History of Odisha
The history of Odisha begins in the Lower Paleolithic era, as Acheulian tools dating to the period have been discovered in various places in the region.
[1] The early history of Odisha can be traced back to writings found in ancient texts like the Mahabharata, Maha Govinda Sutta and some Puranas.
[31] From Kuchai, near Baripada, various Neolithic tools like hoes, chisels, pounders, mace heads, grinding stones and also pieces of pottery.
[37][36] According to political scientist Sudama Misra, the Kalinga janapada originally comprised the area covered by the Puri and Ganjam districts.
[55] The Nashik prashasti inscription of Gautamiputra's mother during the reign of Vasisthiputra Pulumavi, located in the Nasik Caves, states that his orders were obeyed by the circle of all kings and calls him the lord of mount Mahendra among a list of other mountains.
[56][57] The Kushan Empire may have reached Kalinga or parts of it during the first three centuries[58] of the common era as evident from coins found at several places in notably in Jaugada, Sisupalgarh and Gurubai in Manikapatana (Puri) among others.
In c. 313 CE, a princess of Kalinga, Hemamala, is recorded to have fled the kingdom with a tooth of Buddha, a sacred relic, hidden in her hair and presented it to king Sirimeghavanna of Sri Lanka.
[62][63] Samudragupta (reign c. 335 – c. 375 CE) is presumed to have conquered the region, as in his Allahabad inscription, it has been mentioned that, he had conquered Mahêndra of Kôsala, Vyâghraraja of Mahâkantâra, Mantarâja of Kêrala, Mahêndra of Pishtapura, Svâmidatta of Kottûra on the hill, Damana of Êrandapalla, Vishnugôpa of Kâñchi, Nîlarâija of Avamukta, Hastivarman of Vengî, Ugrasêna of Palakka, Kubêra of Dêvarâshtra, Dhanamjaya of Kusthalapura, and others.
[64] In post-Samudragupta period, a new dynasty called Matharas arose in south Kalinga, they ruled from Pishtapura but also issued copper grants from Simhapura.
After conquering present-day Odisha, the Gauda king Shashanka created the Kongoda-mandala province, and appointed Sailodbhava ruler Madhavaraja II as his feudatory in the region.
The Dhenkanal inscription of Tribhuvana-Mahadevi I (c. 846) mentions the tumultuous shape of the Bhauma-Kara kingdom before her father Rajmalla put an end to the Rashtrakuta-Pala domination.
She reunified the kingdom and with her successors the Bhauma-Kara period saw the beginning of the unification of historically distinct regions such as Odra, Toshala, Kongoda and Utkala.
The early Somavamshi kings ruled in the region of the eastern part of Dakshina Kosala, which now forms much of western Odisha.
[71] During his long reign of 34 years, Janmejaya issued a number of copper-plate grants at various places across western and coastal Odisha.
This suggests that Janmejaya consolidated the Somavamshi rule in western Odisha and by his 31st regnal year, he issued three grants from Kataka, which has been identified as Chaudwar near modern Cuttack.
[70] Yayati I (c. 922-955), the son of Janmejaya I, made a large number of grants in the Dakshina Kosala which are recorded on the inscriptions issued at Yayatinagara.
[91] Later in 1920, Odia playwright, Ashwini Kumar Ghose wrote a play called Kala Pahada based on the exploits of Kalapahad and the tragic death of Mukunda Deva.
In the Battle of Tukaroi, which took place in modern-day Balasore, Daud Khan Karrani was defeated and retreated deep into Odisha.
Nasir Khan remained faithful to the Mughal empire for two years but after that he violated the conditions of his treaty by laying siege to the Jagannath Temple of Puri.
Man Singh attacked Nasir Khan and decisively defeated him on 18 April 1592 in a battle near the present day Midnapore town.
Rustam Jung), a Naib Nazim (deputy governor) of Shuja-ud-Din and also his son-in-law, allowed worship in Puri and he is said to have given his daughter to Ramachandra Deva II in marriage.
The British had established a settlement in Hariharpur (modern-day Jagatsinghpur), with the permission of the Mughal administrator, as early as 1633 to trade cotton goods.
[85] In 1765, Lord Clive acquired the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha from titular Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II.
[104] On 17 December 1803, Raghoji II Bhonsle of Nagpur signed the Treaty of Deogaon (also Deogarh) in Odisha with the British East India Company after the Battle of Laswari and gave up the province of Cuttack (which included the coastal Mughalbandi plain, Garhjat the princely states of Western Odisha, Balasore port, and parts of Midnapore district of West Bengal).
[45] The region was subsequently administered by the British as a division until 1912 of the Bengal Presidency with its administrative seat in Cuttack, the princely states remaining under indirect rule.
[112] In 1888, a durbar was held in Cuttack during the visit of Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, where the Utkal Sabha led by Gouri Shankar Roy presented the issue of bringing Odia-speaking territories under one administration.
[127] On 22 July 1947, Biju Patnaik rescued the Indonesian Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir and Vice President Mohammad Hatta from behind Dutch lines and flew them to Singapore in a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, disguised as crew members.
[126] By 1949, the 24 princely states had been integrated and Odisha had 13 districts: Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Ganjam, Koraput, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Balangirpatna, Boudh-Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi.
[144] After the 1967 Assembly polls, Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo became the Chief Minister of a coalition government consisting of the Swatantra Party and the Orissa Jana Congress.
In 2003, a Bajrang Dal activist, Dara Singh, was convicted of leading the gang that murdered Graham Staines and his sons, and was sentenced to life in prison.
