IAR Journal of Humanities and Social Science ISSN Print : 2708-6259 | ISSN Online : 2708-6267 Frequency: Bi-Monthly Language: Multilingual Origin: KENYA Website : https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJHSS Review Article

Odia Identity, Language and Regionalism: A Historical Perspective Article History Abstract: The had a rich heritage in sphere of culture, religion, politics, and economy. They could maintain the same till they came contact with outsiders. However the Received: 18.12.2020 decay in all aspects started during the British Rule. The main aim of the paper is to Revision: 03.01.2021 understand the historical development of particularly in the colonial period Accepted: 29.01.2021 which in the later time formed the separate state basing on language. The Odia who could realize at the beginning of the 20th century proved their mettle in forming the Published: 15.02.2021 Odisha province in 1936 and amalgamating Garhjat States in 1948 and 1950. Equally there Author Details are huge literature in defending the Odia language and culture by Odia and non-Odia writers Laxmipriya Palai and activists of the century. Similarly, from the beginning of the 20th century and with the growth of Odia nationalism, the Odias had to struggle for formation of Odisha with the Authors Affiliations amalgamation of Odia speaking tracts from other province and play active role in freedom P.G. Dept. of History, University, movement. Berhampur-760007, Odisha,

Keywords: Odia, language, identity, regionalism, amalgamation, movement, culture. Corresponding Author* Laxmipriya Palai How to Cite the Article: INTRODUCTION Laxmipriya Palai (2021); Odia Identity, Language By now, we have enough literature on how there was a systematic and Regionalism: A Historical Perspective . .IAR J effort to obliterate , language and culture in the 19th century. Huma Soc Sci; 2021; 2(1): 72-76. Equally there are huge literature in defending the Odia language and Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access article culture by Odia and non-Odia writers and activists of the century. distributed under the terms of the Creative th Commons Attribution license which permits Similarly, from the beginning of the 20 century and with the growth of unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction Odia nationalism, the odias had to struggle for formation of Odisha with in any medium for non commercial use the amalgamation of Odia speaking tracts from other province and play (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the active role in freedom movement. In recent times there are many writings original author and source are credited. on both the aspects. Odia’s have kept their identity intact in the past. This DOI:10.47310/jiarjhss.v02i01.011 we try to justify in the following pages. Secondly, effort is made to find out the reasons why our identity is again at stake.

The paper is followed the in defied and historical method. I have brings the various surrounding the Odia. Such as Bengali, and Telugu, tried to synthesize the Odia identity in derail period.

It is very difficult to find out the language identity in the country like India. Rise as one of the prominent languages formed the language based state; the main aim of the paper is to understand the historical development of Odia language particularly in the colonial period which in the later time formed the separate state basing on language.

19th Century Language Crisis and Odia Identity There are enough arguments in favor and against by the India and the Britishers on the question of existence of Odia as a separate language and its use or not in 19th century. Followings are few examples who wrote against it.

1. In 1848 the Collector of recommended to the Commissioner for the substitute of Odiya by Bengali in . He writes, ‘The Ooriah of this district, whatever it may originally have been, is now but a dialect of Bengalee, from which it differs chiefly in pronunciations and in its written character. I do not know how far such a suggestion may be considered to be with in my province, but I would submit as a measure of policy, it is desirable that the Ooriah should cease to exist as a separate Language within the British territories’1. 2. In 1853, Herry Ricketts, member of the Board of Revenue advocated to introduce Hindustani in courts and schools of Odisha in place of Odia2. 3. In 1869 Uma Charan Haldar, a Bengali Deputy Inspector of Schools suggested that Odia language be written in Bengali script3. 4. In December 1868 Rajendra Lal Mitra, a prominent scholar declared in a meeting at the Cuttack Debating Club that it was impossible on the part of Odias to maintain Odia as separate language since a very few among them were literate. He said Orias could not publish a single book in a year but in five hundred books were published every year4. He advocated introducing Begnali in Odisha in place of Odia. 5. In 1868 another Bengalee Teacher of High School, Kantilal Bhattacharya published a booklet entitled, ‘Odiya, Not an Independent Language’, wherein advocated that Odiya was a dialect of Bengali5. He was supported by Rajendralal Mitra who said, ‘the Oriya, Indian vernacular, is most closely and intimately connected with the Bengali’6.

