LITERATURE, SOCIO-POLITICAL

CONSCIOUSNESS AND CHANGE

A . Indigenous attempts at social reforms :

1. Riee of Edahima Dhkzma and its influence on

Orissan Society.

The e a r l y ind igenous a t t empt a t soc io-

r e l i g i o u s r e f o r m a t i o n i n O r i s s a 1 s sought i n t h e

founda t ion and r o p a g a t i o n of Mahirna Dharrna. A

re format ive s e c t , i t emerged i n mid-nineteenth

c e n t u r y O r i s s a a s a movement which found f o l l o w i n g

among t h e t r i b e s and c l a s s e s g e n e r a l l y considered

lower i n Brahmanical h i e r a r c h y .

Mahlma Gosa in , the founder of t h e Dharma, had appeaed i n

t h e ho ly r l i g i o n s t e of P u r i I n 1826 . During h i s s t a y

t h e r e he sought t o e s t a b l i s h h i s t h e o r y of Advai ta

(non-dual ism ) b e f o r e t h e a s s o c i a t i o n of l e a r n e d men i n

t h e S r i Jaganna th Temple b u t found no f o l l o w i n g . F r o m t h e r e he went t o Kapi las H i l l i n Dhenkanal

d i s t r i c t and a f t e r a r d e n t tapasya (penance) a t t a i n e d

Siddhi u l t i m a t e r e a l i s a t i o n ) i n '1862. Mahima Gosain

then went o u t on a miss ion t o spread h i s

message i n t h e c o a s t a l d i s t r i c t of Cut tack , P u r i ,

Ganjam and i n t h e f e u d a t o r y s t a t e s of Dhenkanal

Athagarh , Hind01 ,Baudh and Sonpur. His message

was a l s o w e l l r e c e i v e d i n t h e a r e a s of Sambalpur

and Anugul . He e s t a b l i s h e d c e n t e r s of Mahima

Dharma c a l l e d Alekha Tungis wherever he went

which d i s s e m i n a t e d h i s message . H l s parasanyasis

( d i s c i p l e s ) had a s t r i c t i n s t r u c t i o n not t o

r e t i r e t o f o r e s t bu t t o l i v e t h e most a u s t e r e

i i f e i n c o u r s e of wanderings a c r o s s v i l l a g e s

and o t h e r inhabited a r e a s .

The miss ion of Mahima Gosaln soon bore f r u i t and

:he number of h i s a d h e r e n t s swelled i n t h e

c o a s t a l d i s t r i c t of C u t t a c k and p u r i l . Mahima

Gosain never v i s l t e d Balasoe p e r s o n a l l y b u t due

t o t h e miss lonary e n t e r p r i s e of h l s Sanyasis

t h e f a i t h found wide acceptance l n v a r i o u s

i o c a l i t i e s of t h e district. Alekha Tungls and

Ashramas came up a t Bhadrak, Balasore, Khalra, 2

Basa, Sore , Ja leswar , B a l i a p a l and Langaleswar .

Mahima Gosain gave up h l s mor ta l f rames

i n 1876 b u t l e f t behind t h e a b l e s t spokes man

of t h e Dharma i n h i s a r d e n t d i s c i p l e Bhimabhoi . The tradition conta ined i n Baudhagan 0 Doha and

medieval bhakt i songs of t h e famous Pancha Sakha

found po ignant e x p r e s s i o n i n h i s w r i t i n g s . Stutichintamani and myriad Bhajans of ~ h i m a b h o i

powerful ly expressed n o t o n l y t h e mys t ic i d e a s

of p e r s o n a l s a l v a t i o n b u t env isaged ways of

redemption f o r man i n s o c i e t y from h i s c r u e l 3

d e s t i n y . Bhima was prepared t o consign h i s s o u l

In t h e h e l l if i t could save mankind from d e s t i t u t i o n . He sang i n e a r n e s t n e s s :

Boundless is the anguish and misery of the living,

who can Bee it and tolerate;

let my soul be condemned to hell. 4

But let the universe be redeemed .

The v i s i o n of an apocalypse, t h e end of

Kallyuga, always occupled a prominent p l a c e i n

Ehirna s h o l ' s moral and s o c i a l ph i losophy . To h i m

s o c i e t y was a p i c t u r e of d e p r a v i t y t h a t

iacked c h a r a c t e r . Theref o r e , he e n t r e a t e d men

t o came t o t h e pa th of r e c t i t u d e . The

h o r r i f y i n g s p e c t a c l e of t h e f amlne 1865-66 had

shaken h i s h e a r t . He sang " t h e day t h e God

of people would be t h e king, I w l l l b o w down

t o him". Bhima had an i n n a t e sense of

confidence i n t h e a c a p a c i t y of men t o change

h i s d e s t i n y f o r t h e b e t t e r . For t h i s he

q u e s t i o n e d i d o l a t r y d i s c r i m i n a t i o n between man

and man i n t h e name of c a s t e and sex and a l l

concepts of p o l l u t i o n and p u r i t y . To h i m God

was one and i n d e s c r i b a b l e . Yet He l i v e d i n a l l

beings "from t h e inan imate t o t h e animate, f rom 5 i n s e c t s t o b i r d s " i n e q u a l measure . For men

Bhima envis ioned o n l y two c a s t e s one male

and t h e o t h e r female . A s r e g a r d s commensal

a t t ~ t u d e s , h i s injunction was t o " e a t a t every

place w i t h o u t compunction about c a s t e " and t o

"ea t a l l s o r t s of food whether f l s h , meat of

kanji ( a brew of r i c e ) " .

The teachings of Bhima Bhoi marked a

r a d l c a l s h i f t from t h e c a r d i n a l p r e c e p t s of

Mahima D h a r m a . a s had been enloyed upon i t s

f o l l o w e r s by Mahlma Gosain. His t e a c h i n g s were

a l s o an a f f r o n t t o t h e c u l t i v a t e d s o c l a l

attitudes and p r a c t i c e s of t h e upper c a s t e s .

Mahlma Gosain had l a l d emphasis on non-violence

lead ing t o vegetarianism, a p r a c t i c e g e n e r a l l y

a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e Kulin s e c t i o n s of t h e

Brahmins who d i d not e a t non-vegetar ian food . I t

was an e a s i e r o p t i o n f o r t h e depressed c l a s s e s

t o a c q u i r e s o c i a l accep tance and respectability.

But Bhima Bhoi was e s s e n t i a l l y a man r o o t e d

i n t h e e t h o s of t h e Kandha t r i b e t o which

he belonged and r e g u l a r l y a t t e n d e d i t s assembly.

The e g a l i t a r i a n p r a c t i c e s of t h e K a n d h a s such

a s widow remarr iage and community c e l e b r a t i o n

of f e s t i v a l s and p a r t a k i n g o f food had an

abiding impress ion on h i s p e r s o n a l i t y . H i s

tinreserved p a r t i c i p a t i o n and approva l of t h e s e

? r a c t i c e s enab led h i m t o communicate h i s r a d i c a l

rnessage t o h i s people a s a l s o t o t h e people

of t h e c u l t i v a t i n g and a r t i s a n c a s t e s more 6

e a s i l y .

Bhlma Bhoi's message g r a d u a l l y c r y s t e l i s e d

l n t o a r a d i c a l s o c i a l - c o n s c i o u s n e s s among h i s

f o l l o w e r s . t h e y innova ted a new tradition . t h e y

re fused t o e a t food from t h e h o u s e s o f

srahmins t h i n k i n g them t o be t h e perpetration of

s o c l a l i n e q u a l i t y . T h e y t o o d i d no t e a t o f f e r i n g s

'rom t h e temples . They never r e s p e c t e d any f l a g

ho is ted on t h e temples .

Though Bhlma himself would have f e l t a g a i n s t

a t any a t t e m p t t o r u n down Jagannath, f o r he

hlmself r e v e r e d t h e d e l t y a s t h e symbol of

r e l i g i o u s c a t h o l i c i t y i n O r l s s a , a s e c t i o n of

h i s f o l l o w e r s became ex t remely c r i t i c a l of

Jagannath worship. They f e l t t h a t f o r c i b l e e n t r y

l n t o t h e Jagannath temple would open up new

awareness f o r s o c i a l m o b i l i t y i n t h e Hindu

system. For t h e purpose t h e y made a long march

from Dhenkanal t o P u r i us ing k i n g s h i p network . This i n v i t e d r e s i s t a n c e from t h e Pandas ( temple

p r i e s t ) which r e s u l t e d i n a v i o l e n t r i o t i n

f r o n t of t h e temple on 1st March 1 8 8 1 . The

v e r n a c u l a r p r e s s expressed concern a t t h e unseemly

behaviour of t h e f o l l o w e r s of hi ma and d e s c r i b e d

them a s "nomadic persons resembling t h e l o c a l Kelas

(snake charmers ) " I .

The i n c i d e n t , however, evoked s u p p o r t i v e

response i n a s e c t i o n of t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l c i r c l e . Akshaya Kumar Dut t , a l e a d i n g s o c i a l re former of

the time p r a i s e d t h e Mahima Dharma's(fol1owers of

Mahiam) f o r t h e i r bo ldness . He c a h a r a c t e r i s e d t h e 8

movement a s p r o g r e s s i v e . The immediate impact of

t h e s p r e a d of Mahima Daharma on s o c i a l

s t r a t i f i c a t i o n i n t h e d i s t r i c t of Balasore p e r

s e i s no t e v i d e n t from any contemporary r e c o r d . The census r e p o r t of 1881 d i d not r e t u r n any

body p r o f e s s i n g Mahima f a i t h . But t h e f a c t t h a t

t h e r i s e of Manima Dharma a s a r e f o r m a t i v e f o r c e

i n l a t e 1900 c e n t u r y roused c o n s i d e r a b l e s o c i a l

consc iousness amongst t h e lower c a s t e s of O r i s s a

can h a r d l y be d i s p u t e d . I t p rov ided an avenue

t o them t o e a r n s o c i a l r e s p e c t a b i l i t y s o f a r

den ied t o them. The s p r o u t i n g of Alekha Tungis

i n Ba lasore l i k e any o t h e r p a r t of O r l s s a and

the immense p o p u l a r i t y of Bhima Bhoi's B h a j a n s

a r e l i v i n g tes t imony t o t h i s f a c t .

i i . Influence of Brahmo movement

The Brahmo movement of Bengal s t a r t e d by

Raja Ram Mohan Roy i n 1828 t o p ropaga te Vedant ic

rr,onism t o purge a l l c o r r u p t i n g p r a c t i c e s of

Erahmanic Hinduism and t o b r ing about such

s o c i a l re forms a s t h e u p l l f t of a women, removal

of c a s t e p r e j u d i c e s and t h e spread of modern

educa t ion had i t s i n e v l t a b l e impact on t h e s o c i a l

l i f e of 1 9 t h c e n t u r y O r i s s a .

