Language and Literature | Odisha State PSC (OPSC): Preparation - OPSC OCS (Odisha) PDF Download

 Page 1


CHAPTER23
Odisha’s language is an asset, which is gaining huge popularity
among people throughout the country. Odisha language, written in
Odia script, is the official language of Odisha. It has a rich literary
history.
Language of Odisha
Odia isofficiallanguage ofOdishaandthe secondofficiallanguage ofJharkhand
state.ItisaclassicalandEasternIndo-AryanLanguage ofIndo-Europeanlanguage
family.Itisthe sixthlargestlanguage spokeninIndiainpartsofWestBengal,
Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,AndhraPradeshalongwithentire Odisha.
Odiabecame the officiallanguage ofOdishathroughthe OrissaOfficialLanguage
Act,1954 whichisanactofOdishaLegislative Assembly.Itreceivedthe assentof
the Governor on1stOctober,1954.Odiahasalsobecame the sixthlanguage ofthe
countrytogetclassicallanguage statusin2014 after Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu,
KannadaandMalyalamlanguages.
Odia Language
The firstinscriptionofOdialanguage wasfoundin1051 ADat Urajang.Butasper
recentdiscoveriesitisfoundthatcertainareasofthe ancientKalingaEmpire (6th
centuryAD)hassome inscriptionswhichwere writteninSanskritwithOdiawords
whichshowsitslineage tothisperiod.Thislanguage isvery closelyassociatedwith
Assamese,BengaliandMaithililanguages.About60 million people speakthe Odia
language.
Odialanguage isspokenindifferentvariationslike Baleswari(Balasore),Sambalpuri
(Sambalpur andother Westerndistricts),Laria(Sambalpur),Bhatri,(Koraput),
Ganjami(GanjamandKoraput),etc.The people wholive inthe hillyregionsof
NorthandSouthOdishahave noticeable differencesintheir spokenlanguages.
Odiacame from‘OdraMagadhi’Prakritwhichissimilar to‘ArdhaMagadhi’and
wasspokeninEasternIndiaover 1500 yearsago.Odiahasvery little influence of
PersianandArabiclanguages.
Page 2


CHAPTER23
Odisha’s language is an asset, which is gaining huge popularity
among people throughout the country. Odisha language, written in
Odia script, is the official language of Odisha. It has a rich literary
history.
Language of Odisha
Odia isofficiallanguage ofOdishaandthe secondofficiallanguage ofJharkhand
state.ItisaclassicalandEasternIndo-AryanLanguage ofIndo-Europeanlanguage
family.Itisthe sixthlargestlanguage spokeninIndiainpartsofWestBengal,
Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,AndhraPradeshalongwithentire Odisha.
Odiabecame the officiallanguage ofOdishathroughthe OrissaOfficialLanguage
Act,1954 whichisanactofOdishaLegislative Assembly.Itreceivedthe assentof
the Governor on1stOctober,1954.Odiahasalsobecame the sixthlanguage ofthe
countrytogetclassicallanguage statusin2014 after Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu,
KannadaandMalyalamlanguages.
Odia Language
The firstinscriptionofOdialanguage wasfoundin1051 ADat Urajang.Butasper
recentdiscoveriesitisfoundthatcertainareasofthe ancientKalingaEmpire (6th
centuryAD)hassome inscriptionswhichwere writteninSanskritwithOdiawords
whichshowsitslineage tothisperiod.Thislanguage isvery closelyassociatedwith
Assamese,BengaliandMaithililanguages.About60 million people speakthe Odia
language.
Odialanguage isspokenindifferentvariationslike Baleswari(Balasore),Sambalpuri
(Sambalpur andother Westerndistricts),Laria(Sambalpur),Bhatri,(Koraput),
Ganjami(GanjamandKoraput),etc.The people wholive inthe hillyregionsof
NorthandSouthOdishahave noticeable differencesintheir spokenlanguages.
Odiacame from‘OdraMagadhi’Prakritwhichissimilar to‘ArdhaMagadhi’and
wasspokeninEasternIndiaover 1500 yearsago.Odiahasvery little influence of
PersianandArabiclanguages.
Standard Odia
Due tohavingliterarytraditionsthe ‘Odia’ofMughalbandi regionor ‘KatakiOdia’
isknownasStandardOdia.The StandardOdiaisspokeninthe Easternhalfof
Odishai.e.inKhordha,Puri,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack,Jajpur,Dhenkanal,Kendrapara,
NayagarhandAnguldistricts.LiteraryOdiaisdifferentfromspokenformofOdia
language.
