riverbanks helped defend Barabati. Mukundadeva added a nine-storey palace within its walls in 1560.

The city passed to the Afghan rulers of Bengal in 1568, the Mughals in 1592 and the Marathas in 1751. These changes preserved its importance as a centre from which Odisha was governed. The East India Company took Cuttack in 1803, bringing another long period of rule from Barabati to an end.