Ba lasore and Cut tack were t h e two maln

c e n t e r s where t h e Brahrno movement had found an

easy f o o t - h o l d . A s e a r l y a s 1855 Brahmo p r a y e r s

were being held a t a t h e Mayurbhan] pa lace of

Motiganj Bazar i n Balasore town . A r e g u l a r

congrega t ion of t h e Samaj was e s t a b l i s h e d t h e r e i n

October 1869s. The founders who inc luded F a k l r

Mohan S e n a p a t i , were zea lous about t h e e t h l c a l

t e a c h i n g s of t h e S a m a j . t h e c o n g r e g a t ~ o n s t a r t e d a t

f i r s t w i t h f o u r members. But i t soon i n c r e a s e d

t o 19 w i t h i n s i x months. Seven of them were t h e

n a t i v e of O r i s s a , t h e r e s t being Bengal is i n 9

government S e r v i c e . The reason f o r e s t a b l i s h i n g t h e

r e g u l a r congrega t ion i n Ba lasore had an

i n t e r e s t i n g background . According t o F a k i r

%ohanar s account Brahmonisms I n Balasore was

:he handiwork of one I s a n Chandra Basu a

Brahmo p r e a c h e r from C a l c u t t a . His work came

a t a t ime when t h e educated youth from t h e

town were i n a quandary about t h e u s e s of

?!I ndu r e l i g i o n s i n t h e f a c e of aggressive

propagat ion of C h r i s t i a n i t y . But s i n c e not many

3f them had t h e courage t o q u i t Hlndulsm, t h e y

foilnd l n Brahmoism a savlng grace . Fak i r Mohan

:~ lmse l f ands Radhanath Ray were f a c i n g t h i s

inane q u e s t i o n . So when I s a n Basu came t o

P,alasore t h e y made immediate acqua in tance w i t h

bj:m a f t e r a whi le , however, F a k l r Mohan f e l t o u t

w i t h Basu a s t h e l a t t e r swl tched from

l e l i g i o n t o t h e l s s u e of language and t r i e d

t o prove t h e e x c e l l e n c e of Bengall over Or iya .

liext F a k i r Mohan found company i n ano ther Brahmo

named Prasanna Kumar Chaturya, a ~ e n g a i i c l e r k who

came t o t h e S a l t O f f i c e a t Balasore .Soon t h e y

conducted Brahmo S e r v i c e every Sunday evening

a t C h a t u r y a l $ r e s i d e n c e which s tood behind t h e

temple of Jhareswar Mahadev s e p a r a t e d by a

narrow al leyway. But here t o o a t e r r l b l e

shock awai ted F a k i r Mohan. s e r v i n g of ' s p i r i t ' a t

the end of t h e congrega t ion , which ~ a k i r Mohan

notes , had became a p a r t of r i t u a l of t h e

Brahmos a l l ove r . T h i s made him p a r t h i s camp w i t h Cahaturya ' s congregat ion . A f t e r t h i s

r e g u l a r congregat ion c o n s i s t i n g of Damodar pr,

Das, Govinda Prasad Das, J ayakr i shna Chaudh~

Bholanath Babu, Fak i r Mohan himsel f and a

o t h e r c a s u a l a t t e n d e r s who s t a r t e d i n t h e isrl

b u i l t house on t h e western edge of M o t l g

10 Bazar belonging t o t h e Maharaja of ~ a y u r b h a n j .

However, t h e sp read of Brahmoism

Balasore remained eve r conf ined t o a .

Engl lsh-educated l ead ing i n d i v i d u a l s and off1

goer s . The s t r o n g orthodoxy of Hindus In ,

d i s t r i c t l i k e e l s e where i n contemporary (21:.

a f fo rded a sma l l p rospec t of conve r s ions on

l a r g e s c a l e . But t h e adduc t ive i n f l u e n c e sf .

movement cont inued t o spread and t h e word

its re fo rma t ive i d e a s s lowly gained #;i:.

among the informed c i r c l e of t h e population.

Brahmo mouth p i e c e Dharma B o d h i n i was b r ~ - .

o u t i n 1 8 7 4 from t h e town. Through r:

j o u r n a l en l igh tened Brahmos l i k e Madhusudan

Pya r i Mohan Acharya and Viswanath Kar made effx:

t o popu la r i se Brahmo i d e a s . Marriage of Mah;:;

S r i ram Chandra Bhan] of Mayurbhanj w i t h

doughter of Keshab Chandra Sen, h igh p r l e s t

the neo-Brahmo s e c t , added p r e s t i g e t o t h e movement

i n O r i s s a .

i i i . oriya language controversy

Where a s t h e s o c i o - r e l i g i o u s r e f o r m a t i o n

movement undertaken I n O r i s s a by t h e Mahima

Dharma and t h e Brahmo-Samajhad a t b e s t a

p e r i p h e r a l lmpact on t h e l a t e 1 9 t h c e n t u r y

3 r l s s a n s o c i e t y t h e c o n t r o v e r s y t h a t was t h e

z a i s e d about t h e same t ime regard ing t h e

s u i t a b i l i t y of ~ r i y a a s a medium of i n s t r u c t i o n

l n t h e newly e s t a b l i s h e d v e r n a c u l a r and Engl i sh

s c h o o l s of O r l s s a r e a l l y s t e e r e d t h e h o r n e t ' s n e s t .

I t was a m a t t e r of s t a r k misfortune f o r t h e

Or lyas . The O r i s s a of y o r e , by t h e time t h e

E r i t i s h occupled i t , had been reduced t o a

dismembered bunch of a d m ~ n i s t r a t i v e a r e a s "grown

i;p almost ha l f -hazard a s a r e s u l t of conques t s ,

s u p e r c e s s l o n of former r u l e r s and of a d m i n i s t r a t i v e

convenience"l l . Large chunks of Oriya-speaking

a r e a s remained d i s t r i b u t e d among c e n t r a l , Madras

and Bengal p rov inces . Even t h e c o a s t a l s t r e t c h

which was annexed by t h e B r i t i s h , l anguished a s

a mere appendage of t h e Bengal p rov ince . The

Bengal i c l e r k s and petty o f f i c i a l s formed t h e

second wrung of t h e company a d m i n i s t r a t i o n .

~ d u c a t e d ~ r i y a s , however, capable i n read ing and

i n t e r p r e t i n g t h e medieval o r n a t e Kavyas and

Puranas i n Oriya h a r d l y q u a l i f i e d t o l a y c l a i m

f o r a s h a r e I n t h e governance of t h e i r won

count ry . Commenting on such a s o r r y s t a t e of

the O r i y a s Surendra Mohanty , t h e well-known

l l t e r a t e u r and c r i t i c s of O r i s s a w r i t e s : " t h e

o u t - s i d e r s who had i n g r a t i a t e d themselves w i t h

:he company a d m l r ~ i s t r a t i o n and who had fo l lowed

the company t o O r i s s a a s c a r p e t beggars and

adventure rs came t o a c q u i r e an a r t i f i c i a l

importance and a g r i p over t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ,

t h r e a t e n i n g t h e c u l t u r a l and economic

e x t i n c t i o n of t h e Or lyas . A l l t h i s was done w i t h

rhe connivance of Government I n F o r t Williams,

never seek ing an o p p o r t u n i t y t o understand t h e

problems of t h e people o r t h e i r interests and

a s p i r a t i o n excep t , of course , a s i n t e r p r e t e d by

t h e s e i n t e r e s t e d i n t e r m e d i a r i e s . No wonder,

t h e r e f o r e , t h e Or iyas who had once been I n t h e

vanguard of t h e c u l t u r a l and p o l i t i c a l l i f e of

Ind ia , suddenly found themselves consigned t o

o b l i v i o n and unmi t iga ted backwardness i n t h e

beginning of t h e n i n e t e e n t h century"1L.

The problem of a d m i n i s t r a t i o n was a t t e n d e d

t o i n some measure a f t e r t h e famine. Pr icked

by a s e n s e of g u i l t , a s i t were, o f f i c e r s of

t h e B r i t i s h Government began r e p a i r i n g t h e p a s t

n e g l e c t i n f l i c t e d upon O r i s s a and sought t o

remedy t h e s i t u a t i o n wherever t h e y could . About

t h i s t ime what t h e language cont roversy d l d f o r

the s u r f e i t of Oriya i n t e l l e c t u a l l e a d e r s h i p

no o t h e r movement u n t i l then had done.

A s e a r l y a s 1862 P a t t e r s o n , t h e Execut ive

3 f f i c e r of Ba lasore , had g iven a s u g g e s t i o n

f o r r e p l a c i n g Clriya by t h e Berigall language i n

Scvernment-run s c h o o l s of t h e d i s t r i c t . The

:ommlssioner i n h i s l e t t e r t o t h e Government of

?enga l wro te : " A s however , Eegalee and Ooryah

1 s t o u g h t I n t h e Government School a t Ba lasore ,

t h a t i n s t i t u t i o n does n o t , i n h i s opinion, a f f o r d

t o o t h e r depar tments t h e a s s i s t a n c e lt would , were t h e v e r n a c u l a r s u b s t i t u t e d f o r Bengale and

p u p i l s be ing , a s f a r a s t h e s c h o o l i s

concerned, i g n o r a n t of t h e language i n which

t h e Bus iness of t h e ~ i s t r i c t i s conducted,

situation i n p u b l i c o f f i c e r s can no t t o be he ld

ou t t o them a s inducements , and a s t h e reward

of exert ion"13. The i n s p e c t o r of schools , M e d l i c o t t

i n A p r i l 1863 a l s o r e p o r t e d t h a t Oriya was

r e g u l a r l y being t o u g h t i n t h e Balasore Z i l l a

School a s a second language and more s t u d e n t s

sought a f t e r t h e s u b j e c t f o r t h e Entrance

~ x a r n i n a t i o n . But a s t h e language possess ing no

l i t e r a t u r e f u r n i s h e d l i t t l e m a t t e r f o r a t r y i n g

examinat ion. H i s p roposa l was, t h e r e f o r e , not t o

encourage t h e boys of t h e h igher c l a s s e s t o

opt f o r O r i y a a s a m e a n s of evadlng l a b o u r

necessary f o r t h e acquirement of ~ e n ~ a l e e l l . W .

5. Atkinson, t h e D l r e c t o r of P u b l i c i n s t r u c t i o n , not j u s t concur red w i t h t h e op ln ion expressed

by h i s I n s p e c t o r of s c h o o l s bu t a l s o added a

r i d e r i n h i s submission t o t h e L t . Governor

::f Bengal i n May 1863 t o c o n s i d e r p u t t l n g

svery s t u d e n t of O r i s s a s c h o o l s t o an

3 d d l t i o n a l t a s k of t a k i n g Eengal i a s a

secondary language .

R . N . Shore , t h e Commissioner of O r l s s a

piqued a t t h i s o n s p i r a t o r l a l suggestion of t h e

Dl rec tor of P u b l i c ~ n s t r u c t i o n po in ted o u t I n h i s

June 1863 communication t o t h e L t . governor

t h a t t h e p r o p o s a l i f c a r r i e d o u t would c l o s e

the U n i v e r s i t y t o a l l excep t t h e sons of 15

Bengali p a r e n t s f rom o r i s s a .

I n 1865 when T.Revenshaw became t h e

commissioner he drew t h e a t t e n t i o n of t h e

~ o v e r n m e n t of Bengal t o t h e d i smal s t a t e of

o r i y a language i n t h e advanced c l a s s e s of t h e

schools i n O r i s s a . T h i s t r i g g e r e d a f r e s h bout

of c o n t r o v e r s y regard ing t h e e x t e n t t o which t h e

c r i y a language should be employed i n t h e s c h o o l s

I n O r i s s a . W . S . Atklnson I n August 1869 , l a r g e l y

reiterated h i s op in ion on t h e ground t h a t , i t

would be v e r y much t o t h e advantage of t h e

~ e o p l e of O r i s s a t o con t inue t o l e a r n Bengal i

~ h a n t o a t t e m p t t o develop a new l i t e r a t u r e and a

*ducat ion.

The ingratiation of c e r t a l n Bengali Officials

b a t h t h i s mot iva ted op ln ion was c l e a r l y v i s i b l e . #.!mar Charan Haldar , a Bengal i Deputy I n s p e c t o r of

zchool, advocated t h e replacement of Or lya by

3engal i i n view of a s t h e a v a l l a b i l l t y of good

number of t h e t e x t books i n t h a t language and

the s c a r c i t y of t h e same i n o r i y a . Shiva Das

a h a t t a c h a r y a , o t h e r Deputy I n s p e c t o r of s c h o o l s

was t r a n s f e r r e d from Balasore i n 1870 f o r

nolding s i m i l a r views openly. K a n t i l a l Bhat tacharya , a t e a c h e r of Balasore s c h o o l , publ i shed a

pamphlet c a l l i n g UdiaEkti Svatantra Bhasa Noi and

f u r t h e r f u e l e d t h e enrag ing c o n t r o v e r s y . Rajendra

La1 M i t r a , a noted a n t i q u a r i a n and s c h o l a r from

a m g a l who c o n t r i b u t e d a r t i c l e s on 0 r i s s a t o

the j o u r n a l 3 of t h e A s i a t i c S o c i e t y of Bengal

supported t h e s h o r t - s i g h t e d a n t i - o r i y a movement . He

held t h a t a language spoken by 20 l a k h s of

popula t ion of t h e O r i s s a d i v i s i o n of t h e

Bengal p r e s i d e n c y , was u n l i k e l y t o deve lop i n t o

a f u l l - f l e d g e d language. The pro-Bengal i group

picked up M i t r a ' s argument and a g g r e s s i v e l y

campaigned t h e i r case through Utkal Hi ta i sh in i , a

weekly j o u r n a l and such a s s o c i a t i o n s a s t h e

Debating Club and t h e Cut tack s o c i e t y .