Major Dialects of Odia Language
BaleswariOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaleswar,BhadrakandMayurbhanj
districtofOdisha.
Bhatri ThisdialectisspokeninSouth-WesternOdisha.
DesiyaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninKoraput,Rayagada,Nabarangapur and
MalkangiridistrictsofOdisha
GanjamiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninGanjamandGajapatidistrictsofOdisha.
KatakiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninCuttack,Jajpur,Jagatsinghpur andKendrapara
districtsofOdisha.
PuriOdiaThisdialectisspokeninPuridistrictofOdisha.
SambalpuriOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaragarh,Balangir,Boudh,Debagarh,
Nuapada,Sambalpur andSubarnapur districtsofOdisha.
HalbiThisdialectisspokeninBastar districtofChhattisgarh.Halbiisamixture of
OdiaandMarathiwithinfluence ofChhattisgarhitriballanguages.
PhulbaniOdia ThisdialectisspokeninPhulbaniTown,Khajuripadablockof
KandhamalandinnearbyareasborderingBoudhdistrict.
Minor Non-literary and Tribal Dialects of
Odia Languages
AghriaThisdialectismostlyspokenbythe ingeniouspeople ofAghriacaste in
WesternOdisha.
Bathudi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
BodoParja/Jharia ThistribaldialectisspokenmostlyinKoraputdistrict.
Bhulia ThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Bhuyan ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
KalahandiaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninundividedKalahandidistrict.
KondhanThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Kurmi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
LariaThisdialectisspokeninborderingareasofWesternOdisha.
Matia ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
253 Language and Literature
Page 3


CHAPTER23
Odisha’s language is an asset, which is gaining huge popularity
among people throughout the country. Odisha language, written in
Odia script, is the official language of Odisha. It has a rich literary
history.
Language of Odisha
Odia isofficiallanguage ofOdishaandthe secondofficiallanguage ofJharkhand
state.ItisaclassicalandEasternIndo-AryanLanguage ofIndo-Europeanlanguage
family.Itisthe sixthlargestlanguage spokeninIndiainpartsofWestBengal,
Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,AndhraPradeshalongwithentire Odisha.
Odiabecame the officiallanguage ofOdishathroughthe OrissaOfficialLanguage
Act,1954 whichisanactofOdishaLegislative Assembly.Itreceivedthe assentof
the Governor on1stOctober,1954.Odiahasalsobecame the sixthlanguage ofthe
countrytogetclassicallanguage statusin2014 after Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu,
KannadaandMalyalamlanguages.
Odia Language
The firstinscriptionofOdialanguage wasfoundin1051 ADat Urajang.Butasper
recentdiscoveriesitisfoundthatcertainareasofthe ancientKalingaEmpire (6th
centuryAD)hassome inscriptionswhichwere writteninSanskritwithOdiawords
whichshowsitslineage tothisperiod.Thislanguage isvery closelyassociatedwith
Assamese,BengaliandMaithililanguages.About60 million people speakthe Odia
language.
Odialanguage isspokenindifferentvariationslike Baleswari(Balasore),Sambalpuri
(Sambalpur andother Westerndistricts),Laria(Sambalpur),Bhatri,(Koraput),
Ganjami(GanjamandKoraput),etc.The people wholive inthe hillyregionsof
NorthandSouthOdishahave noticeable differencesintheir spokenlanguages.
Odiacame from‘OdraMagadhi’Prakritwhichissimilar to‘ArdhaMagadhi’and
wasspokeninEasternIndiaover 1500 yearsago.Odiahasvery little influence of
PersianandArabiclanguages.
Standard Odia
Due tohavingliterarytraditionsthe ‘Odia’ofMughalbandi regionor ‘KatakiOdia’
isknownasStandardOdia.The StandardOdiaisspokeninthe Easternhalfof
Odishai.e.inKhordha,Puri,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack,Jajpur,Dhenkanal,Kendrapara,
NayagarhandAnguldistricts.LiteraryOdiaisdifferentfromspokenformofOdia
language.
Major Dialects of Odia Language
BaleswariOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaleswar,BhadrakandMayurbhanj
districtofOdisha.
Bhatri ThisdialectisspokeninSouth-WesternOdisha.
DesiyaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninKoraput,Rayagada,Nabarangapur and
MalkangiridistrictsofOdisha
GanjamiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninGanjamandGajapatidistrictsofOdisha.
KatakiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninCuttack,Jajpur,Jagatsinghpur andKendrapara
districtsofOdisha.
PuriOdiaThisdialectisspokeninPuridistrictofOdisha.
SambalpuriOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaragarh,Balangir,Boudh,Debagarh,
Nuapada,Sambalpur andSubarnapur districtsofOdisha.
HalbiThisdialectisspokeninBastar districtofChhattisgarh.Halbiisamixture of
OdiaandMarathiwithinfluence ofChhattisgarhitriballanguages.
PhulbaniOdia ThisdialectisspokeninPhulbaniTown,Khajuripadablockof
KandhamalandinnearbyareasborderingBoudhdistrict.
Minor Non-literary and Tribal Dialects of
Odia Languages
AghriaThisdialectismostlyspokenbythe ingeniouspeople ofAghriacaste in
WesternOdisha.
Bathudi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
BodoParja/Jharia ThistribaldialectisspokenmostlyinKoraputdistrict.
Bhulia ThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Bhuyan ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
KalahandiaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninundividedKalahandidistrict.
KondhanThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Kurmi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
LariaThisdialectisspokeninborderingareasofWesternOdisha.
Matia ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
253 Language and Literature
Reli ThisdialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
SundargadiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninSundargarhdistrictofOdisha
Sounti ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
SadriThisdialectismixture ofOdiaandHindilanguage withmajor regionaltribal
influence.
Odia/Oriya Script
Odiascriptisusedtowrite Odialanguage.Itisdevelopedfromanearlyformof
Kalingascriptwhichbelongstothe BrahmiancientIndia.The Odiascriptiswritten
fromlefttoright.Itisbasedonthe orthographicsyllable whichisknownasAskara.
Askaraiseither alone vowelor aconsonantwithavowelattached.
The modernOdiascripthas52 basicalphabetsincluding11 vowelsand41
consonants.The scripthasmore than200 compoundcharacters.Odiascripthas
playedanimportantrole inOdiatraditionandnowitisusedinallspheresof
cultures,arts,educationandadministration.
Literature of Odisha
Odialiterature isrich,variedanddistinctlyreligiousin nature.Numerousprose,
poetryandplaysare writteninOdialanguage thatconstantlyenrichedit.The
literature ofOdishacanbe dividedintoprose,poetryandplays.These are explained as
follows:
Age of Poetry
Odiapoetrybeganwiththe developmentof Charyapada or Caryagiti,aliterature
startedbyVajrayanaBuddhistpoets.SandhyaBhashametaphor wasusedtowrite
Charyaliterature whichwaswritteninPrakritlanguage.Some ofitspoetslike
LuipaandKanhupacame fromthe territoryofOdisha.
SaralaDasa wasthe firstgreatpoetofOdisha.The periodbefore hiswritingis
knownasPre-Saralaage.InPre-Saralaage,NathaandSiddha literature flourished
inOdisha.ShishuVeda,AmarKosha andGorakhSamhita are the importantworks
ofthisperiod.Other importantworksofthisperiodare KalashaChautisha(by
BacchaDas),SomanathaBratakatha,NagulaChavithi,Tapoi andSaptanga.Sarala
Age consistedofprominentwritingsbySaralaDas.
Inthe 15thcentury,Odiawasoftenconsideredthe language ofthe Shudras
(untouchables)andcommonerswhohadnoaccesstoSanskriteducation.Sarala
DasatranslatedtheMahabharata.Thisworkwasnotanexacttranslationfromthe
Sanskritoriginal,butrather animitationandcanbe consideredanoriginalpiece of
work;for allpracticalpurposes.Thistranslationworkprovedtobe anecessary
foundationfor anationalliterature,whichprovidesafairlyaccurate ideaofthe Odia
culture atthattime andalsoguidedthe subsequentpoets.
254 Know Your State ODISHA
Page 4


CHAPTER23
Odisha’s language is an asset, which is gaining huge popularity
among people throughout the country. Odisha language, written in
Odia script, is the official language of Odisha. It has a rich literary
history.
Language of Odisha
Odia isofficiallanguage ofOdishaandthe secondofficiallanguage ofJharkhand
state.ItisaclassicalandEasternIndo-AryanLanguage ofIndo-Europeanlanguage
family.Itisthe sixthlargestlanguage spokeninIndiainpartsofWestBengal,
Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,AndhraPradeshalongwithentire Odisha.
