Classical Status to Odia Language Odisha Review The Evolution of Odia Language : An Introspection Dr. Jyotirmati Samantaray In the beginning were the people. They lived their of affinity that the first has with Bengali, the second lives always in relationship with one another. They has with Kosali and Chhatisgarh and the third has thought, they worked, they manufactured and they with Halbi provides strong evidence of the also created - they shared their creations and systematic expansion of Aryan language. ideas. They grew as they shared. This process of Like other sister literatures of modern sharing gave them a language which evolved into Indo-Aryan languages Odia began its literary a definite shape as the people themselves evolved. career with the composition of religious and social A language is spoken pretty long before it came reformers- followers of Buddhist, Shaiva and to be written down and recorded. All peoples Vaisnava sects. Odia was transformed into a had a literature; before the language could be finished and forceful literary language in the works written down. Thus, everywhere, an oral tradition of Sarala Das’s ‘Mahabharata’ and other works. preceded the so-called literary tradition. The medieval period of Odia literature during the The contribution of Chandra Mohan 15th, 16th and 17th centuries may be called the Maharana, Ganapati Das, Mani Mohapatra, golden period. Modern Odia literature like other Gopal Chandra Praharaj, Madhusudan Das, language and literatures emerged in the Nineteenth Abhiram Bhanja, Nandakishore Bal, Madhusudan century. Odia prose, fiction, essay, drama modern Rao, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gopabandhu Das poetry were rich and varied. The words in the and Radhanath Roy, Gouri Shankar Roy, voices of Jagannath Das in ‘Bhagabata’ and text Ramshankar Roy, Pyarimohan Acharya were books of Madhusudan Rao was the medium of represented Odia educated communities. The self-expression of the Odias as a people and was contribution of this elite class of Odisha to the the universally accepted standard of Odia progress of Odia literature was as significant as language. their contribution to the growth of Odia Odia language, like its sister languages nationalism. Bengali and Assamese is classified as a part of The present period of Odia language is the Magadhi Subgroup of the Indo-German the result of the continued evolution of a definite Group of language. This language area adjoins speech style of Old Indo-Aryan language. All Bhojpuri language area in the North and Telugu those regional languages (middle-Indo-Aryan language area in the south. L.S.S. O’ Mally in his language) are known as ‘Prakrit’ and Puri district Gazetteer (pages 75-76) has ‘Apavramsa’ in early and later stages respectively. discussed the peculiarities of Odia language and The three main dialects of Odia are (a) coastal script. Odia language is written as it is dialect (modern standard language) (b) western pronounced. According to him, Odia script owed dialect (Sambalpur and Laria) (c) South Western its origin to writings on dry-palm leaves with an dialect (Desiya, Bhatri, Jharin) of these the kind iron stylus. March - 2014 29 Odisha Review Classical Status to Odia Language Scholars on the origin of languages and outstanding works of Sudramuni Sarala Das, the historical development of the language have Balaram Das, Sishusankar Das, Tribikram felt that Odia, Bengali and Assamese, perhaps Bhanja, Upendra Bhanja Dinakrushna Das, had a common origin in some historical times. This Brajanath Badajena and Abhimanyu Samanta point of view has originated from the discovery Singhar, lyrical works of Bhakta Charan Das, of a group of Buddhist poems from Nepal State popular writings of Jadumani Mahapatra, lyrics library by Sri Haraprasad Sastri which was of Baladeb Rath, Gopal Krushna and Bhaktakabi published as ‘Boudha Gaan O’Dohan.’ This very Madhusudan Rao, Radhanath Roy, Fakir Mohan important manuscript throws a lot of light on the Senapati and many others added glory, beauty growth of languages in the whole of eastern India. and gracefulness to the texture of Odia language. Historians of Odia literature have The works of Upendra Bhanja, Kalidas and examined the similarity in the language structure Sriharsa also added to the enrichment of the and ideas in Sarala Das and other earlier writers. progress of Odia literature. The script in the Ashokan edicts at Dhauli The explosion of knowledge has become and Jaugada and the inscriptions of Kharavela in possible on account of the remarkable progress Hati Gumpha of Khandagiri give us the first of science in the modern age. It has a great impact glimpse of possible origin of Odia language. From on our life style. We have to keep in touch with the point of view of language, the inscriptions of the progress of English and other major Hati Gumpha are near modern Odia and progressive languages and the different countries essentially different from the language of the of the world to ensure further enrichment of Odia Ashokan edicts. A point has also been made as language - its word power and its vocabulary, in to whether Pali was the prevalent language in this age of science and technology. Odisha during this period. Hati Gumpha inscriptions, which is in Pali, is perhaps the only References : evidence of stone inscriptions in Pali. This may 1. A Glimpse into Odia literature by Chittaranjan be the reason why the famous German linguist Das, published by Odisha Sahitya Akademi, Prof. Oldenburg mentioned that Pali was the Bhubaneswar, 1982. original language of Odisha. 2. History of Odisha by Dr. N.K. Sahu, Dr. P.K. Mishra, Dr. J.K. Sahu published by Nalanda, The stone inscription of Ananta Varma Cuttack, 1972. Bajrahasta Deva which is put against the year 3. Odia language and literature by K. Mahapatra 1051 AD is generally regarded as the first published by Department of Odia Visva Bharati, manifestation of Odia script and language. There 1984. were other stone inscriptions at Bhubaneswar in 4. Article ‘The Odia language’. Its past, present 13th century which point to the gradual evolution and future - A General survey by Santosh Kumar of Odia script and language. Odia language Barik published in the commemoration volume perhaps received its final shape by 14th century on the occasion of the first Vishwa Odia and this is available in Markanda Das’s lyrics Sammilani, 1992 Odisha Past and Present. ‘Kesaba Koili’, Sarala Das’ ‘Mahabharat’ and 5. The curve of meaning (studies in Odia literature) by Sitakanta Mohapatra, Image publications, Abadhuta Narayana’s epic in prose Balasore, 1978. Rudrasudhanidhi, Sishu Veda and Saptang written by Nath Sanyasis are treated as some of the earliest available works in Odia language. Dr. Jyotirmati Samantaray, Information Officer, Many talented writers born in different Information & Public Relations Department, periods of past enriched this language. The Bhubaneswar. 30 March- 2014.