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Odisha- a land sprinkled with mythologies and stories from unknown eras, a land full of divinity and striking monuments, a land made up of a variety of people and languages. Odisha has never failed to amaze people with its rich culture and heritage, love of people, floating all over the air. Hold on to your seats as we proceed to Odisha, where mystifying secrets will be unfolded and untold stories will be narrated!
From the world of Odisha
Known as the ‘Land of Temples’, Odisha found its mention for the very first time in epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. Though there are a lot of other sources like Puranas, Jain, Buddhist and Ganga literature, Arthasastra of Kautilya, Smritis, foreign accounts, and inscriptions.
According to the epic of Mahabharata, Odisha was initially referred to as Kalinga and Odra, with mentions of Goddess Viraja and river Vaitarani. The legend starts with Sage Lomasa advising the Pandavas to take a dip in the holy river to get rid of their sins. Ramayana too makes some mentions about Kalinganagara, situated to the west of River Gomati and Gandhamardana and Utkala, while associating it with Mekala and Dasarna countries. Apart from mentions in these famous epics of India, Odisha also finds itself in various Puranas, wherein there are mentions of many legendary kings of Odisha.
Today, Odisha flaunts its rich culture and heritage in all possible ways with pride. Eighth largest state by area and eleventh largest by population, Odisha neighbours the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The ancient name of Odisha called Utkala finds its mention in our national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. Odia too is considered to be one of the classical languages of India, flaunting its rich history and attachment to some of the ancient languages of India.
The name Odisha too has a long history behind its origin. Odisha has been derived from the ancient Prakrit words called Odda Visaya, Udra Bibhasha, and Odra Bibhasha. These words were first seen in the Tirumalai inscription, dating back to 1025, of Rajendra Chola I, also known by the name of Rajendra The Great. The famous Odia writer, Sarala Das, who translated Mahabharata into the Odia language in the 15th century, renamed Odra Rashtra as Odisha. Raja Kapilendra Deva of Gajapati Kingdom too installed inscriptions on the walls of Puri temple, calling the state Odisha or Odisha Rajya.
The traces of Odisha dates back to the Lower Paleolithic era. Archaeological shreds of evidence like Acheulian tools have been found, belonging to this period, implying that humans made Odisha their home at some point of time in history. Kalinga and Sabar people have been mentioned in various ancient texts like Mahabharata, Vayu Purana, and Mahagovinda Suttanta. According to Baudhayana, Kalinga is said to have been influenced more by tribal traditions rather than Vedic traditions.
In 261 BCE, when Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty conquered Kalinga, he was more disappointed than satisfied with his victory. In the bloody Kalinga War, around 10,000 people were killed and 15,000 were captured. All these records were given by Ashoka himself in his edicts. Depressed by the bloodshed and sufferings of the war, Ashoka turned into a pacifist and converted his religion to Buddhism.
In 150 BCE, Emperor Kharvela took over the majority of areas of the sub-continent. Described as the contemporary of Demetrius I of Bactria, he was a Jain ruler and thus, built a monastery on the top of Udayagiri Hill. Later on, the powers went into the hands of other powerful personalities like Samudragupta and Shashanka.
When the Somavamsi dynasty came into power, they began integrating the bits and pieces into one single kingdom. The integration process took place in c. 1025 CE under the rule of Yayati II. He also built the Lingaraj Temple. They were again succeeded by the Eastern Ganga Dynasty, which made the majority of the developments. Out of all the rulers, Anantavarman Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty began the reconstruction work of Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri, and his successor, Narasimhadeva I constructed the Konark temple.
After the coming of the Gajapati Kingdom, Odisha saw success blooming at another height. The Gajapati rulers were quite powerful and were successful in resisting the Mughal forces. However, Odisha was finally conquered by the Sultanate of Bengal in 1568. Mukunda Deva, who was the last independent king of Kalinga fought till his last breath to keep Odisha free from the clutches of a foreign ruler, but he was killed by the rebel Ramachandra Bhanja in a war. Yet again, Ramachandra too was killed by Bayazid Khan Karrani and the rule of Karranis was finally established. However, the fight for conquering Odisha was not over yet as Man Singh I, the then Governor of Bengal initiated a war against Karranis to capture Odisha. Both of them finally agreed upon a treaty not to attack each other, but Man Singh’s army came back and attacked Puri. Man Singh again returned in 1952 to pacify the entire situation.
When the firangis arrived in India, they started occupying the Northern Circars that comprised the southern coast of Odisha, through the Carnatic War and incorporated the region into the Madras Presidency. Later on, in the 19th century, the Britishers fought against the Maratha forces and acquired the Puri-Cuttack region of Odisha and included it under the wing of the Bengal Presidency.
This was not all as Odisha was yet to see its freedom, but not before crossing the hurdles of disasters. In 1866, Odisha saw the biggest famine of all times which led to the death of more than 1 million people. Following this disaster, many large-scale irrigation projects were taken up. People came up to form the Utkal Sammilani organisation, demanding the unification of Odia-speaking regions into one state. Though in 1912, the Bihar and Odisha province was joined, in 1936, they were again separated into two different states.
Sir John Austen Hubback became the first governor and after India’s independence in 1947, 27 princely states came forward to sign the agreement of getting included under one single state called Odisha.
Don’t yet get up from your seats as this is just the beginning of your journey to a land where divinity welcomes you with open arms. Stay tuned to know more about the various names of Odisha and some amazing mythologies attached to them.
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