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6. Rajkishor Mukhopadyaya, a lecturer in Law of the Cuttack College argued in favor of the in place of Odiya7. 7. A group of Bengali launched a signature campaign of the illiterate Orias on a printed form in favor of the Bengali language8. They organized meeting to convene Odias at places like Jajpur9. 8. ‘Utkal Hitaisini, edited by Kalipada Bandopadhyaya, Cuttack Society and the Cuttack Debating Club championed the cause of Bengali10.

Language Agitation As a backdrop to the language agitation by Odiys, the Company’s government and their authorities tried time to time place Odia as major Indian language. In among a host of officers, the name of H.T Colebrooke, Walter Hamition, A. Stierling, J.Long, W.W. Hunter and John Beams are important. The Christian missionaries admitted that Odia was a distinct language and they translated many English book in Odia11. The Company’s government had issued orders to use Odia as official language as early as 180512. The Deputy Collector who did not know and read Odia as official were insisted upon to pass an examination in Odia by 183813. A circular 1839 was made to translate all the judicial records in the Cuttack Court from persi, and Bengali to Odia14.

In 1841, A.J.M Mills the Commissioner of Odisha wrote, ‘I submit for the Boards consideration the accompanying original letter from the judge of the province and the collector and Magistrates of the three districts. All are opposed to the change and I fully concur 9in the opinion15. F. Gouldsbury wrote that such a measure (change from Odia to Bengali) would allow the natives of Bengal to supplant the natives of the province in the public offices16.

In 1848 when the collector of Cuttack recommended to the Commissioner stating, ‘it is desirable that the Ooriah should cease to exist as a separate language with in the British territory’17 the Commissioner, F. Goldsbury did not agree with the suggestion. Again when Henry Rickatts intended to introduce Hindustani, Goldsbury did not agree and furnished strong argument in favour of Odia18. Emergence of Middle Class Reaction in Odisha

The language conflict took a serious turn through the newspapers, periodicals. The Utkal Dipika, the Bahika, Ullhasinisabha upheld the cause of Odia language and Utkal Hitaisini, Cuttack Society and Cuttack Debating Club championed the cause of Bengali. Rajendaralal’s remark shocked the Odia middle class who made severe criticism to the book of Kanti Chandra. The false hope of abolishing Odia as language was countered by the middle class who could not remain as a silent spectator. There were many Bengalies in Orissa who supported the movements launched by Odia.

The establishment of colonial rule developed a spirit of free enquiry among the middle class. They accepted the western mode of humanism, egalitarianism and secularism. This advocated people to follow truth which could make them brave and provide incentive to work the development19. This advocacy later becomes a plea for the revival of pure Dharma to check social evils and corruption in society20. In order to stimulate a feeling of nationalism this middle class reminded about mythical past of Odisha21. painted the past and emphasized the need for spread of western education. Due to their initiative was established22. Radhanath Ray, and Nanda Kishor Bala supported the traditional system of education, The first generation of writers like Jagamohan Lala, Ramshankar Ray, Ballav Das inspired , Radhanath Ray and Madhusudan Rao. By the last quarter of nineteenth century, a number of young writers in prose and poetry revitalized the Odia literature23. The middle class had also played role against social evil like child marriage, dowry system, bonded labor, casteism24. They founded different cultural, social and political association. established Utkal Sabha in 186025

The second challenge which Odias faced with the problem of scattered placed under several administrative jurisdictions since the British conquest. They remained tagged to Bengal, Bihar, Central Province and Madras. We have already pointed out in early pages that the British acknowledged the distinct identity of the Odias. But the British authority failed to consider the reconstitution of an Odisha for Odias. So, the Odias to redress their grievances i.e. formation of Odisha state, drew out a long strategy for the movement. This was carried out side by side with the National Movement.

The Odia Movement preceded step by step; from group meeting in towns and mass meetings in dismembered areas; through petitions, memoranda, and resolutions in legislative councils and addresses to the Government. The press in Odisha played a distinguished role in creating and mobilizing public opinion. The Odia movement did not resort to violence as a method of agitation. The entire movement was directed to bring the British to reason through the pressure of opinion however long the process could be. The first phase of the Odia movement came to an end with the formation of Odisha province on 1 April 1936.

