Orissa

About Orissa

The name Orissa is derived from Sanskrit word "Odra Vishaya" or "Odra Desa". The ancient province of "Odra desa" or "Or-desa" was limited to the valley of the Mahanadi and to the lower course of the Subarnarekha River. It comprised the whole of the present districts of Cuttack and Sambalpur and a portion of Midnapore. It was bounded on the West by Gondwana, on the North by the wild hill states of Jashpur and Singhbhum, on the East by the sea and on the South by Ganjam.

The Orissa state, which was once a land of Kings and Kingdoms, now boasts of being rich source of natural resources. Its people, temple architecture, classical dance, religions, fairs and festivals, unique handlooms and handicrafts, green woodlands, rock caves, charming blue hills have always attracted historians, tourists and travellers from all over the world. Its rich history, revolutionary freedom movement, fascinatingly sculptured temples and monuments, tribal life characterized by dance, music, rituals, hunting, gaiety and wild ways have become important topics of research for great historians and scholars.

Orissa History: In a Nutshell

The Territory of Orissa formed a part of the ancient Kalinga of Mahabharata fame. Ashoka, the Mauryan King of Magadh, invaded Kalinga in 261 BC and this event has gone down in history as the Great Kalinga war. Even with lot of resistance from the people of Kalinga and King Priyadarshan, Ashoka won the battle and noted down the descriptions of this Great War in his thirteenth Rock Edict. This bloodshed converted Ashoka’s heart and he took up Buddhism. This became the last war of his life.

Kalinga came into prominence with Kharavela, a great conqueror and patron of Jainism, in the second half of the 1st century B.C. The other great rulers belonged to the Keshari dynasty and the Eastern Ganga dynasty. Flourishing maritime trade with South-East Asian countries i.e. Java, Bornio had brought in a golden era of affluence and opulence and the kingdom spanned from Ganga to Godavari. The Kalinga School of architecture flourished from the 7th to 13th century A.D. The Mukteswar Temple, the Sun Temple at Konark, the Lingaraj Temple and the Jagannath Temple of Puri are known all over the world for their architecture.

There were a number of heroes who were born in Kalinga before and during the British rule like Buxi Jagabandhu, Samudra Gupta and Harsha Siladitya. Budhism reached new heights with Prajna and Hieuen-Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim came to the University of Puspagiri and Buddhist complex at Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri-Udayagiri can now be seen speaking about the bygone era. Prophets like Adi Sankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Sri Chaitanya made Puri the religious center. Jayadev composed his world famous lilting treatise "Gita Govinda". The Bhakti Cult came to Orissa in 16th century and Pancha Sakha i.e. Sri Jagannath Das, Sri Achyutananda Das, Sri Balaram Das, Ananta & Yasobanta were spiritual stalwarts and literary luminaries of the time. Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja , Kabi Surya Baladev Ratha, Radhanath Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Pandit Gopabandhu Dash, Pandit Nilakantha Das, Godabaris Mishra, Kalandi Charan Panigrahi, Sachidananda Routray & many others have contributed substantially to the language & literature of Orissa. Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Sri Ram Chandra Bhnjadeo, Sri Biswanath Das, Sri Nabakrushna Chowdhury, Dr. Harekrishna Mahatab, Sri Bijayananda Patnaik were the creators of modern Orissa.

Origin of the name of the State

The name of Orissa is derived from the Sanskrit Odra Vishaya or "Odra Desa". Greek writers like Pliny and Ptolemy described the Odra people as Oretes. The Greek Oretes is probably the Sanskrit Odra and the Mount Maleus has been identified with Malayagiri near Pala Lahara. The ancient province of "Odra desa" or "Or-desa" was limited to the valley of the Mahanadi and to the lower course of the Subarnarekha River. It comprised the whole of the present districts of Cuttack and Sambalpur and a portion of Midnapore. It was bounded on the West by Gondwana, on the North by the wild hill states of Jashpur and Singhbhum, on the East by the sea and on the South by Ganjam.

History of the State as an Administrative Unit and changes in its Component Parts

The Gajapati Kings of Orissa ruled over a kingdom in the 15th century AD but the Oriya-speaking central region began a downfall with Vijaynagar coming to prominence in 16th century and Ganjam was conquered. In the early 17th century, the districts north to the river Subarnarekha were annexed to the Bengal Subah of the Mughal Empire and the Marathas. The East India Company had no intention of unifying the Oriya-speaking territories which it had conquered piece by piece. The Oriyas were administered by five separate political authorities, i.e. Bengal and its Orissa Division, Chota Nagpur, the Central Provinces, Madras and the Garhjat Mahals of feudatory states of Orissa.