I t was t o such formidable c h a l l e n g e s

t h a t a f i n e noted Or iyas of a t h e time t o have

had some chance of coming i n c l o s e c o n t a c t w i t h

the l o c a l Engl i sh ~ d m i n i s t r a t o r s along w i t h some

lead ing n a t u r a l i s e d Bengal is of O r i s s a p u t up a

s t r o n g r e s i s t a n c e and u l t i m a t e l y own t h e day. The

3tkal Dipeeka of Gouri Sankar Roy and t h e Sambad

Vahika of F a k i r Mohan S e n a p a t i were i n t h e f o r e -

f r o n t of a t h e pro-Oriya campaign . Even a

s o c i e t y c a l l e d Utka l U l l a s i n i Sabha owed i t s

o r i g i n t o t h e language c o n t r o v e r s y . The Sabha

wi tnessed r e g u l a r assembl ies i n s u p p o r t of t h e

cause of t h e Or iyas .

R. L. Mar t in who r e p l a c e d M e d l i c o t t a s t h e

I n s p e c t o r of t h e s c h o o l s f o r t u n a t e l y took a pro-

o r i y a s t a n d . I n a s t r o n g l y argued communication t o

the D i r e c t o r of P u b l i c I n s t r u c t i o n , he sugges ted

t h a t " what a f t e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n , seems t o be

r e a l l y n e c e s s a r y 1s. t o s t r i k e a t a t h e r o o t of

the m a t t e r and do i n O r i s s a what has been,and i s

being done i n eng gal"'^. Commissioner Revenshaw who

was g r e a t l y i n f a v o u r of e s t a b l i s h i n g Oriya a s a

recognised language of a l l s c h o o l s I n O r i s s a found

i n Mar t in a s t r o n g advocate of h i s views.

Among a o t h e r European o f f i c i a l s who s t r o n g l y

supported t h e Oriya, when t h e language c o n t r o v e r s y

was a t i t s h e i g h t t h e fo remos t was John Beames

an I . C . S . o f f i c e r . John Beames , whom F a k i r Mohan

openly admired a s h i s mentor, wro te i n r e f e r e n c e

t o t h e c o n t r o v e r s y i n h i s comparative grammar of

t h e "Modern Aryan Languages o f India" t h a t "we

a r e bound t o f i g h t t o o t h and n a i l a g a i n s t t h e

Bengali t h e o r y by upholding t h e speech of t h e

l andfo lk and keeping them t o p u r i f y and improve

i t , t o r e n d e r i t imposs ib le f o r i n t e r e s t e d person

t o e s t a b l i s h any b a r r i e r between t h e p r e - i n t e r course 17

of a l l c l a s s e s of s o c i e t y " .

The L t . Governor of Bengal saw m e r i t i n

t h e , c a u s e of Oriya. A t h i s i n s t a n c e f i n a l l y

t h e language c o n t r o v e r s y ended w i t h t h e

Government's d e c i s i o n t o r e c o g n i s e Or iya a s t h e

s o u l medium of i n s t r u c t i o n i n a l l Or iya s c h o o l s .

~ e a v i n g a s i d e inter-community acrimony t h e language

c o n t r o v e r s y had one b e n e f i c i a l e f f e c t . I t c r e a t i n g

an atmosphere i n O r i s s a i n which t h e

i n d i v i d u a l i t y of t h e language was f i r m l y

established .

i v . coming of native press and growiag awareness

and fonaation of opinion on administration.

The r e n a i s s a n c e s p i r i t which a was roused

by t h e language c o n t r o v e r s y mani fes ted i t s e l f i n

b r i n g i n g forward p u b l i c e n t e r p r i s e t o e s t a b l i s h

p r i n t i n g p r e s s e s i n O r i s s a . T h i s helped p u b l i c -

s p i r i t e d i n d i v i d u a l s t o d i s s e m i n a t e t h e i r views

and p u t forward c o n s t r u c t i v e i d e a s on v a r i o u s s o c i o -

p o l i o t i c a l i s s u e s of t h e t ime. S i n c e r e e f f o r t

were made a l s o t o form opin ion on impor tan t

a d m i n i s t r a t i v e p o l i c i e s of t h e B r i t i s h Government.

Three decades a f tar t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t

of t h e f irst p r i n t i n g p r e s s by t h e m i s s i o n a r i e s

a t C u t t a c k i n 1837 e f f o r t s were made t o e s t a b l i s h

p r i n t i n g p r e s s e s i n O r i s s a . As i n e v e r y o t h e r

f i e l d , ~ a h a r a ] a s l e a d i n g Zamindars and budding

l i t e r a t u r e were i n t h e f o r e f r o n t of t h i s new

movement.

The C u t t a c k P r i n t i n g Company, t h e f i r s t of i t s

kind was e s t a b l i s h e d by Gaur i Shankar Roy i n 1866

a t C u t t a c k . The c a t a s t r o p h e famine of 1865-66

had has tened i t s b i r t h . Roy i n c o - o p e r a t i o n

with V i c h i t r a n a n d a Das and Lala Jagmohan Rai , t h e f i rs t modern p lay-wr igh t of o r i s s a , b rought

about Utkal Dipika a s a weekly newspaper from

Cut tack P r i n t i n g Company through Li tho p r o c e s s .

Vich i t rananda Das , being P o l i t i c a l A s s i s t a n t t o

the Commissioner of O r i s s a w a s i n a p o s i t i o n t o

e x e r t a l l h i s o f f i c i a l i n f l u e n c e and a u t h o r i t y

t o o b t a i n s d o n a t i o n s from t h e Rajas and t h e

Zamlndars of O r i s s a t o promote t h i s news paper . Surendra Mohanty whi le c h r o n l c l l n g l l f e of

Madhusudan Das wro te : " From such a humble

beginning t h e Cut tack p r i n t i n g Company grew i n t o

an i n f l u e n t i a l institution and nothing wroth w h i l e

had happened i n t h e second h a l f of t h e 1 9 t h

c e n t u r y O r i s s a , which had no t been d e l i b e r a t e d and

deba ted i n t h e premises of . t h e C u t t a c k p r i n t i n g 18 Company" .

Gouri Shankar r e f e r r e d t o t h e common p a r l a n c e

a s t h e f a t h e r of j o u r n a l i s m i n O r i s s a s i n g l e -

handly b u i l t up Utkal Dipika a s a powerful medium

of p u b l i c o p i n i o n i n O r i s s a a t a t ime when

the o b j e c t i v e c o n d i t i o n s f o r an e n l i g h t e n e d

p u b l i c l i f e were w o e f u l l y l ack ing . The j o u r n a l ' s

k c a t h i n g s a t i r e was a s much b i t i n g a s i t s

polemic s c i n t l l l a t i n g " . No doubt , keeping i n mind

the kind of pa t ronage t h e j o u r n a l r e c e i v e d and

the k ind of i s s u e s t h a t were being thrown up i n

an abnormal ly d e p r e s s i n g s i t u a t i o n a f t e r t h e

famine, t h e j o u r n a l had t o a t t imes p i c k up

i s s u e s t h a t concerned t h e upper s e c t i o n s of t h e

s ~ c i e t y t h e most . I n t h e c o n t r o v e r s y r a i s e d i n

r e f e r e n c e t o t h e extension of some of t h e

p r o v i s i o n s of t h e Bengal Tenancy Act i n 1885,

i f tkal Dipika q u i e t u n w i t t i n g l y took up t h e cause

of t h e l and-hold ing c l a s s and s t r o n g l y

a r t i c u l a t e d i t s e l f a g a i n s t t h e A c t ' s e x t e n s i o n t o

Gr i ssa . The i n c i d e n t n o t on ly exposed t h e

nexus t h a t e x i s t e d among t h e landed a r i s t o c r a c y ,

the v e r n a c u l a r p r e s s and t h e p e t t y o f f i c i a l d o m

but a l s o ea rned f o r t h e j o u r n a l a bad name . 19

Some even c a l l e d t h e J o u r n a l a s an 'organ' .

I n c i d e n t a l l y Utkal Dipika was a l s o a

willing s u p p o r t e r of t h e Zaaindars p r a c t i c e of

c o l l e c t i n g i l l e g a l payments from t h e i r t e n a n t s i n

a l l the t h r e e districts of O r i s s a on customary

grounds. H m e v e r , t h i s s i n g u l a r a b e r r a t i o n on t h e

p a r t of Utka l Dipika though on i s s u e t h a t

concerned t h e economic well-being of t h e mass of

t h e p e a s a n t r y d i d not d imin ish t h e s t a t u r e of

Gouri Shankar i n p u b l i c eye. A f t e r Madhusudan's

r e t u r n t o Cut tack from C a l c u t t a , Gouri Shankar

became h i s c h i e f c o l l a b o r a t o r and c o l l e a g u e . Both

worked t o g e t h e r i n c o n c e r t f o r w e l l over t h r e e

ecades t o b u i l d up t h e p o l i t i c a l l i f e of O r i s s a . Thei r e f f o r t a t n i f - l c a t l o n of t h e Orlya-speaking

a r e a s under one a d m i n i s t r a t i o n on r a i s e d t h e s t a t u s

o f bo th i n p u b l l c acclaim. The coming t o g e t h e r of

t h e s e two o u t s t a n d i n g p e r s o n a l i t i e s indeed conver ted

t h e premises of t h e Cut tack P r i n t i n g Company i n t o

t h e v e r i t a b l e nerve-cen te r . of a r e s u r g e n t 0 r i s s a .

E a r l i e r Vtkal Dipika concerned i t s e l f i n

informing people on m a t t e r s such a s ' O r i s s a

famine ' , ' u se of shoes on ceremonia l occas ions

by I n d i a n g e n t r y ' , ' f u t u r e of t h e orphans '

' ex tens ion of i r r i g a t i o n ' , 'encumbered e s t a t e s i n

O r i s s a ' , ' shudhi of t h e famine s t r i c k e n people '

, ' appointment of n a t i v e s of o r i s s a t o h i g h e r

p o s t s r , and m a t t e r s ' e d u c a t i o n a l ' 'economic'

' r e l i g i o u s i e t c 2 0 . But f rom 1882 onwards i t c h a r t e d

an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r e n t course . On August 16, 1882

a p u b l i c meet ing under t h e s i g n a t u r e of h a l f a

dozen l e a d i n g persons r e p r e s e n t i n g a l l s e c t i o n s of

the e l i t e of Cut tack was convened i n t h e

premises of t h e Cut tack P r i n t i n g Company. The

o b j e c t i v e of t h e meeting was t o launch an

o r g a n i z a t i o n t h a t would f u r t h e r t h e ends of

l o c a l self-government i n O r i s s a and under take o t h e r

w e l f a r e m e a s u r e s . Going by Utkal Dipika's own

r e p o r t of August 1 9 , 1 8 8 2 , "Cuttack had never

seen a g a t h e r i n g of such magnitude" . A l l t h e

leading c i t i z e n s of Cut tack i n c l u d i n g a few

5ngl i sh men , t h e people of common rank , a t t e n d e d

t h i s meet ing . The number of p a r t i c i p a n t s and

listeners was s o overwhelming t h a t a l a r g e number

cf people had t o l i s t e n t o t h e p roceed ings ,

s tand ing o u t s i d e i n t h e corridors of t h e h a l l . The Utkal Sabha o r t h e O r l s s a A s s o c i a t i o n was born

out of s t h e d e l i b e r a t i o n s of t h i s meeting . Being

the e a r l i e s t p o l i t i c a l o r g a n i s a t i o n i n O r i s s a , t h e

Utkal Sabha s t i r r e d t h e imagina t ion of many u n t i l

i t l o s t i t s r e l e v a n c e i n 1903 when t h e Utkal

Samilani o r t h e Utk la Union conference was

formed. The Sabha "funct ioned as t h e undec la red

l e g i s l a t u r e of O r i s s a and t h e , Government a n x i o u s l y

s o l i c i t e d i t s view on a l l important m a t t e r s

r e l a t i n g t o t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of t h e O r i s s a

Div is ionn . Indeed t h e t a s k b e f o r e t h e Utkal Sabba

and its l e a d e r s h i p was a n unenviab le one. " In a

s o c i e t y and among t h e people s t r i f e - r i d d e n by

language, c a s t e and r e l i g i o n , t h e l e a d e r s h i p of

the Sabha and more p a r t i c u l a r l y Madhusudan Das i t s

a r c h i t e c t , had t h e i n escapable d u t y t o u n i t e

t h e s e groups and l e a d them towards en l igh tenment ,

articulation and awakenlng".