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But the problem of the territorial amalgamation of the Odia speaking areas (Garhjats) cropped during independence. The Odia movement entered into second phase and continued till all these areas amalgamated after the independence.

Formation of Odisha province basing on language in 1936 was a guiding force for other provinces in post independent India and the amalgamation of princely states in Odisha provinces ended the Odia movement. This was a clear identification of political will of the Odias.

We are proud as Odia only when we go through the socio-cultural and political history of the land. This we do not find in contemporary Odisha. How this change has taken place?

To identify some of our past glory, one finds the Assamese imitation of ‘Namghar’ to our ‘Bhagabat Tungi’ or role of Jagnnath Das’s ‘Bhagbad’ is moulding the Oriya culture and its influence to Bengal who could find a ‘Bhagbat’ by Sanatan Chakrabarty after one hundred fifty eight years26.

Bijaya Majumdar, Professor of Shantiniketan writes, ‘I cannot too highly speak of Das has done to rise his country men to a higher level of moral existence. No poet of old times enjoys so much popularity as poet Jagannath Das does. When the people learnt that ‘Bhagabat’ which is the most sacred of all sacred books ws with in their easy reach, they took to the practice of vernacular with uncommon zeal and energy. This is why the art of reading and writing was known and praised more extensively in Odisha than Bengal. Long age Bhubev Mukhapadhyaya as Inspector of Schools duly observed and reported the matter in his public report.

So also, Saral Das of this soul could become ‘Bedavyasa’ by his creation of Mahabharat. was written by Balaram which earlier than Tulsidas. Are we not proud that this land has produced ‘Git Govind’ by Jayadev or ‘Sidhanta Darpan’ by Pathani Samant? Whether it was literary genious like Upendra Bhanj or literature like Fakir Mohan Senapati have enriched the literary history of his country.

With the defeat of Mukund Dev in 1568 till 1947, the foreign rule under Afghan, Mughal Maratha and the English made Orissa weakened in all our walks of life. Above all the British rule in Odisha divided us physically in the name of administration. The Bengal Zamindar and the bureaucracy made the Odiya zamindars landless. The British salt monopoly made the Odiya merchants orphan. The Bristish agrarian policy had weakened the agricultural classes. There was the decadence of small industries, particularly the weaving, community suffered a lot. The irony was in the name of self rule, the thievery in Gadjats exploited extremely and the people of Gadjat crippled economically.

With this background when we look our identity, the first thing that comes to out mind is the formation of Odisha State. After a prolonged struggle with appeal and confrontation, on 1st April 1936, Odisha state was formed with the districts of Cuttack, , Balasore, , and . This was formed along with Sindh province under the colonial government. To shorten the regional imbalance and backwardness, the British financial support was much higher to Sindh, than to Odisha. This attitude of colonial authority ended in 1947 when we got our independence. But what happened to those states like Haryana, Andhrda Pradesh, Karnatka and Tamil Nadu which were formed in Independent India?

In comparing Odisha, those states have got so many success stories. But we have KBK zone, which has got the highest poverty people in whole of Asia. in compared with Ethiopia. People here eat what they should not and forced to sale their children. It is better not to discuss about the health and education facilities.

With such scenario our identity is known only through temples of jagannath, Lingaraj or or Sambalpur Saree or Pattas of Berhampur. One can be identified only when you are recognized. Not a single person is so far nominated to Rajya Sabha from Odisha. We have so many Odiyas in but the State Government has declared Bengali as second language. Why it happens? The simple answer is that we do not have any protest instinct.

We have knowledgeable persons but we have limited vision and mental horizon. Every each one of us should ask one’s accountability for this plight. We are proud of our past glory but what would be our future generation think of us?

If we ask our brothers and sisters to share their mind and to place their thought, following are some feedback27. 1. Lack of vision, foresightedness, inspiration of leaders, effective political leadership, popular protest, satisfaction with minimum are some of the major setbacks for the Growth of state. 2. Let us not find fault and just probe the past, but we should rise up to meet the Challenge because we have resources as well as natural resources. 3. Weak leadership, egocentric bureaucracy, mass illiteracy is responsible for present state of affair. We do not have effective planning neither for agriculture sector nor for industrial.