Odiabecame the officiallanguage ofOdishathroughthe OrissaOfficialLanguage
Act,1954 whichisanactofOdishaLegislative Assembly.Itreceivedthe assentof
the Governor on1stOctober,1954.Odiahasalsobecame the sixthlanguage ofthe
countrytogetclassicallanguage statusin2014 after Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu,
KannadaandMalyalamlanguages.
Odia Language
The firstinscriptionofOdialanguage wasfoundin1051 ADat Urajang.Butasper
recentdiscoveriesitisfoundthatcertainareasofthe ancientKalingaEmpire (6th
centuryAD)hassome inscriptionswhichwere writteninSanskritwithOdiawords
whichshowsitslineage tothisperiod.Thislanguage isvery closelyassociatedwith
Assamese,BengaliandMaithililanguages.About60 million people speakthe Odia
language.
Odialanguage isspokenindifferentvariationslike Baleswari(Balasore),Sambalpuri
(Sambalpur andother Westerndistricts),Laria(Sambalpur),Bhatri,(Koraput),
Ganjami(GanjamandKoraput),etc.The people wholive inthe hillyregionsof
NorthandSouthOdishahave noticeable differencesintheir spokenlanguages.
Odiacame from‘OdraMagadhi’Prakritwhichissimilar to‘ArdhaMagadhi’and
wasspokeninEasternIndiaover 1500 yearsago.Odiahasvery little influence of
PersianandArabiclanguages.
Standard Odia
Due tohavingliterarytraditionsthe ‘Odia’ofMughalbandi regionor ‘KatakiOdia’
isknownasStandardOdia.The StandardOdiaisspokeninthe Easternhalfof
Odishai.e.inKhordha,Puri,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack,Jajpur,Dhenkanal,Kendrapara,
NayagarhandAnguldistricts.LiteraryOdiaisdifferentfromspokenformofOdia
language.
Major Dialects of Odia Language
BaleswariOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaleswar,BhadrakandMayurbhanj
districtofOdisha.
Bhatri ThisdialectisspokeninSouth-WesternOdisha.
DesiyaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninKoraput,Rayagada,Nabarangapur and
MalkangiridistrictsofOdisha
GanjamiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninGanjamandGajapatidistrictsofOdisha.
KatakiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninCuttack,Jajpur,Jagatsinghpur andKendrapara
districtsofOdisha.
PuriOdiaThisdialectisspokeninPuridistrictofOdisha.
SambalpuriOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaragarh,Balangir,Boudh,Debagarh,
Nuapada,Sambalpur andSubarnapur districtsofOdisha.
HalbiThisdialectisspokeninBastar districtofChhattisgarh.Halbiisamixture of
OdiaandMarathiwithinfluence ofChhattisgarhitriballanguages.
PhulbaniOdia ThisdialectisspokeninPhulbaniTown,Khajuripadablockof
KandhamalandinnearbyareasborderingBoudhdistrict.
Minor Non-literary and Tribal Dialects of
Odia Languages
AghriaThisdialectismostlyspokenbythe ingeniouspeople ofAghriacaste in
WesternOdisha.
Bathudi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
BodoParja/Jharia ThistribaldialectisspokenmostlyinKoraputdistrict.
Bhulia ThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Bhuyan ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
KalahandiaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninundividedKalahandidistrict.
KondhanThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Kurmi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
LariaThisdialectisspokeninborderingareasofWesternOdisha.
Matia ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
253 Language and Literature
Reli ThisdialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
SundargadiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninSundargarhdistrictofOdisha
Sounti ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
SadriThisdialectismixture ofOdiaandHindilanguage withmajor regionaltribal
influence.
Odia/Oriya Script
Odiascriptisusedtowrite Odialanguage.Itisdevelopedfromanearlyformof
Kalingascriptwhichbelongstothe BrahmiancientIndia.The Odiascriptiswritten
fromlefttoright.Itisbasedonthe orthographicsyllable whichisknownasAskara.
Askaraiseither alone vowelor aconsonantwithavowelattached.
The modernOdiascripthas52 basicalphabetsincluding11 vowelsand41
consonants.The scripthasmore than200 compoundcharacters.Odiascripthas
playedanimportantrole inOdiatraditionandnowitisusedinallspheresof
cultures,arts,educationandadministration.
