The English Company’s conquest of Odisha in 1803, and the dethronement of the Raja of Khurda had greatly reduced the power and prestige of the Paiks.
The Paiks of Odisha were the traditional landed militia (‘foot soldiers’ literally) and enjoyed rent free land tenures for their military service and policing functions on a hereditary basis.
Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar had been the military chief of the forces of the Raja of Khurda.
With active support of Mukunda Deva, the last Raja of Khurda, and other zamindars of the region, Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar led a sundry army of Paikas forcing the East India Company forces to retreat for a time. The rebellion came to be known as the Paika Bidroh (rebellion).
Though Khurda was back under Company control by mid-1817, the Paika rebels resorted to guerilla tactics. The rebellion was brutally repressed by 1818.
The Paik Rebellion succeeded in getting large remissions of arrears, reductions in assessments, suspension of the sale of the estates of defaulters at discretion and a new settlement on fixed tenures.
