Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Has the Odisha govt. renamed the Utkal Divasa as Odisha day?

On 2008 I joined various e-groups to participate in the discussions about Odisha and western Odisha. On that year April first I received various e-mails protesting the name of Utkala Divasa. The common complain was that the present Odisha is an amalgamation of Kosala, Kalinga and Utkala, which some historians also refer as Trikalinga. Even today, the common complain from the people of western Odisha (Kosal region) is that there is no mention of Kosal in the history books of Odisha.

Culturally and linguistically western Odisha is different from coastal Odisha. There have been significant archaeological excavations of the upper Mahanadi valley (both western Odisha and Chhattisgarh region). It is evident that western Odisha had shakti, tantric and tribal culture unlike the coastal Orissa which is mainly dominated by Vaishnva culture. The 64 Yogini temple of Ranipur-Jharial, Balangir is a living monument of tantric civilization. In this regard, the “Sasisena Kavya” narrate an interesting incident happened in Sonepur with respect to a tantric expert known as “Jynanadei Maluni”.  If you are visiting western Odisha through river Mhanadi you will see that on both sides of Mahanadi there are lord Shiva temples. Prof. Sadhu Charan Panda has done lot of research on Nagas found in these temples.

Ramai Dev of Patna (present day Balangir) founded the Chauhan rule in western Odisha. The Somavamsi kings of Sonepur established many of the Shiva temples in Bhubaneswar and they have set the norms for worshiping the lord Shiva in BBSR. Today, the temples of Mandiramalini Sonepur bear a deserted look; whereas govt. is spending lot of money to preserve the temples in Bhubaneswar. Today, the old capital of Somavamsi rulers is no where to be found in the tourist map of Odisha. So far, the intelligentsias of Odisha are running away from the word Kosal and Kosli language. This is also cited as one of the reasons for instigating the Kosli language movement and separate Kosal state movement.

Jitamitra Prasad Singh Deo in his book “Cultural Profile of South Kosala” points out that “in the early period the South Kosala state was formed on the upper Mhanadi valley (western Odisha and Chhattisgarh); and in the early medieval period the people of Kosala tract originally spoke a language which was similar to the Bhojpuri Prakrit; whereas, the language of coastal Odisha had affinity with Magadhi.” This clearly indicates that there is a huge difference in the evolution pattern of languages of western Odisha and coastal Odisha.

In the past former MP Sriballav Panigrahi, former MP and current Odisha minister Prasanna Acharjya and present MP Bhakta Charan Das have raised the issue of Kosli language in the parliament. In addition, some people and organizations from western Odisha are working for the recognition of Kosli language and culture. It is also learned that in some of the schools of western Odisha Kosli language will be a medium of education in the primary level.

Many have pointed out that now the Odisha govt. is observing Odisha day not Utkala Divasa. It is good. I have nothing against Utkala but let govt. establish few institutes like Kalinga University and Kosal University. Let there be Kalinga Gramya bank and Kosal gramya bank. The Odisha govt. should also recommend so that some trains should be named as Kosal express.

One can ask, after all what is in a name! But, this is the same reason why Mumbai is renamed after Mumbadevi and Chennai is named after Chennapattinam. Indeed, Orissa was renamed as Odisha. The local sentiments should be respected. It is better for all of us if we respect the history, language and culture of all the regions. After all, the beauty of India is in its diversity.

April 3, 2012 at 4:03 pm sanjibkarmee 4 comments