Literature of Odisha
Odialiterature isrich,variedanddistinctlyreligiousin nature.Numerousprose,
poetryandplaysare writteninOdialanguage thatconstantlyenrichedit.The
literature ofOdishacanbe dividedintoprose,poetryandplays.These are explained as
follows:
Age of Poetry
Odiapoetrybeganwiththe developmentof Charyapada or Caryagiti,aliterature
startedbyVajrayanaBuddhistpoets.SandhyaBhashametaphor wasusedtowrite
Charyaliterature whichwaswritteninPrakritlanguage.Some ofitspoetslike
LuipaandKanhupacame fromthe territoryofOdisha.
SaralaDasa wasthe firstgreatpoetofOdisha.The periodbefore hiswritingis
knownasPre-Saralaage.InPre-Saralaage,NathaandSiddha literature flourished
inOdisha.ShishuVeda,AmarKosha andGorakhSamhita are the importantworks
ofthisperiod.Other importantworksofthisperiodare KalashaChautisha(by
BacchaDas),SomanathaBratakatha,NagulaChavithi,Tapoi andSaptanga.Sarala
Age consistedofprominentwritingsbySaralaDas.
Inthe 15thcentury,Odiawasoftenconsideredthe language ofthe Shudras
(untouchables)andcommonerswhohadnoaccesstoSanskriteducation.Sarala
DasatranslatedtheMahabharata.Thisworkwasnotanexacttranslationfromthe
Sanskritoriginal,butrather animitationandcanbe consideredanoriginalpiece of
work;for allpracticalpurposes.Thistranslationworkprovedtobe anecessary
foundationfor anationalliterature,whichprovidesafairlyaccurate ideaofthe Odia
culture atthattime andalsoguidedthe subsequentpoets.
254 Know Your State ODISHA
SaralaDaswasgiventhe title ofShudramuni or seer fromabackwardclass.He had
noformaleducationanddidnotknowSanskrit.Another formofpoetryi.e.
Kalpanika (imaginative)andParanika (Puranic)Kavyasemergedin16th17thC.
ThisperiodisalsocalledRitaYuga.NarsinghaSena’sGopakeliandParimalaare
popular collectionofpoems.
‘Jayadeva’sGitaGovinda’wastranslatedinOdiabythree prominentpoetsnamely,
DharanidharaMishra,BrindavanDas(Rasabaridhi)andTrilochanDas(Govinda
Gita).‘PurnatamaChandrodayaKavya’waswrittenbyawomen poeti.e.Brundabati
Das.DuringJahangir’sregion,aMuslimpoet‘Salabega’composedseveralpoems
dedicatedtoLordJagannath.ChitraKavya(pictorialpoetry)wasalsopopular in
Odialiterature.
RadnanathRoy isconsideredthe firstpoetinmoderntimeswhobelongedtothe
firstgenerationofOdiawhoreceivedWesterneducation.Thisledtothe emergence
ofanewbreedofpoetswhowrote aboutpatriotismlike Gopabandhu Das.Some
prominentpoetswhobelongedtobothpre andpostIndependence periodare
Mayadhar Mansinha,GodavarishMohapatraandAnantaPatnaik.SachiKanta
RautRayintroducedthe ultramodernstyle ofOdiapoetry.
Age of Prose
Rudrasudhanidhiisthe firstorganisedworkofprose inOdia literature writtenby
AbhaduttaNarayanSwami. TheMadalaPanjior thePalm-leaf Chroniclesofthe
Jagannathtemple atPurirecordsthe earliestuse ofprose,whichdatesbacktothe
12thcentury.MarkandaDasisknownfor hiscompositionslike KesavaKoili(first
KoiliinOdia),DaasagribaBadhaandJnanodayaKoili.
SaralaDas wrote ChandiPurana,VilankaRamayanaandtranslatedMahabharatain
Odialanguage in15thCentury.
Other prominentworksareUsabhilasa ofSisu SankaraDas,theRahasya-Manjari
ofDevaDurlabhaDasandtheRukmini-BibhaofKartheikaDas.Duringthe
startingofthe 17thcentury,anewformofprose novels inverse evolvedwhen
RamachandraPattanayakawrote Haravali.
