[1] The Paikas were peasant Militia of the Gajapati rulers of Odisha who offered military services to the kings while taking up cultivation during peacetime.

These were the Paharis, the bearers of shields and the khanda sword, the Banuas who led distant expeditions and used matchlocks and the Dhenkiyas - archers who also performed different duties in Odisha armies.

[3] With the conquest of Odisha by the East India Company in 1803 and the dethronement of the Raja(king) of Khurda, the power and prestige of the Paikas began to decline.

The East India Company also abolished the system of cowrie currency that had existed in Odisha prior to its conquest and required that all taxes now be paid in silver.

While the rebellion started from Banapur and Khurda, it quickly spread to other parts of Odisha such as Puri, Pipili and Cuttack and to several remote villages, including Kanika, Kujang and Pattamundai.

The Rajas of Kanika, Kujang, Nayagarh and Ghumusur aided Jagabandhu and Dalabehera Mirhaidar Alli of Jadupur was an important Muslim rebel.

[4][9] The uprising spread rapidly across Odisha, and there were several encounters between Company troops and Paik forces, including at Cuttack, where the latter were quickly defeated.

By May 1817, the East India Company had managed to reestablish their authority over the entire province, but it proved to be a significant period of time before tranquility finally returned to the region.

The Company set about reorienting their administration under the newly appointed Commissioner of Cuttack, Robert Ker, to ensure such a rebellion would not repeat itself.

These attempts remained halfhearted at best, with the Company authorities viewing Odisha largely as a convenient land-based link between their presidencies of Madras and Bengal.

[14] In Winter Session of Parliament of 2021, Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy through a written reply to a question by BJD MP Prashanta Nanda in the Rajya Sabha, said the Paika rebellion cannot be called the First War of Independence.

However the minister declared that it would now be included in the curriculum of Class VIII history textbook of NCERT, as it was among the first popular uprisings against the British in India, and lasted for a long time from 1817 to 1825.