I n 1868 F a k i r Mohan f o l l o w i n g i n t h e f o o t

s t e p s of t h e Cut tack p r i n t i n g Company e s t a b l i s h e d

P.M.Senapati and Co. a t Ba lasore . The haranguing

exper iences which F a k i r Mohan had t o undergo i n

e s t a b l i s h i n g a p r e s s I n t h e name of a h i s company

was no l e s s e x h i l a r a t i n g a s t o r y .

I n 1868, F a k l r Mohan S e n a p a t i along w i t h

Babu J a y a k r i s h n a Chaudhury, Babu Bholanath Samata

Roy , Givinda Prasad Das, Damodar Prasad Das and

Babu Radhanath Ray f i r s t s t a r t e d a s o c i e t y . The

immediate o b j e c t i v e of t h e s o c i e t y was t o promote

and propaga te Or iya l i t e r a t u r e . The d e c i s i o n t o

form a p r i n t i n g company was taken i n t h e l i g h t

of t h i s o b j e c t i v e . Some people bought s h a r e s

because t h e y r e a l i s e d t h e t r u e s i g n i f i c a n c e of a

p r i n t i n g p r e s s . Others i n v e s t e d i n t h e company i n

t h e hope of e a r n i n g a p r o f i t . But many were

persuaded t o become s h a r e - h o l d e r s of t h e company

j u s t f o r t h e sake of it.

The cous in of F a k l r Mohan was s e n t t o

'Ca lcu t ta t o l e a r n t h e t r a d e of p r i n t i n g . The money

so r a i s e d was n o t enough f o r p rocur ing a 1st

c l a s s p r e s s from C a l c u t t a . Therefore a cheaper

p r e s s was brought from t h e Mldnapur Mission House.

an t h e appoin ted day w r l t e s F a k i r Mohan, " i t was

j o y f u l l y proclaimed t h a t p r i n t i n g would commence.

Half t h e shops I n Motlgan] Bazar c l o s e d . Even I n

the towns most prominent people came t o watch t h e

process of p r i n t i n g . The crowds I n f r o n t of t h e

p r i n t i n g p r e s s f i l l e d t h e road and brought t h e

passage of p e d e s t r i a n s t o a s t a n d s t i l l" . However,

not a s i n g l e l e t t e r was p r i n t e d . The m i s s i o n

p r e s s of Midnapur was u n f o r t u n a t e l y a d i s c a r d e d one.

A f t e r t h e i n i t i a l f a i l u r e , F a k i r Mohan

pursued h i s p r o j e c t w i t h even g r e a t e r i n t e r e s t .

with a l o a n a s s i s t a n c e up t o r u p e e s 800 from

Kishore Mohan Das, t h e b r o t h e r of Madan Mohan Das

who was a l e a d l n g Zamindars and money-lenders of

Balasore, he p rocured a Super Royal ~ l b i o n p r e s s

from C a l c u t t a . With t h e new p r e s s t h e company

produced e x c e l l e n t p r i n t bo th . i n Or iya and i n

English. The d i s t r i c t c o l l e c t o r s of Ba lasore Mr.

Bignold n o t on ly accorded h i s d e l i g h t e d

c o n g r a t u l a t i o n t o F a k i r Mohan on h i s s u c c e s s b u t

a l s o p l a c e d a l a r g e o r d e r f o r p r i n t e d f o r m s

f o r t h e Kachery . T h l s o r d e r augured w e l l f o r t h e

company g o t a good s t a r t .

The C u t t a c k P r i n t i n g Company was b r i n g i n g o u t

I l t k a l D i p i k a . T h i s prompted t h e e x e c u t i v e

committee of t h e P . M. S e n a p a t i and Company t o

p u b l i s h a f o r t - n i g h t l y j c u r n a l Bodha D a y l n i 0 B a l a s o r e

Samvada V a h i k a t h u s born c o n t a l n l n g two p a r t s i n

cne volume. The Rodha D a y i n i p a r t was devoted

t o literature and t h e Samvada Vahika c a r r i e d 2 1 rontemporary . I n 1 8 7 2 t h e j o u r n a l was upgraded

l n t o a weekly .

F a k l r Mohan was favoured by Z a m i n d a r

Eaikunthanath Dey who established t h e Dey p r e s s

rn 1873 . Bra jana th Dev founded t h e t h i r d p r e s s

ln Balasore i n 1899 . T h i s p r e s s was named a s t h e

ainod p r e s s .

The S a m a n t a Zarnindar Family of Ba lasore had

extended pa t ronage t o F a k i r Mohan's j o u r n a l .

S i m i l a r l y Raja Baikunthanath Dey extended pa t ronage

t o t h e p u b l i c a t i o n of Utka l Darpana. These two

along w i t h s e v e r a l o t h e r j o u r n a l s b rought o u t f rom

d i f f e r e n t p a r t s - of O r i s s a became t h e b e a c o n - l i g h t

of s o c i a l , c u l t u r a l and i n t e l l e c t u a l l i f e of l a t e

1 9 t h and e a r l y 2 0 t h c e n t u r y O r i s s a . The most

notab le among t h e j o u r n a l s publ i shed f rom o u t

s i d e B a l a s o r e were Sambalpur H i t a i s h i n i and

samskarak 0 Sevak , brought ou t f rom w e s t e r n O r i s s a

with t h e pa t ronage of S i r Basudev Sudha l Dev , the Maharaja of Bamanda and Utkal Prabha brought

o u t f rom Mayurbhan] a t a t h e i n i t i a t i v e of Maharaja

Sri Ramachandra Bhanja . The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj

and t h a t of Bamanda even p r e s e n t e d s u i t a b l e

rewards f o r b e s t contributions t o t h e i r j o u r n a l s

ir. a b l d t o encouragje contemporary c r e a t i v e

dhlriters. F a k i r Mohan ~ e n a p a t i , Radhanath Ray and

Madhusudan Roy l i k e a hos t of o t h e r budding

l l t e r a t e u r s of t h e t lme r e c e i v e d generous rewards

from t h e s e r o y a l p a t r o n s .

Q u i e t a p o r t i o n of t h e work t h a t f lowed

from t h e pen of t h e s e makers of modern Or iya

l i t e r a t u r e was no doubt on e i l l o g i s a t i o n of t h e

contemporary r o y a l t y . But symptom was i n h e r e n t i n

the drawbacks which t h e 1 9 t h c e n t u r y Or iya p r e s s

and j o u r n a l i s m had t o s u f f e r f rom. P e r e n n i a l

f i n a n c i a l d i f f i c u l t i e s , dogging p o v e r t y of t h e

l i t e r a t u r e , a g e n e r a l want of s u b s c r i b e r s and

u n s c i e n t i f i c management of t h e p r i n t i n g companies

were a l l t h e r e a s c r i p p l i n g handicaps y e t t o

overcome . N e v e r t h e l e s s a s t h e ch ie f medium of

Communication of t h e t ime , t h e p r e s s c o n s i d e r a b l y

se rved i t s p u r p o s e . I t became t h e major agency

of s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l awakening. Besides i t a l s o

se rved t h e purposes of p r e p a r i n g s t a n d a r d t e x t

books i n Or iya f o r s t u d e n t s and i n t h e p r o c e s s

c o n t r i b u t e d immensely i n modernis ing traditional

Oriya l i t e r a t u r e .

V. The New Literature: Its basis concerns and

the social perspectives

The new Oriya l i t e r a t u r e was a k indred o f f -

s p r i n g t o t h e Oriya eminent l l t e r a r y c r i t i c P r o f .

Khageswar Mahapatra , "Rlght a f t e r t h e g r e a t

O r i s s a famine of 1865-67, a s e n s e of awakening

began t o p r e v a i l i n t h e Oriya mind. I t was

t h e dawn of O r i s s a Renaissance. The people - the

t r a d i t i o n a l e l i t e , t h e new l i t e r a t e and t h e

nouveaux r i c h were now determined t o a s s e r t

t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l i t y and se l f - image i n t h e new

s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l c o n d i t i o n . T h e i r c o n s t r u c t i v e

a c t i v i t i e s and community-consciousness were

manifested th rough t h e i r own p r e s s , j o u r n a l s and

a s s o c i a t i o n s ~ ~ ~ .

The new l i t e r a t u r e was a complete break

away f r o m t h e medieval one. I t .had no use t o

remain s t e e p e d i n t h e mytholog ica l atmosphere.

The modern e d u c a t i o n a l sys tem and t e x t books had

a l r e a d y implan ted i n t h e minds of t h e up coming

q e n e r a t i o n s new v a l u e s of l i t e r a t u r e . I t had

a q u a t i n t e d them w i t h new forms and d i c t i o n .

The Governmentf s d e c i s i o n t o use Or iya a t t h e

lower l e v e l s of a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , t h e a c t i v i t i e s of

n l s s l o n a r i e s i n p ropaga t ing a new r e l i g i o n and a

s t i l l newer s o c i a l o u t look and i n c r e a s i n g

awareness of c u r r e n t t r e n d s i n t h e contemporary

v e r n a c u l a r l i t e r a t u r e of t h e neighbouring p r o v i n c e s

f u r t h e r c r e a t e d an atmosphere I n t h e l i t e r a r y

c i r c l e of O r i s s a which f a v o u r e d t h e emergence and

~ r o w t h of t h l s new l i t e r a t u r e .

The most d i s t l n c t l v e f e a t u r e of t h e new

literature was t h e r i s e of p r o s e . However, i t was

n o t t h e o n l y f o r m w h i c h gave v e n t t o t h e n o v e l t y

i n c r e a t i v e e x p r e s s i o n s . I n a broad sweep a lmos t

every o t h e r form of l i t e r a t u r e such a s p o e t r y ,

Drama, nove ls , b i o g r a p h y ' s , au to-b iography ' s

t r a v e l o g u e s , b e l l e l i t t e r s came w i t h i n t h e ambit

of modern Or iya l i t e r a t u r e . I n i t s c h a r a c t e r one

f l n d s t h r e e dominant s t r a n d s . F i r s t , i n a l l i t s

works t h e e s s e n c e remained i n a l i e n a b l y soaked i n

the i n a n e i d e a of humanism. Second, w h i l e f o r

1ts i n s p i r a t i o n .by and l a r g e depended upon t h e

ind igenous c u l t u r e i t brought t o l i g h t t h o s e

high p o i n t s of modern human c i v i l i s a t i o n which

corresponded t o t h e requ i rements and a s p i r a t i o n s

of t h e emergent Or iya s o c i e t y . L a s t l y , i t

c o n t i n u a l l y exhor ted r e a d e r s t o become e v e r more

aware of t h e i r m i l i e u and respond a c c o r d i n g l y .