The language usedbythese writerswasplainandsimple Odia.UpendraBhanja’s
workslike ‘BaidehishaBilasa’,‘Labanyabati’are consideredlandmarksofOdia
literature.Hisworksaddedmore than35,000 wordstothe language,whichare
aestheticallyperfectdue tohisgreatcontribution.He isconsideredKabiSamrat of
Odialiterature andGreatestpoetofRitiyuga.
FakirMohanSenapati isaprominentOdianovelist.Hiswork‘ChhaManaAtha
Gunta(six acresandathird)reflectsthe exploitationbyZamindars.He isalso
knownasFather ofModernOriyaLiterature.NandaKishore Bal’s‘Kanaklata’,
ChintamaniMohanty’s‘Yugalamath’are other importantOdianovels.
255 Language and Literature
Page 5


CHAPTER23
Odisha’s language is an asset, which is gaining huge popularity
among people throughout the country. Odisha language, written in
Odia script, is the official language of Odisha. It has a rich literary
history.
Language of Odisha
Odia isofficiallanguage ofOdishaandthe secondofficiallanguage ofJharkhand
state.ItisaclassicalandEasternIndo-AryanLanguage ofIndo-Europeanlanguage
family.Itisthe sixthlargestlanguage spokeninIndiainpartsofWestBengal,
Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh,AndhraPradeshalongwithentire Odisha.
Odiabecame the officiallanguage ofOdishathroughthe OrissaOfficialLanguage
Act,1954 whichisanactofOdishaLegislative Assembly.Itreceivedthe assentof
the Governor on1stOctober,1954.Odiahasalsobecame the sixthlanguage ofthe
countrytogetclassicallanguage statusin2014 after Sanskrit,Tamil,Telugu,
KannadaandMalyalamlanguages.
Odia Language
The firstinscriptionofOdialanguage wasfoundin1051 ADat Urajang.Butasper
recentdiscoveriesitisfoundthatcertainareasofthe ancientKalingaEmpire (6th
centuryAD)hassome inscriptionswhichwere writteninSanskritwithOdiawords
whichshowsitslineage tothisperiod.Thislanguage isvery closelyassociatedwith
Assamese,BengaliandMaithililanguages.About60 million people speakthe Odia
language.
Odialanguage isspokenindifferentvariationslike Baleswari(Balasore),Sambalpuri
(Sambalpur andother Westerndistricts),Laria(Sambalpur),Bhatri,(Koraput),
Ganjami(GanjamandKoraput),etc.The people wholive inthe hillyregionsof
NorthandSouthOdishahave noticeable differencesintheir spokenlanguages.
Odiacame from‘OdraMagadhi’Prakritwhichissimilar to‘ArdhaMagadhi’and
wasspokeninEasternIndiaover 1500 yearsago.Odiahasvery little influence of
PersianandArabiclanguages.
Standard Odia
Due tohavingliterarytraditionsthe ‘Odia’ofMughalbandi regionor ‘KatakiOdia’
isknownasStandardOdia.The StandardOdiaisspokeninthe Easternhalfof
Odishai.e.inKhordha,Puri,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack,Jajpur,Dhenkanal,Kendrapara,
NayagarhandAnguldistricts.LiteraryOdiaisdifferentfromspokenformofOdia
language.
Major Dialects of Odia Language
BaleswariOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaleswar,BhadrakandMayurbhanj
districtofOdisha.
Bhatri ThisdialectisspokeninSouth-WesternOdisha.
DesiyaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninKoraput,Rayagada,Nabarangapur and
MalkangiridistrictsofOdisha
GanjamiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninGanjamandGajapatidistrictsofOdisha.
KatakiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninCuttack,Jajpur,Jagatsinghpur andKendrapara
districtsofOdisha.
PuriOdiaThisdialectisspokeninPuridistrictofOdisha.
SambalpuriOdia ThisdialectisspokeninBaragarh,Balangir,Boudh,Debagarh,
Nuapada,Sambalpur andSubarnapur districtsofOdisha.
HalbiThisdialectisspokeninBastar districtofChhattisgarh.Halbiisamixture of
OdiaandMarathiwithinfluence ofChhattisgarhitriballanguages.
PhulbaniOdia ThisdialectisspokeninPhulbaniTown,Khajuripadablockof
KandhamalandinnearbyareasborderingBoudhdistrict.
Minor Non-literary and Tribal Dialects of
Odia Languages
AghriaThisdialectismostlyspokenbythe ingeniouspeople ofAghriacaste in
WesternOdisha.