The formation of the linguistic province of Orissa in 1936 may be regarded as one of the landmarks in the history of the evolution of the Indian Union and after the ’Na Anka’ famine of 1866. Raja Baikunthanath Dey of Baleshwar and Bichitrananda Das and the ’Ganjam Utkal Hitabadini Sabha’ with the Raja of Kalinga, Venkates Beu greatly advocated the amalgamation of united Orissa. On the 28th November, 1874, there was a vast congregation of all the Rajas, Zamindars, met and finally in July 1877 ’Utkal Sabha’ was formed under the leadership of Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das. Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das, Biswanath Kar, Nanda Kishore Bal and Gopal Chandra Praharaj met the eminent British officers and submitted memorandums to unite Orissa. The Utkal Union Conference at Cuttack on the 30th December, 1903 under the leadership of Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das played the most significant role for the amalgamation of the Oriya-speaking areas. Besides the Utkal Union Conference, the Oriya Peoples’ Association, the Balasore National Conference, the Udit Club of Singhbhum, the Utkal Milan Samaja and the Utkal Hitaisini Samaja of Ganjam also played leading roles for the union of the Oriya-speaking areas. A counter movement called the Ganjam Defence League was organized by the Telugus in Ganjam to oppose the Oriya movement.

In 1917 the Montagu-Chelmsford Commission visited India on the subject of self-Government and its report recognized the need for an administrative union of the Oriya-speaking people and recommended for a sub-province for the Oriyas. On the 20th February, 1920 Satchidananda Sinha and A.B. Latthe, supported by Brajasundar Das, moved a resolution in the imperial Council for the amalgamation of the Oriya-speaking tracts. On the 25th November, 1921, Viswanath Kar and Sasibhusan Rath moved resolutions of separate Orissa province. C.L. Philip and A.C. Duff Commission made positive remarks about Orissa. The report of the Simon Commission, under the Chairmanship of the Sir John Simon, led to the summoning of the Round Table Conference. Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Dev, the Maharaja of Paralakhemundi represented Orissa in the Conference. The Orissa Boundary Commission was appointed with D’Donnell as the Chairman. The Committee examined the claims of the Oriyas and finally recommended for inclusion of the plains in Orissa and the agency areas excluding Paralakhemundi, in the Ganjam district; and Khariar and Padmapur, excluding Phuljhar in the Central Provinces.

The "white paper" was published on the 17th March, 1933, containing the draft proposals for the reforms in the Indian Constitution. It proposed to create two new provinces, viz., Sind and Orissa. The Maharaja of Paralakhemundi, authorized Utkal Union Conference Committee, by his powerful arguments, convinced the Parliamentary Committee for the transfer of Jaypur (Jeypore) agency and a portion of Paralakhemundi to Orissa. The union also recommended that a portion of the Jaypur estate which the O’Donnell Committee proposed to transfer to Orissa, the Paralakhemundi and Jalantar Maliahs and a small portion of the Paralakhemundi estate including Paralakhemundi town would also be added to the Orissa Province. But no step was taken for the transfer of Oriya-speaking areas from Bengal and Bihar. By this recommendation the total area was raised from 55,799 to 84,677 sq. km. (21,545 to 32,695 sq. miles). The Government of India Bill 1935 was passed by the Parliament and the new province of Orissa as an administrative unit came into being on the 1st April, 1936 with the following areas as per the Government of India (Constitution of Orissa ) Order,1936.

Areas from Madras / the Ganjam Agency Tracts

Non-agency portion of Ganjam district such as the Talukas of Ghumusur, Chatrapur, Aska, Sorada, Kodala and a portion of the Talukas of Ichhapur and Brahmapur as laid to the north and west of the line described in Part-II of the Schedule. So much of the Paralakhemundi estate as laid to the north and east of the said line. From Vizagapatnam district to the Jaypur estate and so much of Patangi Taluka as was not included in that estate.

Areas from Central Provinces / The Kharial Zamindari in Raipur district The Padmapur tract consisting of the 54 villages of the Chandrapur-Padmapur estate, seven villages, namely Kuakunda, Badima, Soda, Brahmapur, Palosoda, Jagni and Thakurpali were included.

During the pre-independence days, Orissa has suffered a lot and it was not possible to put together all the Oriya-speaking areas under a single administration. There were only six districts, viz., Cuttack, Puri, Baleshwar, Sambalpur, Ganjam and Koraput. The old district of Angul was split up into two statutory districts, viz. Anugul and the Khondmals under the Angul Laws Regulations, 1936 and the Khondamals Laws Regulations, 1936 respectively. But for administrative purposes Angul was tagged to Cuttack district and Khondamals to Ganjam district. The Collectors of Cuttack and Ganjam became respectively the ex-officio Deputy Commissioners of those two areas. The rest of the province constituted 26 princely states, governed by the Rajas and Maharajas who had the last word of law within the jurisdiction of their respective princely states. They were loosely knit and administered under Political Agent of the British Government who was mostly satisfied after the collection of a predetermined part of the total revenue collection known as tribute or Nazarana from the rulers of those states. The process continued till the country got independence in 1947.

Source: IT Department, Government of Orissa