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4. To meet any target in any field, one should have proper human resource planning. This we lack in the state. 5. Nationalism should grow with every individual. Love for one’s own language, culture and state would strengthen nation. 6. Our identity as Odia can be realized only when we place our history, culture, polity of past, present and future in a single thread. 7. In identifying our past, we should be proud about our culture and history. But at the same time commitment and involvement will make Odias particularly youths our prestige high. 8. The fruit of independent nation and Odisha as a separate state could not bear any relevance. One would cry when one thinks about it. Many such views are lamented and most of the observations are frustrating. Very few have little hope reviving our past glory.

Odia Language and Odias There are many examples which have provided ample understanding of our apathy for Odia language. Followings are few examples. 1. As early as in 1954 the government notification was published that the official language would be Odia. There are very rare examples that have followed this. 2. Those who have come across with the priests (Pondas) of Jagannath temple at Puri, they all are Odias but first talk Bengali, then Hindi Odia. Such example one will never find any temple of the country. 3. One can very well experience that in Balasore, Bengali is very popular; in and in the districts of Sambalpur, , Keonjhar, people love to communicate in Hindi and so also in south Odisha Teluge language has its predominance. 4. Odia in other province though fought for amalgamation, failed to meet their target. Once can well imagine the plight of Odiyas in those scattered Odiya. They fear to give their identify as Odiyas. When we can not do any thing to boarder areas, what can we do for Bichana Anchala? 5. One simple example is that the number plate of our vehicle, we never with in Odiya. But do we find such things in other states? 6. Are we not getting 95% invitation cards for any occasion in English? 7. The effort made by Utkal Samilani and it office bearers like Basant Panigrahi and others try hard but it has less effect.

CONCLUSION The above discussion places a convincing argument that Odisha had a rich heritage in sphere of culture, religion, politics, and economy. They could maintain the same till they came contact with outsiders. However the decay in all aspects started during the British Rule. The Odia who could realize at the beginning of the 20th century proved their mettle in forming the Odisha province in 1936 and amalgamating Garhjat States in 1948 and 1950. The irony is that when we were under colonial rule, we were united and fought but after independence that spirit vanished. To find out the reason for such situation, one should go through the existing mental approach of the people. We are satisfied with minimum and never thought of competing with others who are above us. Keen competition, opening mental horizon and broadening outlook are required to meet our past glory.

REFERENCES 1. Odisha State Archives, Letter from Commissioner, Vol.99 (1849), Commissioner to Sudder Board of Revenue, 27 June 1849. 2. Bengal State Archives, Selection from the Records of the Bengal Government, Bengal 1953, No.XXX, Sec.96. 3. OSA, General Report on Public Instruction, 1669-70. 4. Journal of Asiatic Society Of Bengal, Vol.XXIX, 1870, p.211. 5. Ibid, June 1870, pp210-216. 6. Ibid, p.208. 7. Dipika, 15 July 1869. 8. Ibid., 26 March 1870 9. Ibid.,14 May 1870 10. Ibid. 10 July 1869 and 17 July 1869. 11. J.Peggsm A History of the General Baptist Mission (London, 1846), p.199. 12. G.Toynbee, A Sketch of the History of Orissa, 1803-1828 (Calcutta, 1873), p.70. 13. Odisha State Archives, Letter from Commissioner (1838), 22 January 1839. 14. OSA, Board of Revenue Records, Circular of the Commissioner (1839). 15. Ibid. (1841). 16. Reports of the Council of Education, 1848-49, pp.336-37. 17. OSA, BRR, Commissioner of Sudder Board of Revenue, 27.6.49. 75

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18. Ibid. 8 October 1850. 19. V.Kar, Bibidha Prabandha ( in Oriya, Cuttack, 1972),p.10. 20. G.Meher, Gangadhar Granthabali ( in Oriya, Cuttack, 1972), p.288. 21. G.Das, Akashchinta (in Oirya, Cuttack, 1965), p.55. 22. G.C. , Orissa Ra Viakash re Patra Patrika Ra Pravab (in Odiya, Cuttack, 1979),p.47 23. M. Mansingh, History of Odiya Literature (, 1962),pp.180-195. 24. N.K. Bala, Nanda Kishore Granthabali (Cuttack,1972),pp.74-77. 25. S.Mohanty, Madhusudan Das (Cuttack, 1974),p.385. 26. Sanatan Chakrabarti wrote Bhagabat in 1658.

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