Bathudi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
BodoParja/Jharia ThistribaldialectisspokenmostlyinKoraputdistrict.
Bhulia ThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Bhuyan ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
KalahandiaOdiaThisdialectisspokeninundividedKalahandidistrict.
KondhanThistribaldialectisspokeninWesternOdisha.
Kurmi ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
LariaThisdialectisspokeninborderingareasofWesternOdisha.
Matia ThistribaldialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
253 Language and Literature
Reli ThisdialectisspokeninSouthernOdisha.
SundargadiOdiaThisdialectisspokeninSundargarhdistrictofOdisha
Sounti ThisdialectisspokeninNorthernOdisha.
SadriThisdialectismixture ofOdiaandHindilanguage withmajor regionaltribal
influence.
Odia/Oriya Script
Odiascriptisusedtowrite Odialanguage.Itisdevelopedfromanearlyformof
Kalingascriptwhichbelongstothe BrahmiancientIndia.The Odiascriptiswritten
fromlefttoright.Itisbasedonthe orthographicsyllable whichisknownasAskara.
Askaraiseither alone vowelor aconsonantwithavowelattached.
The modernOdiascripthas52 basicalphabetsincluding11 vowelsand41
consonants.The scripthasmore than200 compoundcharacters.Odiascripthas
playedanimportantrole inOdiatraditionandnowitisusedinallspheresof
cultures,arts,educationandadministration.
Literature of Odisha
Odialiterature isrich,variedanddistinctlyreligiousin nature.Numerousprose,
poetryandplaysare writteninOdialanguage thatconstantlyenrichedit.The
literature ofOdishacanbe dividedintoprose,poetryandplays.These are explained as
follows:
Age of Poetry
Odiapoetrybeganwiththe developmentof Charyapada or Caryagiti,aliterature
startedbyVajrayanaBuddhistpoets.SandhyaBhashametaphor wasusedtowrite
Charyaliterature whichwaswritteninPrakritlanguage.Some ofitspoetslike
LuipaandKanhupacame fromthe territoryofOdisha.
SaralaDasa wasthe firstgreatpoetofOdisha.The periodbefore hiswritingis
knownasPre-Saralaage.InPre-Saralaage,NathaandSiddha literature flourished
inOdisha.ShishuVeda,AmarKosha andGorakhSamhita are the importantworks
ofthisperiod.Other importantworksofthisperiodare KalashaChautisha(by
BacchaDas),SomanathaBratakatha,NagulaChavithi,Tapoi andSaptanga.Sarala
Age consistedofprominentwritingsbySaralaDas.
Inthe 15thcentury,Odiawasoftenconsideredthe language ofthe Shudras
(untouchables)andcommonerswhohadnoaccesstoSanskriteducation.Sarala
DasatranslatedtheMahabharata.Thisworkwasnotanexacttranslationfromthe
Sanskritoriginal,butrather animitationandcanbe consideredanoriginalpiece of
work;for allpracticalpurposes.Thistranslationworkprovedtobe anecessary
foundationfor anationalliterature,whichprovidesafairlyaccurate ideaofthe Odia
culture atthattime andalsoguidedthe subsequentpoets.
254 Know Your State ODISHA
SaralaDaswasgiventhe title ofShudramuni or seer fromabackwardclass.He had
noformaleducationanddidnotknowSanskrit.Another formofpoetryi.e.
Kalpanika (imaginative)andParanika (Puranic)Kavyasemergedin16th17thC.
ThisperiodisalsocalledRitaYuga.NarsinghaSena’sGopakeliandParimalaare
popular collectionofpoems.
‘Jayadeva’sGitaGovinda’wastranslatedinOdiabythree prominentpoetsnamely,
DharanidharaMishra,BrindavanDas(Rasabaridhi)andTrilochanDas(Govinda
Gita).‘PurnatamaChandrodayaKavya’waswrittenbyawomen poeti.e.Brundabati
Das.DuringJahangir’sregion,aMuslimpoet‘Salabega’composedseveralpoems
dedicatedtoLordJagannath.ChitraKavya(pictorialpoetry)wasalsopopular in
Odialiterature.
RadnanathRoy isconsideredthe firstpoetinmoderntimeswhobelongedtothe
firstgenerationofOdiawhoreceivedWesterneducation.Thisledtothe emergence
ofanewbreedofpoetswhowrote aboutpatriotismlike Gopabandhu Das.Some
prominentpoetswhobelongedtobothpre andpostIndependence periodare
Mayadhar Mansinha,GodavarishMohapatraandAnantaPatnaik.SachiKanta
RautRayintroducedthe ultramodernstyle ofOdiapoetry.