The man who spearheaded t h e new l i t e r a r y

movement, was F a k i r Mohan S e n a p a t i , now

cons idered t h e f a t h e r of t h e modern Or iya

l i t e r a t u r e . Born i n 1843 , he s t a r t e d l i f e a s

an a s s i s t a n t t o h i s u n c l e , who was supervising

t h e r e p a i r of s a l l s of t h e quay - s i d e of

t h e o l d p a r t of Ba lasore , h i s home town. He d i d

not have t h e good f o r t u n e of g e t t i n g Engl i sh

educa t ion . But through h i s i n t e n s e d e s l r e f o r

l e a r n l n g he a c q u i r e d knowledge i n a t l e a s t f i v e

languages i n c l u d i n g Engl i sh . A t t h e dawn of h i s

c a r e e r , he t r i e d h i s hand i n t e a c h l n g a t B a r v a t i

school and t h e ' d a l a s o r e Mlssion s c h o o l . I t was

dur ing t h i s t ime, he was drawn towards c r e a t i v e

w r l t i n g . t h e second p u b l i c p r e s s i n O r l s s a came

out of t h i s i n t e n s e d e s i r e . Thorough uncanny

b r i l l i a n c e and hard work F a k i r Mohan i n t h e

second phase of h i s l i f e r o s e t o be t h e

Dewan of s e v e r a l n a t i v e s t a t e s which i n c l u d e d

N i l g i r i , Domapara and Dasapa l la . He t o o s e r v e d

f o r brief p e r i o d s a s a manger i n t h e n a t i v e

s t a t e of Keonjhar and a s an a s s i s t a n t manager

i n Dhenkanal. During h i s above assignment h i s

w i t and manager ia l c a p a c i t y had been c a l l e d

upon t o t a c k l e a number of p e a s a n t uprisings

s u c c e s s f u l l y .

I n h i s l i f e time ( 1 8 4 3 - 1918 ) F a k i r Moahan

produced h a l f a dozen f i r s t c l a s s nove ls ,

s e v e r a l s c h o o l s t o r i e s , poems and h i s au to-

biography. The s t r i k i n g f e a t u r e s o f h i s au to-

biography a r e t h e cho ice of e v e n t s and f a c t s ,

t h e l r o r g a n i s a t i o n and t h e unique s t y l e of h i s

p r e s e n t a t i o n . F a k i r Mohan has n a r r a t e d h i s l i f e

w l t h t h e equanimi ty of a person , a s i t were,

see lng t h i n g s from a d i s t a n c e . His unhappy c h l l d

hood, c o n s t a n t a i l m e n t , h i s c a r e e r a s a t e a c h e r ,

p u b l i s h e r and a d m i n i s t r a t o r , h i s mar r ied l i f e

and h i s c r e a t i v e p u r s u l t s have a l l found a

f r a n k e x p r e s s i o n i n h i s au to-b iography . H i s

t r iumphs and f a i l u r e s , g l o r i e s and embarrassment

a r e p r e s e n t e d w i t h o u t any a t t e m p t a r t s e l f - g l o r i f i c a t i o n . A s P . K . Mahanty w r i t e s : " t h e

s o u l of F a k i r Mohan a s w e l l a s t h e h i s t o r y of

the s o c i a l e v o l u t i o n of 1 9 t h c e n t u r y O r i s s a ,

emerge i n a t a n g i b l e form f rom t h e pages of

t h i s a u t o - b i ~ ~ r a ~ h ~ " ~ ~ . Bankim Chandra was w r i t i n g

h i g h l y s a n k r i t i s e d p r o s e of Nawabs Begums,

c h i e f t a i n s and neo- r ich of Bengal, ~ a k i r Mohan

concerned himself w i t h t h e o r d i n a r y c h a r a c t e r s

of everyday s o c i a l l i f e . He was l i k e " t h e

g r e a t s e r v a n t s who a s i n h i s g r e a t c l a s s i c

'Don Q u i x o t e ' i s s a i d t o have a r t i s t i c a l l y

r e f l e c t e d t h e e n t l r e Spanish n a t i o n . F a k i r Moh.an

c r e a t e d a t r u l y n a t i o n a l p i c t u r e g a l l e r y ,

r e p r e s e n t i n g a lmos t a l l l e v e l s of contemporary

o r i y a s o c i e t y " 2 4 .

A contemporary of Rama Shankar Ray, Umesh

Jhandra S a r k a r , Aparna panda and Gopal Ea l labh Das

whose nove ls of t h e tune though r e f l e c t i v e

of a s o c i a l concern y e t mainly c e n t e r e d round

romant ic l o v e , F a k i r Mohan wrote e x c l u s i v e l y

about common people and t h e i r problems i n

c o l l o q u i a l i d i o m a t i c Or iya w l t h match less s k i l l

and competence. Natabara Samanta Rai, a noted

Senapa t i s c h o l a r , s u g g e s t s t h a t a l l t h e f o u r

novels of F a k i r Mohan can be taken t o be

d e p i c t i n g t h e s o c i a l h i s t o r y of O r i s s a from t h e 25

18th t o t h e e a r l y 20 th c e n t u r y . According

t o h i s s u g g e s t i o n t h e nove.ls, Chhamana Atha

Guntha, Mamau and Prayaschi t t a corresponded t o

the p e r i o d s between 1720-1800, 1801-1840, 1841-

1880, and 1881-1920 r e s p e c t i v e l y . Taken t o g e t h e r

these works p r e s e n t a g r a n t continuum of 200

y e a r s of O r i s s a ' s s o c i a l h i s t o r y and can be

taken a s f o u r volumes of one g r e a t novel .

Chhamana A t h a Guntha ( s i x a c r e s and

e l g h t d e c i m a l s ) w r l t t e n i n 1 9 0 2 i s g e n e r a l l y

accep ted a s F a k i r Mohan's g r e a t e s t f i c t i o n a l

c r e a t i o n . I t n a r r a t e s t h e s t o r y of a d i a b o l i c a l

Hamachandra Mangaraj, who r o s e t o t h e p o s i t i o n

~f a Z a m i n d a r by a c q u i r i n g v a s t landed p r o p e r t y

from a r l c h Bengal i Musllm. H i s i n s a t l a b l e

~ h i r s t f o r l and st111 made hlni cove t t h e

f e r t i l e bu t s m a l l p l o t of s i x and h a l f a c r e s

of l a n d i n h i s neighborhood owned by a

c h i l d l e s s weaver couple, Bhagla and S a r i a .

Mangaral ' s canny maid s e r v a n t and m i s t r e s s Champa

became an e a s y accomplice i n fulfilling h i s

unholy d e s l r e . t h e unsuspec t ing S a r l a on Champa's

p e r s u a s i o n borrowed money from Mangaraj t o b u i l d

a temple i n honour of t h e l o c a l goddess. She

b e l i e v e d t h i s a c t of p i e t y would b e g e t her a

sons. But l e a v e a l o n e t h e hope of b e g e t t i n g a

son, t h e weaver couple l o s t t h e i r o n l y means

of l i v e l i h o o d , t h e s m a l l p l o t of l a n d t o

Mangaraj be ing unable t o r e p a y t h e loan .

Bhagia went mad and S a r i a d i e d of s t a r v a t i o n

a t M a n g a r a j l s door s t e p s . The m a t t e r went t o

c o u r t and Mangara] was u l t i m a t e l y imprisoned.

I n t h e j a i l he met B h a g i a . who i n u t t e r

vengeance b i t h i s nose. Tha t was not Mangaraj ' s

o r d e a l . On r e l e a s e Mangaraj d i e d under i n t e n s e

mental agony. Champa h i s t r u s t e d m i s t r e s s had

e loped w i t h a b a r b e r c a r r y i n g a l l h i s v a l u a b l e s .

B u t i n F a k i r Mohan's scheme of t h i n g s 111-

g o t t e n w e a l t h cou ld no t be d i g e s t e d . Champa was

l u l l e d by t h e b a r b a r f o r t h e wea l th who h imse l f

g o t drowned i n a r i v e r .

F l rs t s e r i a l i z e d i n t h e nionthly magazine

Utkal S a h i t y a , t h e d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e

i n v e s t i g a t i o n and t r i a l of t h e murder c a s e i n

t h i s novel were s o r e a l i s t i c t h a t people from

d l s t a n t v i l l a g e s a c t u a l l y came t o Cut tack t o s e e

f o r themse lves t h e c o u r t - t r i a l of t h e p a r t i e s

supposed t o be r e a l p e r s o n s .

Mamu ( m a t e r n a l u n c l e ) w r i t t e n i n 1933, i s

a n o t h e r g l o r y t a l e of e x p l o i t a t i o n of t h e

v i l l a g e f o l k by p e t t y Government o f f i c i a l s and

c l e r k s . Based on t h e e p i c ':Kamsa-Krishna" model

Mamu p o r t r a y s t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between a

t r e a c h e r o u s u h c l e and a s orphan nephew. Here t h e

e p i c Kamsa has appeared i n t h e g r a b of Nazar

Natabara Das. A member of t h e h i s t o r i c a l l y

evolved naw babu-c lass under c o l o n i a l

dispensat ion , Fakir Mohan has concerned himself

with the changed s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l s i t u a t i o n . A s

l n case of Ramachandra Mangaraj, i n h l s

c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s t y l e of concluding a s t o r y , Fakir

Mohan i n Mamu has landed Nazar Natabar Das i n

] a l l i n an obvious consequence of h l s ill-

treatment towards the opened nephew. In both

the cases , Fakir Moahan has used the p ro tagon i s t s

propensi ty t o indulge i n ' s i n ' and then t o

repent a t l e i s u r e , t o whip the conscience of

the l i k e - c h a r a c t e r s i n contemporary Oriya soc ie ty .

In a s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t s o c i a l s e t t i n g , Fakir

Mohan's Prayaschltta ( exp la t ion ) wr i t t en i n 1915

de l inea te s the s t o r y of two feudlng Karana

f a m i l i e s i n Or issa . The d i f f e rence out of arose a

d lspute over s t a t u s between the Srikarana Balshnab

Charan Pattanayak (shuklapahkshiya) and the o ther

Karana of t he neighbouring v i l l a g e , Shankarshana

Mohanty (krishnapakshiya). The c lannish feud between

these two f a m i l i e s pushed t h e i r r e spec t ive

v i l l a g e s i n t o a b a t t l e of l e g a l a t t r i t i o n . The

people of t he r e spec t ive v i l l a g e s consequent ia l ly

su f fe red much. But the f ami ly feud took a

d i f f e r e n t t u r n when s e c r e t l y ~ o b i n d a Chandra, the

college-going son of Baishnab Charan married

Shankarshanna's daughter ~ n d u m a t i through the

mediat ion of Shankarshanars m a t e r n a l nephew Raj iba

Lochan . When Gobinda Chandra reached once h i s

f a t h e r - i n - l a w ' s house i n t h e dead of n i g h t , he

was a t t a c k e d by t h e watchmen. A t t h i s Gobinda's

wife Indumati committed s u i c i d e and h i s mother

a l s o d i e d o u t of shock. The two f e u d i n g Karanas

r e a l i s i n g t h e f u t i l i t y of s o c i a l s t a t u s f i n a l l y

l e f t f o r Vrindabana f o r e x p i a t i o n . t h e y met

Sobinda t h e r e and r e q u e s t e d him t o r e t u r n t o t h e

v i l l a g e where amity had came t o p r e v a i l by them.

H i s t o r i c a l l y t h e contemporary Or iya s o c i e t y was

r i d d e n w l t h l n t e r - g e n e r a t i o n a l c o n f l i c t and

c o n f l i c t of s o c i a l v a l u e s . F a k i r Mohan adopted

r h i s t e n s i o n a s t h e base r n a t e r l a l f o r h i s

s h o r t s t o r i e s . He hammered a g a i n s t bo th t h e

f a n t a s y of some and t h e fanaticism of t h e

people. He e a r n e s t l y sought t o f i n d a s o l u t i o n

t o t h e p r e v a l e n t c r i s i s . He spoke a g a i n s t

p r o s t i t u t i o n and a d d i c t i o n t o l i q u o r i n h i s

"Pa tent Medicine". He cont inued h i s t i r a d e a g a i n s t

b r i d e - s a l e i n 'Birei Bisalf. he c a l l e d up s o c i e t y

a g a i n s t t h e t y r a n n y of u s u r y and dowry i n ' Adharma Bittar ( i l l - , g o t p r o p e r t y ) and 'Madha Mhanty nka

kanya Sunat (Madha M o h a n t y , ~ Daughter and Gold) . He

drew a t t e n t i o n of e v e r y one t o c h e a t i n g i n t h e

name of r e l i g i o n i n 'Dhulia B&af (The Dusty

f a k i r ) . He d e r i d e d t h e s o c l a l l y repugnant a t t i t u d e

of t h e Engl i sh educated Or iya y o u t h i n 'Dak

mnsi' (The post-man) and spoke e l o q u e n t l y i n

s u p p o r t of female e d u c a t i o n i n 'Rebati'.

