What’s With The Name?

The ‘Land of Temples’ has had a long history with numerous rulers changing its horizon since time immemorial. Along with the landscape and economical condition, the names of the kingdom too kept on changing with time. From Odivissa to Odisha, the journey of names was never easier.

A land that screams of names buried underneath its elaborate history; Image Source: Behance

The geographical name of Odisha passed through many different stages. With changing cultures and traditions, the state is shrouded with tales of mystery. During ancient times, Odisha was known by the name of Kalinga and Utkala. Odra, the homeland of a tribe, was known as Oretes or Odia by the Greeks and this very nomenclature became the basis of naming the state in later years. The majority of the states in India have been named after the tribes living in that particular state. According to a legend from Bhagavata Purana, the sons of Ila-Sudayumna, Dirghatamas, and Sudesna have named their six sons Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Pundra, Sumha, and Odra. There are some speculations that the sixth son, Odra ruled over Odisha, and thus, the country was named Odra.

Yet again, Medhatithi, the commentator of Manu, described that the Odras was a tribal group that flourished in different parts of the state and Odisha owes its nomenclature and origin from this very tribe. There are some other speculations that there was an agricultural group called ‘Ods’ that lived in and around Khurdha and Odisha has been named after this very tribe.

While the name Odra is pretty much old, the evolution of the name of the state started with Odivissa. This name was used in some popular Buddhist texts written by Taranatha. Taranatha was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. Being a prolific writer and renowned scholar, Taranatha made sure to properly document the growth of Buddhism in India, wherein he mentioned Odivissa. Documents like Tabaqat-i Nasiri and Tarikh-i-Firuz, which elaborate the history of Islam, used the name Jajnagar, during the 13th and 14th centuries. During the 10th century, the Arab geographers named Odish Uranshin.

The Ashoka-era brought in yet another name called Tosali. Tosali, also known as Tosala or Toshali, was a sub-division of ancient Odisha. The capital of Tosali was known to have its capital as Dhauli. Apart from Tosali, two other parts of it including Uttara Tosali and Dakshina Tosali, which were the north and south kingdoms of the Mahanadi River, have found mentions in the elaborate name history of Odisha.

The journey of changing names didn’t come to a halt as Odisha was next named as Chedirashtra, which was referred to as the kingdom of Kharvela and the kingdom was named after his dynasty, Chedi. The next name of Odisha was Trikalinga, which meant “three Kalingas”. These “three Kalingas” included Kalinga, South Kosala, and Kangoda. This name has been found inscribed on several copper plates of Sonepur. The name Kongoda comes from a special kind of copper plate usually found in the Ganjam district. South Kosala has been derived from the combination of Chhattisgarh and western Odisha. According to the popular epic, Ramayana, Ram’s sons Lava and Kusha ruled over Uttara Kosala and Dakshina Kosala, respectively.

Kalahandi, a popular district of Odisha, where archaeological shreds of evidence of early human beings were found, too has an inscription that dates back to c. 13th century. This inscription calls Odisha by the name of Kamala Mandala, meaning ‘lotus region’. Some Buddhist texts mention the name Oddiyana, which may or may not have been referred to as Odisha.

The next name Odra is pretty much popular as it is related to a tribe called Odras, who lived in and around Utkala, Mekala, Kalinga, and Andhra. According to Manu, the Odra tribe belonged to Pallavas, Kiratas, Chinas, and Khasas. Yet another book on ‘Natural History', written by Pliny, suggests that a tribe named Oretes lived on Mount Meleus. Upon its translation, one could see that the Oretes were being referred to as the Odras and Mount Meleus is the Greek name of Malayagiri which is now situated in the Angul district of Odisha. Further, there are some speculations that Mount Meleus is associated with certain other tribal groups like Monedes and Sharis and these tribes are further associated with Munda and Savara. The Mundas and Savaras are now living in the hilly areas of Odisha, which means that this association seems plausible.

Some people called Odisha Udra or Udra-Desha, which refers to a tribe called Udra. Udra is also referred to as a region around Odisha. Further, the name Mahakantara has been found from the Gupta-era inscriptions and it means ‘great forest’. This has been referred to as the modern-day regions of Kalahandi and Jeypore. The famous epic of Mahabharata also makes some mentions about Kantara which may or may not refer to Odisha.

Two of the most famous names of Odisha are Utkala and Kalinga. The name Utkala was first mentioned in the epic, Mahabharata, wherein Karna was said to have conquered the kingdom of Utkala among many others. However, other texts like Raghuvamsa and Brahma Purana, Utkala and Odisha were separate kingdoms. There are many speculations regarding the name Utkala. Some say that it refers to the uttara or northern part of Kalinga, yet others say that Utkala-Desha means ‘the land of finest art’ or utkarsha kala.

According to the observations of the famous traveller, Hiuen-Tsang, the ‘Five Indias’ did not include the southern kingdoms of the Vindhyas as King Harshavardhana could not spread his empire. Instead, the ‘Five Indias’ included Sarasvata, Kanyakubja, Utkala, Mithila, and Gauda, and Utkala was one of the Pancha Gaudas of Hiuen-Tsang.

Yet another famous legend from Mahabharata tells a story that explains why Odisha was named Kalinga at one point in history. Long long ago, there lived a king named Bali. Though his kingdom was quite prosperous and he was living a happy life with his wife, Queen Sudesna, the couple was childless. In the want of having a child, King Bali prayed to Sage Dirghatamas. The sage blessed the couple with five sons, whom they named Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Sumha, and Pundra. Growing up, all the five sons founded kingdoms after their names. And Kalinga too founded the Kingdom of Kalinga and the Northern Circars. The mentions of Kalinga as Calinga have been found in the texts written by Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder, and Claudius Aelianus.

It was between the 11th and 16th centuries that the name Kalinga was scraped off. The old tribal name Odra again came into being, and it was gradually transformed into Uddisha or Udisa, which became Orissa in the later years. Finally, in the 21st century, the name Odisha came into being and the language of the region came to be known as Odia.