An Art Integrated Project (Under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme)

  Introduction of the contributors (members) This blog is a project by Students of 9th Quebec, Noel School, Akola, Maharashtra(Ayush Gharde, Sachit Ingole & Anay Deshmukh). It was made using HTML, CSS and Javascript. Only the free domain (.blogspot.com) is used to make it visible all over the globe.  Odisha is a state of secrets which were not taught in the schools. Here, we tried to reveal them through this site. We recommend to see all the posts according to the series we have tried to organise to understand this project more deeply. Also click more post  at the end of this page. Also, If you are on any mobile device, We recommend to move to a laptop or desktop to see our real work.   Contributions:- Ayush Gharde - Creating the site and assistance in reference gathering. Sachit Ingole - Assistance in reference gathering  Anay Deshmukh - Reference gathering. (ASA is nothing but Ayush-Sachit-Anay) Thank You

Kalinga War: During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryan Empire extend­ing from Hindukush in the North-west to Mysore in the south faced a challenge from an independent kingdom of Kalinga. But Chandragupta was busy in consolidating his empire, thus could not get time to deal with Kalinga. His son Bindusar also remained busy in suppressing the internal troubles originated by the nobles and chiefs. Kalinga in the meantime established her colonies in Burma, Philippines, and Indian Archipelago and became a strong overseas power. Besides, the elephants, corps of Kalinga was regarded as the best of their type as has been mentioned by Kautilya. Thus Kalinga proved to be a potential enemy power to Magadha. Both Chandragupta and his son Bindusar failed to incorporate Kalinga in their vast Magadhan empire. Ashoka after his coronation decided to invade Kalinga and started organising his military resources as a preparation of war.

 Extent Of The Odisha in the history In some history research, it was found that the extent of the kalinga ( Odisha ) was till the philippines and java. 

Kalinga under the Chedi Dynasty Kharavela:  The history of Kalinga following the decline of Mauryan supremacy is obscure and yet to be known exactly when Kalinga regained her indepen­dence. The Hatigumpha inscription in Udayagiri near Bhubaneswar records, the achievement of a mighty ruler of Kalinga named Kharavela. Who belonged to the Mahameghahahan family of the Chedi class. The Chedis were originally ruling is Madhaydesha or Magadha and it has been suggested that a branch of this royal family of the hoary antiquity came to Kalinga and established it power over Kalinga. There is no information readily available to say as to when did they migrate to Kalinga but from the Hatigumpha inscription it becomes apparent that Kharavela was the third member of the Chedi family of Kalinga. The date of the reign of Kharavela is highly controversial one. Some scholars put this date in the 2nd Century B.C. and some others in the 1st Century B.C. Other group of scholars drags him down to the 1st...

  Gupta Rule in Orissa: The mighty Gupta ruler Samudragupta conquered south Kosala (the upper Mahanadi valley) during his southern campaigns. Along with south Kosala he also conquered the territories of Svamidatta of Kottura, Damana of Erandapalle and Devarastra. All these territories have been identified with the places of Ganjam district and the adjoining Telugu-speaking tract. Samudragupta directed his army in this campaign through a difficult forests clad routes of Mahakosala and Mahakantara which has been identified with the present Kalahandi, Koraput districts of Orissa and Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. It is difficult to say why Samudragupta followed this difficult path instead of marching through the plain and easy coastal route of Balasore, Cuttack and Puri districts. Samudragupta finally reached the coastal strip of Orissa and subjugated the Orissa kings alongwith some southern monarchs with their leader Visnugopa of Kanchi. Allahabad Prasad is very clear in describi...

 Hiuen-Tsang’s Accounts of Orissa: The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (Yuan Chiang or  Xuanzang ) visited Orissa in 639 A.D. He proceeded from Karna-Suvarna, the capital of Gauda in the south­west direction and covering a distance of 140 miles reached WU-Cha or Odra. His accounts clearly say that Orissa or Kalinga was then divided into three separate kingdoms such as Wu-cha (Odra), Kong-yu-To (Kongoda) and Ki-ling-ka (Kalinga). From his accounts it is also clear that Andhra and Kosala were two distinct neighbouring kingdoms. It is further known from his accounts that Midnapore was then a part of Orissa. The coastal regions of Orissa consisting the modern districts of Midnapore (Bengal) Balasore, Cuttack and a part of Puri district remained under the suzerainty of Harsavardhan. Harsavardhan appointed a military Governor from Datta family to administer this country. About the people of Odra country the pilgrim says that they were tall .and yellowish-black in complexion. The present...