Where a s F a k i r Mohan l a r g e l y p o r t r a y e d t h e

contemporary r u r a l s o c i e t y of O r l s s a i n h i s

f i c t i o n s , gl impses of urban l i f e and i t s

c o r r u p t i n g i n f l u e n c e on t h e people came ln f l a s h e s

I n some of t h e s e s h o r t s t o r i e s . Cut tack was then

t h e o n l y town and was r a p i d l y growing a s a pan-

j9rlssan c e n t e r of urban c u l t u r e . F a k i r Mohan l i v e d

I n Cut tack between 1896-1905 and exper ienced t h e

ernerglng new p a t t e r n of l i f e and v a l u e s . On t h e

upper s t r a t a of t h a t s o c i e t y he observed two

c l a s s e s of people - t h e nouveau r i c h and t h e

o f f i c i a l d o m . A l l p o r t e n d s of s o c l a l l i f e was

t h i n l y mel t ing i n t o t h e s p r e a d i n g hor izons of

t h e s e two c l a s s e s . F a k i r Mohan himself was a

members of t h a t s o c i e t y . But u n l i k e o t h e r s he

d i d n o t . l o s s h i s i d e n t i t y i n t h a t g l a r e . His

o p p o s i t i o n t o modern isa t lon was n o t c y n l c a l . For

him ' n o d e r n i s a t i o n had t o come from an awakened

s e l f - c u l t u r e and w i t h o u t r a d i c a l l y a l t e r i n g t h e 2 6

c h e r i s h e d va lue-sys tem of t h e i n d i g e n o u s s o c i e t y .

The o t h e r p i l l a r of t h e new l i t e r a t u r e

was Radhanath Ray. While F a k i r Mohan was busy

u n r o l l i n g t h e drama of human p a s s i o n s t h a t f lowed

benea th t h e d e c e p t i v e l y q u i e t s o c i a l s u r f a c e i n

t h e c e n t u r y and caused r i p p l e s i n t h e up-coming

towns, Radhanath ( 1 8 4 8 - 1 9 0 8 ) wrote p o e t r y

H e l l e n i s i n g t h e e n t i r e l and-scape of O r i s s a . I t

became l a s t i n g t r i b u t e t o h l s i n n a t e p a t r l o t l s m

when t h e f i r s t Utkal Sami lan i conclave i n

December 1903 a t Cut tack was opened w i t h h i s

a r r e s t i n g composi t ion : "Sarvesam no Janani Bharat ,

(Janani K a l p l a teyam. . . " (Bhara ta , t h e mother of every

one, mother t h e e t e r n a l . . . ) .

Born i n t h e bacic-al leys of s o u t h e r n

Balasore , Radhanath 's e a r l y p o l i t i c a l composi t ions

were i n Benga l l . A t e a c h e r by p r o f e s s i o n , i n due

time he became an i n s p e c t o r of s c h o o l s and l a t e r

swl tched t o w r i t i n g l n Or lya a t t h e i n s t a n c e of

Sir Basudav Sudhal Dev, t h e Maharaja of Bamanda.

" H i s p o e t i c e f f o r t s were i n p a r t t h e p roduc t of

t h e compulsion of h i s jobs, , o r more b r o a d l y

speaking , t h e compulsion of t h e t ime , t h e need t o

c a t e r t o a t a s t e d i f f e r e n t f rom what had h l t h e r t o

grown up on t r a d i t i o n a l p o e t r y and l i t e r a t u r e . . . .He

not only responded t o t h i s need f o r a change i n

t a s t e , b u t a l s o s u c c e s s f u l l y e s t a b l i s h e d a new

t a s t e f o r a new form of l i t e r a t u r e , on which

subsequently the e n t i r e e d i f i c e of modern Oriya

poetry was b u i l t

Radhanath was e s s e n t i a l l y a r e v e l e r i n the

past g l o r i e s of Or issa . He took f o r h l s themes

-emi-his tor ic legends from Orissan h l s t o r y o r a t

rimes adopted s t o r i e s from western mythologies t o

: t i i tably metamorphose them i n t o an unsuspecting

>? r l s sa s e t t i n g . but he was no mere aes the t e . Often

!;e i n t e r s p e r s e d h i s poems w i t h what he perceived

e v l l s i n s o c l e t y . In ' M a h a y a t r a ' , a poem of

e p i c propor t ion he rummaged through the e n t i r e

story of India t o analyse the course of

-oc le ty which l e d t o the u l t imate f a l l of the

zountry as a whole. In 'Darabar ' he r i d i c u l e d

the v a r i e t y of the so -ca l l ed upper c l a s ses of

the Or issan s o c i e t y .

Darabara was the l a s t of h i s malor poems

and was the only poem t h a t d i r e c t l y touched upon

the contemporary ~ r i y a soc ie ty . Here he came down

heavily on the manners and f r i v o l i t i e s of the

feudal a r i s t o c r a c y and o the r cohor ts of the a l i e n

ru lers . I n them he saw the fo l lowers of ~ a l i ,

as it were, whom he had v i s u a l i s e d i n Mahayatra.

The poem opens w i t h the s e t t i n g of a

'Darabara' a t Cuttack i n 1896 where the e n t i r e

ar ray of f euda l and Government o f f i c i a l had

assembled t o pay cour t t o the newly appointed

Governor of Bengal , Bihar and Orissa. A t t h i s

'Darabara' , commissioner of 0 r i s s a Cook was

scheduled t o bestow the t i t l e of "Ray Bahadur" on

the Zaamidar of Kanpurt, and the t i t l e of 'Maha-

mahopadhya ' on Samanta chandrasekhar, the f omous

19th century astronomer of Orissa , who i n c i d e n t a l l y

belonged t o a royal family.

A g a l l e r y of s a t i r i c a l p o r t r a i t s labeled by

Radhanath a s belonging t o "The new-fangled"

contemporary soc ie ty of Orissa" has been presented

between l i n e s 52 and 2 0 4 . I n a f a r c i c a l d i sp lay

of f a l s e v a n i t y he found the so-cal led e l i t e of

the land quarre l ing among themselves f o r pr iced

seeds i n t h a t ceremonial assembly. Some f l aun ted

the p a s t s t h a t they held under the government.

Some t a lked of t h e i r noble decent i n a medieval

f l o u r i s h . Some displayed t h e i r newly acquired wealth

and some of the power which they yie'lded under

the Raj. There were o ther who boasted t h e i r new-

found s t a t u s a s the l eade r of t h e people . The

v i l e at tempt of a l l t hese ca tegor i e s of people t o

e i t h e r dangle t h e i r gorgeous a t t i r e s and ornaments

up t o s t r u t around pompously v i t h t h e i r s e d u l o u s

i m i t a t i o n of Engl i sh a i r s , was ex t remely g a l l i n g

t o Radhanath. He d e p l o r e d t h e i r l u r e f o r empty

t i t l e s which made them t o r u n a f t e r B r i t i s h

o f f i c e r s l i k e p e t dogs and squander money a f t e r

h igh- ranking o f f i c i a l s w h i l e t h e i r own men

s t r u g g l e d f o r a morse l of f o o d . P a r t i c u l a r l y

Radhanath e r u p t e d i n t o v i t r i o l i c d e n u n c i a t i o n of

the Ra jas of G a r h j a t s who s o r e m o r s e l e s s l y

e x p l o i t e d t h e i r s u b j e c t s and oppressed them. I n a

sense he cou ld f o r e s e e t h e s t a t e r s people r i s i n g

i n r e b e l l i o n a g a i n s t t h e s e p e t t y d e s p o t s i n no t

too d i s t a n t a f u t u r e .

But t h e n Radhanath was no r e b e l h imse l f .

"He a d o p t e d a camouflage i n o r d e r t h a t he should

expose himself t o r i s k and t h a t h i s p l a c e i n

s o c i e t y , h i s job and h i s r e l a t i o n s w i t h h i s

admirers , f r i e n d and p a t t e r n s would remain s a f e and

a3suredn2'.

There were a number of o t h e r w r i t e r s f rom

Balasore who c o n t r i b u t e d t h e i r s h a r e i n s u s t a i n i n g

t h i s r e n a i s j a n t l i t e r a t u r e . Kr i shnakanta Das (1828-

1903) af Mangalpur i n Soro was a popula r p lay-

wright . ,Chandramohan Maharana, a i n h a b i t a n t of

bmunil and contemporary of Radhanath Ray, was a

noted e d u c a t i n i s t . Chintamani Mohanty from Bhadrak

who spen t most of h i s time i n the d i s t r i c t of

anj jam a s a cour t - poet i n the Zamindari of

Surangi was another voluminous w r i t e r . However,

under the over- arching l i t e r a r y inf luence of Fakir

Mohan and Radhanath, the works of these

contemporary w r i t e r s faded i n t o comparative

ins ign i f i cance .

I n i t s net contr ibut ion the i n t e l l e c t u a l

resurgence of Orissa was t o a c e r t a i n ex ten t a

causal f a c t o r i n claiming f o r the p ros t r a t ed

'province' a p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y of i t s own. The way

I t a l i a n 'Renaissance' and German 'Reformation'

provided the i n t e l l e c t u a l foundations of European

'nationalism' doing away the mediaeval concept of

un ive r s i t a s , s o a l s o the ideas and wr i t ings of

the l i t e r a u t r e s i n Orissa gave r i s e t o the d e s i r e

f o r a c l e a r l y demarked and respectable p o l i t i c a l

existence f o r the Oriyas i n the country.

The awakening as exemplified i n contemporaneous

wri t ings had a purpose i n handing out a new a

consciousness i n place of the long prevai l ing

menta l i ty t o submit t o poverty and oppression. I n

the medieval times mind was overburdened with t h e

doct r ine af ahakti and a host of o the r ideas of

o the r wor ld l iness . The new l i t e r a t u r e heralded f a r

more V ~ ~ O ~ O U S a sp i r a t ions . Henceforth the re appeared

a r a t i o n a l approach t o the s o c i e t a l problems. The

movement d i d not s t r e s s s o much on the

r e v i v a l i s t i c resumption of the subs t an t ive body of

the p a s t Oriya customs and s o c i a l a t t i t u d e s . I t

only incorpora ted the u n i v e r s a l i s t i c and

humanitarian values inhe ren t i n such customs and

a t t i t u d e s . Fakir Mohan advocated s o c i a l j u s t i c e and

Radhanath d i d not simply decr ied the hypocrisy and

denergisa t ion of the contemporary s o c i e t y but

r ec rea t ed i t s f ab led p a s t w i t h a r a r e g i f t of

l i t e r a r y genius t o i n s p i r e the people f o r a b e t t e r

f u t u r e . He response was a cover t r eac t ion t o

the g r e a t challenge thrown up by the i m p e r i a l i s t

power, a s aggressive and ar rogant i n i t s

c i v i l i s s a t i o n a s p o l i t i c a l l y dominant and

economically powerful . Gouri Shankar Roy i n i t i a t e d

and c a r r i e d on w i t h the j o u r n a l i s t i c crusade

aga ins t t h e moribund s o c i a l a t t i t u d e s of the

Oriyas while simultaneously c a l l i n g f o r s o c i a l ,

economical and p o l i t i c a l j u s t i c e f o r them. Other

w r i t e r - a c t i v i s t s attempted t o put a new humanist

and cosmopoLitan i n t e r p r e t a t i o n upon the o ld

l i t e r a r y works, a r t i s t i c c r ea t ion , h i s t o r i c a l

episodes and r e l i g i o u s C U S ~ O ~ S .

