Odia Identity, Language and Regionalism: a Historical Perspective

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 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 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 Odia language 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, Berhampur University, movement. Berhampur-760007, Odisha, India 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 Odia script, 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, Hindi 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 Cuttack recommended to the Commissioner for the substitute of Odiya by Bengali in official language. 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 general 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 Bengal five hundred books were published every year4. He advocated introducing Begnali in Odisha in place of Odia. 5. In 1868 another Bengalee Teacher of Balasore 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. 72 Laxmipriya Palai, IAR J Huma Soc Sci; Vol-2, Iss- 1 (Jan-Feb, 2021): 72-76 6. Rajkishor Mukhopadyaya, a lecturer in Law of the Cuttack College argued in favor of the Bengali language 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, Urdu 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 Sambad 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. Radhanath Ray painted the past and emphasized the need for spread of western education. Due to their initiative Ravenshaw College was established22. Radhanath Ray, Madhusudan Rao and Nanda Kishor Bala supported the traditional system of education, The first generation of writers like Jagamohan Lala, Ramshankar Ray, Gopal Ballav Das inspired Fakir Mohan Senapati, 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. Madhusudan Das established Utkal Sabha in 186025 The second challenge which Odias faced with the problem of scattered Odia people 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.

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