Age of Prose
Rudrasudhanidhiisthe firstorganisedworkofprose inOdia literature writtenby
AbhaduttaNarayanSwami. TheMadalaPanjior thePalm-leaf Chroniclesofthe
Jagannathtemple atPurirecordsthe earliestuse ofprose,whichdatesbacktothe
12thcentury.MarkandaDasisknownfor hiscompositionslike KesavaKoili(first
KoiliinOdia),DaasagribaBadhaandJnanodayaKoili.
SaralaDas wrote ChandiPurana,VilankaRamayanaandtranslatedMahabharatain
Odialanguage in15thCentury.
Other prominentworksareUsabhilasa ofSisu SankaraDas,theRahasya-Manjari
ofDevaDurlabhaDasandtheRukmini-BibhaofKartheikaDas.Duringthe
startingofthe 17thcentury,anewformofprose novels inverse evolvedwhen
RamachandraPattanayakawrote Haravali.
The language usedbythese writerswasplainandsimple Odia.UpendraBhanja’s
workslike ‘BaidehishaBilasa’,‘Labanyabati’are consideredlandmarksofOdia
literature.Hisworksaddedmore than35,000 wordstothe language,whichare
aestheticallyperfectdue tohisgreatcontribution.He isconsideredKabiSamrat of
Odialiterature andGreatestpoetofRitiyuga.
FakirMohanSenapati isaprominentOdianovelist.Hiswork‘ChhaManaAtha
Gunta(six acresandathird)reflectsthe exploitationbyZamindars.He isalso
knownasFather ofModernOriyaLiterature.NandaKishore Bal’s‘Kanaklata’,
ChintamaniMohanty’s‘Yugalamath’are other importantOdianovels.
255 Language and Literature
Religious Writings
Odialiterature alsoconsistsofmanyreligiouswritingswhichare inspiredbythe
BhaktiMovementin14th-16thCentury.
ShriChaitanya,Vaishnavainfluence broughtinanewevolutioninOdialiterature.
Importantauthorsofreligiousworksare BalaramaDas,JagannathaDas,Yasovanta
Das,AnantaDasandAchyutanandaDas.Theyare knownas Panchasakhas.The
name ofPanchasakhascame fromthese 5 poets,whoadheredtothe same schoolof
‘UtkaliyaVaishnavism’.
BalaramaDas’sJagamohanRamayanalongwithSaralaDas’Mahabharata,are most
significantfor the developmentofOdialiterature.BalaramaDas’LakshmiPuranais
consideredthe firstmanifestoofwomen’sliberationor feminisminIndianliterature.
Age of Plays
Alongwithprose andpoetry,playsor dramasare alsoapopular partofOdia
literature.DramasemergedinOdishafromJatras,LeelasandSuangs.The first
Odiaplaywas‘Babaji’writtenbyJagmohanLeelain1877.KampalMishra,
PadmanavNarayanDevandBhikariCharanPatnaikare prominentOdia.
Lyricaldramasthatcontainpoetryinthe formofdialoguesare alsoverypopular
formofliterature.BaishnavPani,BalakrishnaMohantyare greatwriters.Dramasin
Sanskritlanguage are alsoverypopular.HistoricalplayKonarkandsocialplayBhata
(rice)writtenbyKalicharanPatnaikholdsaspecialplace asitshowsthe sufferings
duringfamine.Playwrightersinthe moderncontextalsowrite entertainingand
thoughtprovokingdramas/playsinOdialanguage inpost-independence periodalso.
Pragati Yug
In Odisha, a progressive movement was started which is termed as Pragati Yug.
Nabajuga Sahitya Sansad was formed by prominent writers like Nabakrushna
Choudhary, Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi and Ananta Patnaik in 1935. The first
progressive literary magazine in Odia, Adhunika was conceived, initiated, edited
and published by Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi and Ananta Patnaik.
Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha
Gopal Chandra Prahraj created Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha in Odia language
which published between 1930 and 1940. It is a monumental 7 volume work of
about 9500 pages, which lists some 1,85,000 words and their meanings in four
languages i.e. Odia, English, Hindi and Bengali.
256 Know Your State ODISHA