Because of t h e r u t h l e s s t e c h n i q u e s

adopted by t t h e c o l o n i a l government and t h e i r

n a t i v e p r o p s t o s u p p r e s s people p r o t e s t a t i o n s and

because of t h e f a i l u r e of e v e r y o t h e r method of

r e s i s t a n c e . L i t e r a c y c r e a t i v i s m was t h e o n l y

avenue l e f t f o r resurgence . The I n t r o d u c t i o n of

wes te rn e d u c a t i o n was producing s lowly a new c l a s s

of l i b e r a l and e n l i g h t e n e d i n t e l l i g e n t s i a . T h e i r

en thus iasm f o r s o c i a l change charged t h e whole

environment w i t h hope and energy. Once awakened

t h e s o c i e t y moved ahead.

But i n t e l l e c t u a l a c t i v i t y was no t e n t i r e l y

r e s p o n s i b l e f o r e v e r y t u r n t h a t t h e ensu ing

p o l i t i c a l s t r u g g l e took. To hold s o , would be t o

b e l i t t l e t h e scope of t h e new awakening. S u r e l y

t o r o u s e consc iousness t h e p i o n e e r s reminded t h e

count ry of i t s p a s t achievements and f a i l u r e s . To

accomplish t h i s onerous t a s k t h e r e was no o t h e r

medium more e f f e c t i v e t h a n t h e v e r n a c u l a r

language, no o t h e r i n s t r u m e n t more rewarding t h a n

l i t e r a t u r e , no o t h e r symbol mare a p p r o p r i a t e t h a n

the h i s t o r i c a l nomenclatures o f t h e l a n d and no

o t h e r example more a p p e a l i n g t h a n t h e h i s t o r i c a l

ep i sodes . The l i t e r a t e u r s used o r i y a , u t t e r e d

f r e q u e n t l y t h e name of 'Utkalf and e u l o g i s e d her

pas t , they can not be sa id t o have harped on

the i r r e f u t a b l e "Oriya I r r iden ta" .

Put t ing t h e i r message on a broad

humanitarian canvas, the l i t e r a t e u r s addressed

themselves t o the immediate challenges r a t h e r than

f i d d l i n g wi th d ry ideo log ie s . Thus t h e i r works

from the view po in t of l a t e r p o l i t i c a l developments

and then t o l a b e l them a s "Oriya n a t i o n a l i s t s "

would amount t o g ross ly and misplacing the

o r i g i n a l na ture of the whole movement. Keeping i n

view the methods of movement adopted by

contemporary l eade r s and i n t e l l e c t u a l s i n o the r

provinces and the exhor ta t ion which they i s sued t o

the people, i t has not been considered proper t o

c a l l them Marathi o r ~ e n g a l i n a t i o n a l i s t s . Likewise

i n case of t he growth of awakening i n Or issa i t

can not be regarded only a s r eg iona l e f f o r t but a s

cont r ibut ing t o the o v e r a l l 19th century na t iona l

awakening. The l i t e r a t e u r s i n Or issa themselves

were a p a r t of the whole mass of c r e a t i v e

t a l e n t s t h a t emerged i n the . contemporary Ind ia .

They shared the same sentiments and p r e d i l e c t i o n s

as i n t e l l e c t u a l e l s e where.

vi.Orontb of Nationalist Organisartions : Their

character , perspectives and leadernhip.

The new atmosphere paved t h e way f o r s p r o u t i n g

of a number of s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l a s s o c i a t i o n s i n

O r i s s a . Among t h e s e Balasore had a t l e a s t f o u r

o r g a n i s a t i o n s which helped t h e educa ted middle

c l a s s t o e x p r e s s i t s i d e a s , view and a s p i r a t i o n s .

the e a r l i e s t such o r g a n i s a t i o n s e s t a b l i s h e d i n 1874

was Bhadrak Desh Hitaisini Sabha. The Balasore

n a t i o n a l s o c i e t y fo l lowed t h e Bhadrak Sabha i n

1878. The o t h e r two Baikunthanath Dey's s o c i a l

c l u b and Balasore s c h o o l read ing c l u b mere

organ ised i n 1895 and 1896 r e s p e c t i v e l y . Not much

can now be s a i d about t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n and

f u n c t i o n s of t h e s e o r g a n i s a t i o n s excep t ing what

would o n l y be g a t h e r e d from t h e i r names. Most of

these o r g a n i s a t i o n s s t a y e d f o r a s h o r t t ime and

u l t i m a t e l y along w i t h such o r g a n i s s a t i o n which had

come up i n v a r i o u s p a r t s of t h e O r i s s a D i v i s i o n

se rved t h e u s e f u l purpose of p rov id ing t h e much

needed impulse f o r t h e f o r m a t i o n of b i g g e r

n a t i o n a l i s t o r g a n i s a t i o n s .

The f irst such pan - O r i s s a n a s s o c i a t i o n

was U&al I n t h e wake of Lord Ripon's Dew

schente af local self-government which had g e a e ~ ~

g r e a t en thus iasm among t h e l e a d i n g i n d i v i d u a l s of

O r i s s a , t h e d e c i s i o n t o launch t h e Sabha had been

taken i n a meeting he ld on 1 6 t h August 1882

w i t h i n t h e premises of t h e Cut tack P r i n t i n g company.

The two-fold immediate p r i o r i t i e s before it were

t o h e l p c r e a t e t h e i n s t i t u t i o n of l o c a l s e l f -

government i n Cut tack and t o t a k e up i s s u e s

concerning p u b l i c w e l f a r e . t h e long-term i n t e n t i o n

of t h e r e a c h i n g o u t t o t h e l a r g e r p u b l i c l i f e of

O r i s s a was a l s o a p a r t of a i t s c h e r i s h e d g o a l s

from t h e beg inn ing .

Within t h e n a t u r a l limits of i t s l e a d e r s h i p

who were mos t ly s e r v i n g government o f f i c i a l s , t h e

Sabha i n i t i a l l y sought t o g a i n f o r o r i s s a h e r

f e l t dues through governmental benevolence. I t

memoralised t h e Government t o b r i n g i n l i b e r a l

reforms i n t h e I n d i a n Counc i l ' s Act t o p r o v i d e

g r e a t e r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n t o t h e n a t i v e s i n 29

l e g i s l a t i v e c o u n c i l s .

The s t r a t e g y of t h e Sabha was n o t t o

persue a c o n f r o n t a i o n i s t c o u r s e w i t h t h e

government. m e n on an i m p o r t a n t i s s u e l i k e t h e

Passing of I l b e r t B i l l which r a i s e d a major

c o n t r o v e r s y a c r o s s t h e p r e s i d e n c y towns of count ry ,

t h e S&ha p e t i t i o n e d t h e Governor Genera l for

30 accep tance of t h e b i l l i n t o . I t s r o l e i n

t r y i n g t o S tone w a l l t h e e x t e n s i o n of t h e Bengal

Tenancy Act of 1885 t o O r i s s a was a l s o more i n

keeping w i t h t h e t h i n k i n g which p r e v a i l e d among

t h e Zamindars and t h e i r wel l -wishers i n t h e

government.

The Utkal Sabha took a c t i v e i n t e r e s t i n

t h e p roceed ings of t h e I n d i a n N a t i o n a l Congress

from t h e v e r y o u t s e t . I n c i d e n t a l l y t h e c h a r a c t e r

and s t y l e of f u n c t i o n i n g of t h e Congress of t h e

time was n o t v e r y d i f f e r e n t f rom t h e Utkal Sabha.

Therefore , t h e Sabha had no d i f f i c u l t y i n coming

c l o s e r t o t h e Congress . I n a p u b l i c meeting he ld

a t C u t t a c k on March 3,1886. I t adopted t h e e n t i r e

r e s o l u t i o n of t h e f i rs t s e s s i o n of t h e I n d i a n

N a t i o n a l Congress . The Sabha o n l y sought a minor

modi f ica t ion t o one r e s o l u t i o n of t h e c o n g r e s s

which urged t h e government t o hold t h e I n d i a n

C i v i l S e r v i c e s Examinations i n t h e c o u n t r y . The

m o d i f i c a t i o n p r o p o s a l s was based on a r a t h e r

t r i f l i n g ground. I t purposed t h a t t h e a c a n d i d a t e s

f o r Civ i l S e r v i c e s Examination should n o t be asked

t o go t o England a s i t exposed them t o t h e r i s k

of l o s s of t h e i r c a s t e s .

From 1886 onwards the Vtkal Sabha r e g u l a r l y

s e n t s e l e c t e d r ep resen ta t ives t o a t t end the annual

s e s s ions of the Indian National Congress. The

Balasore na t iona l s o c i e t y which was a c t i v e i n

pub l i c l i f e of Or issa a l s o sen t Baikunthanath Dey,

Bhagaban chandra Das and Ramesh Chandra Mandal a s

de l ega te s t o the second sess ion of the Congress.

The rupture i n the r e l a t i o n s h i p between the

Utkla Sabha and Indian National Congress came i n

1903 when the congress under the presedentship of

La1 Mohan Ghos a t i t s Madras sess ion disapproved

3f the po l i cy of the government of India t o break

up long-standing t e r r i t o r i a l d iv i s ion . The

l eade r sh ip o f the Utkal Sabha inc luding Madhusudan

Das saw i n the congress r e so lu t ion a t a c t i c a l

move t o deny Orissa a s epa ra t e l i n g u i s t i c

province. So they decided t o d i s a s s o c i a t e

themselves from the Congress a c t i v i t i e s and f l o a t

a new broad-based organisas t ion i n Or issa . The

i n t e n t i o n was ton rededica te themselves t o the

s ingu la r ob jec t ive of amalgamation of s c a t t e r e d

Oriya-speaking a reas i n t o a s epa ra t e province under

the c o l o n i a l d ispensat ion .

Utkal ~ammilani, she coveted p o l i t i c a l

organisa t ion was a c t u a l l y born ou t of a p raposa l

f l o a t e d i n the meeting of some leading pub l i c men

of Ganjam i n Rambha. The Raise ly c i r c u l a r which

demanded the u n i f i c a t i o n of t he Oriya-speaking

areas had strengthened the need f o r such a l a r g e r

and t r u l y r ep resen ta t ive organisa t ion t o spearhead

the movement. The Utkala Sabha with a l l t he

l i m i t a t i o n of i t s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c upper and middle-

c l a s s l eade r sh ip was unable t o evoke the des i r ed

popular response t o i t s program.

The f i r s t two-day se s s ion of the Utkal

Sammilani was held a t Cuttack on December 30 and

31 of 1903 under pres identship of Maharaja S r i

Ramachandra Bhanj a of Mayurbhanj . Fakir Mohan

Senapati , and Radhanath Ray from Balasore were

among the people who attended t h i s sess ion . The

Sammilani organised an i n d u s t r i a l and a g r i c u l t u r a l

exhibi t ion a s p a r t of t h i s sess ion . The idea behind

the exh ib i t i on was t o focus on the s o c i a l and

economic i s s u e s of Orissa which dominated the

de l ibe ra t ion of the sess ion .

From i t s incept ion the Sammilani was

conceived as the a parl lament of the people

inhabiting ~ r i y a - s p e a k i n g a reas , r ega rd le s s of ca s t e ,

creed, language and admin i s t r a t ive d i v i s i o n .

c o m n e n g on &&lenirs first sess ion , the special.

cor respondent of Amrit Bazar P a t r i k a wrote; " t h i s

1s t h e f irst t ime t h a t a l a r g e number of

~ n d i a n c h i e f s , Rajas , Zamindars and t h e g e n t r y of

an I o d i n e Province were found assembled t o g e t h e r

f o r t h e purpose of improving t h e i r m a t e r i a l

c o n d i t i o n by mutual he lp . I n O r i s s a , t h e p r i n c e s

were brought t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e a r i s t o c r a c y , t h e

g e n t r y and t h e poor . The whole movement was t h u s

a c t u a t e d by one f e e l i n g of n a t i o n a l i t y , i t s main

o b j e c t be ing t o u n i t e a l l t h e Oriya-speaking people 3 2 I n t o one r a c e .

