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Its territory formed a part of the ancient Kalinga of
Mahabharat fame. Ashok the Mauryan King of Magadh,
invaded Kalinga in 261 BC and this event has gone down
in history as the Great Kalinga war. Then the people of
Kalinga offered a relentless & dauntless resistance, but
they lost at last. How desperate was the battle, how
bitterly was it fought, and how terrible were the
results, are known from Ashok’s own descriptions. This
is what he wrote about the Kalinga war in his thirteenth
Rock Edict. The country of Kalinga was conquered when
King Priyadarshan, beloved of the Gods had been anointed
eight years. One hundred and fifty thousand were there
from captured, one hundred thousand were there slain,
and many times as many died.
But what was the result? The conquered Kalinga
conquered her conqueror. This was the last war fought by
him after which he became the great champion of Buddhism
and upheld the values of peace and non-violence.
The ancient state rose to prominence as a Kingdom under
Kharavela , a great conquerer and patron of Jainism, in
the second half of the Ist century B.C. Other great
rulers belonged to the Keshari dynasty and the Eastern
Ganga dynasty who were also great builders.
At one time the vast kingdom spanned from Ganga to Godavari.
The flourishing maritime trade with South-East Asian
countries i.e. Java, Bornio had brought in a golden era
of affluence and opulence.
The Kalinga School of architecture flourished from the 7th to
13th century A.D. The most important monuments of this
period can be seen in and around Bhubaneswar and Puri.
The Mukteswar Temple is the finest piece of architecture
of Kalinga. The Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar, the
Jagannath Temple of Puri above all the world renowned
world heritage Sun Temple at Konark is the epitome of
temple architecture and sculpture. The construction of
Konark Temple utilized 12 years of state revenue which
can be compared to the mighty Moghul Empire, which also
utilized its resources of 12 years for building world
famous Taj Mahal.
It has also shown its military strength and prowess
during Buxi Jagabandhu, period of the warrior of Khurda
Paikas. The glories of Orissa ended in later half of
16th century. Two centuries later the British
administered the final blows by dividing the original
territory in to several administrative units.
In 1936, ultimately an independent state Orissa
was constituted as a separate province by carving out
certain portions from the provinces of Bihar, Orissa and
Madras. As centuries rolled by, Orissa continued to
invite heros, Scholars and prophets alike. Famous Kings
like Samudra Gupta and Harsha Siladitya came to Orissa
on political missions while scholars like Prajna and
Hieuen-Tsang came to learn at centers of learning.
Hieuen-Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim of the 7th
century who visited Orissa was surprised to see the
University of Puspagiri imparting knowledge to
innumerable scholars now lying buried under Buddhist
complex at Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri-Udayagiri.
Various prophets visited Orissa, the significant among
those visits is the visit of Adi Sankaracharya in 9th
century to Puri to make it a center of his mission and a
towering citadel of his spiritual ideology & message. He
established four monasteries in four corners of Indian
Peninsula out of which “ The Gobardhan Pitha” of Puri
was one of the most significant. Another Great Saint
Ramanujacharya, the propounder of Visista Dwaita
philosophy also visited Puri and established the Emar
Matha. In the same century Jayadev composed his world
famous lilting treatise “Gita Govinda”. Subsequently in
16th century Sri Chaitanya, the exponent of the Bhakti
Cult came to Orissa and made Puri his abode for last 18
years of his life. His contemporary Pancha Sakha i.e.
Sri Jagannath Das, Sri Achyutananda Das, Sri Balaram Das,
Ananta & Yasobanta were spiritual stalwarts and literary
luminaries of the time.
Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, Kabi Surya Baladev
Ratha, Radhanath Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Pandit
Gopabandhu Dash, Pandit Nilakantha Das, Godabaris Mishra,
Kalandi Charan Panigrahi, Sachidananda Routray & many
others have contributed substantially to the language &
literature of Orissa.
Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das was the architect of Modern
Orissa and subsequently Sri Nabakrushna Chowdhury, Dr.
Harekrishna Mahatab, Sri Bijayananda Patnaik & others
engineered their best efforts for catapulting Orissa to
himalayan heights of fame & glory.
In fact, Orissa has become a multi dimensional,
multi coloured, many splendoured, vibrant & boisterous
modern state all set on its journey in the present
millenium to make its presence and voice felt in the
nooks & crannies of the world through the Universal Cult
of brotherhood, its unique cultural heritage, luxuriant
forests & wild life, sprawling Chilika Lake, bountiful
coastline, wide range of tribes & colourful canvass of
art & culture.
Orissa has been resurgent again rejuvenating and
resuscitating its ancient glory, glamour & greatness
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