Throughout the ages the temple of Lord Jagannath, Puri had been invaded and plundered for eighteen times in the annals of history. The temple was a lucrative place of wealth for invaders to plunder. To non-Hindu invaders the temple was a good place to display Zihad
(Religious War). To loot its property and profane idols were motives behind every invasion. Owing to series of inroads on the temple of Lord
Jagannath the triad were exiled at various regions of Orissa.

The invasion of Raktavahu on the temple of Lord Jagannath is considered as the first one as per the record of the ‘Madalapanji’, the temple chronicle. Andrew Stirling has reproduced the description of Raktavahu’s invasion of the ‘Madalapanji’ in his writing in 1822. The story of Raktavahu’s invasion recorded in the ‘Madalapanji’ indicates that he had defeated the King Subhanadeva of Orissa