  Causes of Decline of Orissa: Rise and fall of ruling dynasties are the logic of history. The fall of the mighty empire of Orissa was not an escape to it. The Hindu kingdom maintained its independence up to 1568 when northern parts of India includ­ing Bengal and Bihar went to the grip of Turkish invaders. Prof. R.D. Banerjee attributes that the long stay of the Vaishnava saint Sri Chaitanya in Orissa is the main cause of the decline of Medieval Orissa. The saint destroyed the structural pattern of the society of Orissa introducing a train of false faith in men. Sri Chatanya alone should not be blamed for this decline because of the fact that Oriyas of the sixteenth century did not accept the teachings of Sri Chaitanya blindly. From the inscription it is clear that the king and the people of Orissa had already accepted the Sahajiya (Easy) form of Vaisnavism of the Gitagovinda prior to the coming of Sri Chaitanya to Orissa. It is thus not proper to say that the teachings of Sri Chai...

  Orissa on the Eve of Muslim Conquest: Govinda Vidyadhar (1542-49 A.D): Govinda Vidyadhar makes his appearance in the history of Orissa in 1511 as a traitor. His treachery compelled Prataprudra to siege of Mandaran where Sultan Hussain Shah had taken shelter. He was a general of Prataprudradeva. He murdered the sons of Prataprudra and ascended the throne between September 1541 and September 1542. Madalapanji tells us that he belonged to the Bhoi dynasty. The Bhois belonged to the writer class later on known as Karans. Ramachandradeva, the Raja of Khurda, the son of Danai Bidyadhar, a Lieutenant of Govinda Vidyadhar has been described in Madalapanji as a Bhoi king belonging to Yaduvamsa of Lord Krishna the hero of the Mahabharata. In Sarala Mahabharat the Bhois has been described as Gopalas. It seems that the Bhoi ruling family of Orissa belonged to the Gopala caste and subsequently after assuming the power they became Karanas. Govinda Vidyadhar does not seem to have been recognise...

Maratha Rule in Orissa   The disintegration of the Mughal empire created a short of anarchical atmosphere in Orissa. There prevailed a state of insecurity and anxiety among the people. The administrators, in charge of Orissa, failed miserably to counteract against the Maratha invasion. The aggressive Marathas used this country as a spring board to get their economic ambition fulfilled by repeated invasions. Mir Habib (Mir Habibullah Khan) went to Raghuji Bhonsle at Nagpur and sought his help for an invasion against Bengal. On his request Raghuji decided to divert his attention against Alivardi Khan and entrusted his Prime Minister Bhaskar Ram popularly known as Bhaskar Pandit for this invasion. Bhaskar Pandit accompanied by Mir Habib entered into Orissa through Barmul pass with a large Maratha army and occupied Barabati fort on 19 April, 1742. From Barabati Bhaskar Pandit moved towards Burdwan via Midnapur. Alivardi at that time was not prepared for the onslaught and escaped. Mir H...

  Orissa on the Eve of British Conquests In 1803, the British East India Company’s troops occupied this country after breaking down the feeble Maratha resistance. The Brahmins and the Maratha officials were conciliated with liberal promises and the eighteen Garhjat tributary mahals were also incorporated within the province of Cuttack which embraced about 23,907 sq. miles and an estimated population of about 1,462,500 people. The easy conquest of the province was followed by difficult task of consolidation of the British hold over Orissa. Maratha misrule and maladministration led to the decentralization of the Governmental responsibility over the growth of a non-productive parasite class on the medieval agrarian economy of Orissa. Towards the end of 18th century resistance movement by the Zamindars and their paiks against the bureaucratic oppression of the Maratha Fauzdars or Bargis resulted in the complete dislocation of the socio-economic condition of the people. Early Brit...

Creation of Orissa Provinces Regional Kingdoms assumed political prominence since 1568. The Bhois of Khurda, the Bhanjas of Ghumsur and Mayurbhanj, and the Chauhans of Sambalpur assumed independent powers. The Mughals and the Marathas tried but failed to bring political unity of disintegrated Orissa. The British East India Company conquered Orissa phase by phase. In the first instance, they conquered the southern part, then they invaded the coastal region and finally they added Sambalpur region in their administration. The political dismemberment of Orissa became an accomplishment which agitated the minds of enlightened Oriyas. They tried their best for the amalgamation of Oriya speaking tracts into one administrative unit and then the formation of a separate province. In 1875 Raja Baikuntha Nath De of Balasore and Bichitrananda Patnaik of Cuttack submitted a lengthy memorial for the unification of the scattered Oriya speaking tracts under single administration. In November 1888, Sir S...

   Growth of Education in Orissa during British Raj During the time of British occupation of Orissa in 1803, there was scarcely a single-native who was properly educated. The establishment of English Medium Schools, Colleges and Universities gave rise to a middle class intelligentsia with the new hope and aspirations in Orissa as elsewhere in India. By the first half of the 19th Century, such a climate was available in only the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras and their neighbouring areas. The western ideas entered into Orissa very slowly. In the month of June, they established the first Oriya school at Cuttack with only 50 students in the first four months. The number of such type of schools increased to 15 by the end of 1823. The total number of students in these schools was 368 including 63 girls. These schools, however, were intended to impart religious instructions to students. In October 1823, the missionaries again established an English charity school at...