Indeed, t h e U t k a l Sammi lan i could evoke

c o n s i d e r a b l e response among t h e people of O r i s s a .

Within a y e a r of i t s i n c e p t i o n t h e number of

branches of t h e Sammilani i n c r e a s e d t o r e p r e s e n t

d i f f e r e n t p a r t s of O r i s s a i n c l u d i n g t h e o u t - l y i n g

Oriya-speaking a r e a s . People ' s p a r t i c i p a t i o n was

ensured th rough s u b s c r i p t i o n which t h e Sammi lan i

r e c e i v e d t o c a r r y w i t h i t s a c t i v i t i e s .

I n what can be regarded a s a c l e a r d e p a r t u r e

from t h e modus operandl of t h e Utkal Sabha , t h e

U t k a l S a m m l l e n i adopted programs t h a t i n c l u d e d ( I )

measures f o r removal of untouchability, (ii)

Svadesi and (iii) i s s u e s concerning t h e economic,

social and c u l t u r a l improvement of t h e p e a s a n t r y

of Or issa . Speaking on the ob jec t ives of the

Sammilani, Madhusudan Das observed "Unless the

poores t and by f a r the l a r g e s t por t ion of t he

population improve i n t h e i r f i n a n c i a l condi t ion , i t

i s i d l e t o take up the Oriya 's na t iona l

a d v a n ~ e r n e n t " ~ ~ . The observation was an a r t i c l e of

f a i t h with him.

To h igh l igh t the nature and the ex ten t of

e x p l o i t a t i o n of the Orissan peasantry, Madhusudan

used t o put up a pa in t ing on the Sammilani

platform. In the i l l u s t r a t i o n the peasant stood a t

the bottom marking with h i s sped. Above him was

the p e t t y t r a d e r and money lender i n whose basket

f e l l the e n t i r e produce of the peasant l i k e

water. When the stream emerged from the money

l ende r ' s basket i t made i t s way i n t o the Zamindar's

Kautchery i n the form of rupees. F ina l ly , t he

rupees turned i n t o hard currency landed of i n a

r e s e r v o i r over which was placed the crown with the 3 4

union jack unfur led by i t s s i d e ,.

The Utkal Sammilani's ob jec t ives and

a c t i v i t i e s , however, much they look parocheal , y e t

were n o t i n s p i r e d by any r ap id philosophy of

i r redent ism. Madhusudan was never t i r e d af

r e i t e r a t i n g from t h e Utkal Samnflani p l a t f o r m about

t h e symbolic r e l a t i o n s h i p t h a t e x i s t e d between t h e

O r i s s a of h i s dream and t h e r e s t of t h e

count ry . The f i r s t s e s s i o n of t h e Sammilani i t s e l f

had been opened w i t h an i n v o c a t i o n t o a "mother

of India" .

On t h e l e a d e r s h i p of Utkal Sammilani, A m r i t

Bazar P a t r i k a commented ; " The concept ion of t h e

conference i s due t o t h e f e r t i l e gen ius of

W.S.Das, who i s known a s Madhu Babu i n o r i s s a ,

who, though a C h r i s t i a n , i s a s much Hindu a t

h e a r t , a s h i s good f a t h e r was, and whose

advice, i n s p i t e of h i s r e l i g i o u s f a i t h , i s sought

by e v e r y c l a s s of people, ~ i n d u s , Musalmans and 3 5

C h r i s t i a n s , t h e p r i n c e and t h e peasan t . T r u l y

w l t h Madhusudan t h e c h a r a c t e r of p o l i t i c a l l e a d e r s h i p

i n O r i s s a was undergoing a t r a n s f o r m a t i o n which

acquired a d e f i n i t i v e e g a l i t a r i a n c h a r a c t e r mass-

base w i t h a s c e n t of Gaopabandhu Das i n 1920 .

(B) O t i s ran Unification Movemeat.

The demand f o r amalgamation of t h e

s c a t t e r e d Oriya-speaking a r e a s was a s o l d as t h e

famine i t s e l f . The s ta tement of S i r S t a f f o r d North

Cote, t h e t h e n S e c r e t a r y of S t a t e f o r ~ n d i a , i n

the &ftaraath of t h e g r e a t famine t h a t "Assam

and p o s s i b l e Orissa", be s e p a r a t e d from Bengal

f o r n o t r e c e i v i n g adequate a d m i n i s t r a t i v e a t t e n t i o n

whi le be ing i n t h e fag-end of t h e

g e o g r a p h i c a l l y v a s t Bengal p res idency . T h i s had

c r e a t e d hope i n t h e i n t e r e s t e d c i r c l e s i n O r i s s a .

Since t h e v e r y f i r s t decade of t h e 1 9 t h

c e n t u r y when many o l d O r i y a - Z a m i n d a r f a m i l i e s had

seen d i s p o s e d of t h e i r Z a m i n d a r i f o l l o w i n g t h e

introduction of t h e Sunset law, t h e Z a m i n d a r s a s

a c l a s s i n t h e c o a s t a l b e l t of O r i s s a were

f e e l i n g r e s t i v e under t h e e x i s t i n g p r o v i n c i a l

a d m i n i s t r a t i v e arrangement. S i r S t a f f o r d ' s

s u g g e s t i o n came a s a c l i n c h i n g o p p o r t u n i t y f o r

them t o ask f o r s e p a r a t i o n of O r l s s a from Bengal.

I n 1875 Raja Shyamananda Dey, a l e a d i n g

Z a m i n d a r of Ba lasore and Vich i t rananda P a t t a n a i k

of C u t t a c k t o g e t h e r memorial ised t h e L t . Governor

of Bengal p lead ing f o r u n i f i c a t i o n of a l l t h e

severed p a r t s of O r i s s a under a s i n g l e

a d m i n i ~ t r a t i o n ~ ~ . But under t h e changed c i rcumstance

when t h e shock of t h e famine , w a s long gone t h e

appeal cou ld no t evoke f a v o u r a b l e response f rom

the government.

Two decades a f t e r t h e q u e s t i o n assumed

renewed interest when i n J a n u a r y 15, 1895. The chief

commissioner of t h e C e n t r a l p rov inces c r e a t e d a

f l u t t e r i n Sambalpur by i s s u i n g an o r d e r t o make

~ i n d i t h e c o u r t language t h e r e . The Utkal Sabha

instantly picked up t h e i s s u e and memorial ised

t h e Viceroy of I n d i a i n June t h e same y e a r

a g a i n s t t h i s " wors t form of gagging . . . y e t unknown

ever i n t h e most d e s p o t i c from of government". I n

the same memorandum t h e Sabha demanded t h e

u n i f i c a t i o n of a l l Oriya-speaking t r a c t s s o a s t o

con t inue t h e l i n g u i s t i c autonomy of Or iyas e i t h e r 37 under t h e Bengal o r t h e C e n t r a l p rov inces .

Madhusudan Das i n h i s e f f o r t t o

o r c h e s t r a t e t h e i s s u e l n t o an organ ised v o i c e of

p r o t e s t convened a p u b l i c meeting a t Cut tack . The

meeting expressed conver ted s o l i d a r i t y w i t h t h e

concern which ~ i l a m a n i v i d y a r a t n a had r a i s e d i n

the e d i t o r i a l of Sambalpur Hitaisini.

I n 1896 Madhusudan was e l e c t e d t o t h e Bengal

L e g i s l a t i v e c o u n c i l a s t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of t h e

M u n i c i p a l i t i e s of ~ r i s s a and Chotanagpur. By u s i n g

h i s o f f i c i a l c a p a c i t y he s a i l e d f o r England i n

the middle of 1 8 9 7 t o p r e s e n t t h e c a s e of

v i v i s e c t e d o r i s s a before t h e B r i t i s h Home

a u t h o r i t i e s . Taking a d i g a t t h e h i s t o r i c a l wrong

caused t o O r i s s a he c a l l e d f o r a t i m e l y un-

doing of ' the i n j u s t i c e i n his s t r a i g h t - f o m a r d

p r i n t e d pamphlet " A b r i e f Account of O r i s s a under

B r i t i s h Adminis t ra t ion" and c i r c u l a t e d i t among

people who m a t t e r e d t h e r e .

The dawn of t h e 20 th c e n t u r y was pregnant

w l t h enough p o r t e n t f o r t h e a g i t a t i o n i s t s of a

u n i f i e d O r i s s a . Lord Curzon, t h e new Viceroy of

I n d i a , i n f i r s t ever such a v i s i t by any

v i c e r o y t o O r i s s a came t o Bhubaneswar i n 1899.

Yadhusudan s e i z e d t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y t o a p p r a i s e him

of t h e I s s u e of t h e i s o l a t i o n of t h e Or iya

language from t h e c o u r t s of Sambalpur which he

s a i d had been gone under a c a p r i c i o u s f i a t . Soon

a f t e r w a r d s Madhusudan had a meeting w i t h Lord

Curzon I n Simla p lead ing f o r t h e u n i f i c a t i o n of

t h e Or iya-speak ing a r e a s under one a d m i n i s t r a t i o n .

On t h e f a c e of such c o n c e r t e d p r o t e s t s and

memor ia l i sa t ion t o t h e h i g h e s t a u t h o r i t i e s i n

Ind ian and i n England, t h e p r o v i n c i a l

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of t h e c e n t r a l p r o v i n c e s had t o

r e t h i n k on i t s e a r l i e r o r d e r . S i r Andrew F r a s e r ,

the t h e n c h i e f Commission of c e n t r a l Prov inces , communicated t o t h e Viceroy t h a t "if Uriya Was

t o be t h e c o u r t language of Sambalpur, t h a t

district had b e t t e r be j o i n e d t o O r i z s a and t h i s

might be 'done e i t h e r by p l a c i n g Sambalpur under

t h e c o n t r o l of Bengal government o r by

t r a n s f e r r i n g t h e whole of O r i s s a from Bengal t o 38 C e n t r a l P ~ o v ~ ~ c ~ S " . I n c i p i e n t i s t h i s c a s u a l

s u g g e s t i o n of E r a s e r s was t h e major p o l i t i c a l e v e n t

of 1905 . I n t h e words of Lovat F r a s e r , t h e

biographer of Lord Curzon, " the movement which l e d

t o t h e p a r t i t i o n of Bengal began i n t h e most

a r t l e s s manner p o s s i b l e . When S i r Andrew F r a s e r

s a t down i n February 1 9 0 1 t o w r i t e an i n n o c e n t

l e t t e r about a l i n g u i s t i c q u e s t i o n , he can never

have dreamed t h a t he was s e t t i n g i n motion a

sequence of e v e n t s , which was t o l e a d s e v e r a l

y e a r s l a t e r t o a wlde spread a g i t a t i o n i n t h e

province of Bengal; y e t such a s was t h e

c a s e . . . o u t of t h a t c a s u a l s u g g e s t i o n , t h e whole

g r e a t c o n t r o v e r s y a r o s e . . ." . The Utkal Sammilani

which was f l o a t e d i n 1903 An r e a c t i o n t o t h e

Madras r e s o l u t i o n of t h e ~ n d i a n ~ a t i o n a l Congress ,

sought t o c a p i t a l i s e on t h e f a s t changing

p o l i t i c a l t h i n k i n g a t t h e upper eche lons of

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n i n I n d i a , . I n i t s f i r s t convent ion

i t s e l f , t h e ~ a m m i l a n i demanded- ( I ) t h e u n i f i c a t i o n

of n a t u r a l O r i s s a , (ii) b r i n g i n g about h e r a l l -

round development and (iii) p r o t e c t i o n of t h e

in te res t s of t h e 0 r i y a i n t h e o u t - l y i n g t r a c t s .

The Maharaj of ~ a y u r b h a n j who p r e s i d e d o v e r t h e

sess ion , i n h i s h i s t o r i c speech addressed every

one p r e s e n t i n t h e assembly a s " Dear b ro thers" .

Never e a r l i e r had a man from t h e r o y a l t y

addressed t h e commoners a s such . There s imply was

no p u b l i c i s s u e which would have war ran ted such

d i s p l a y of bonhomie.

The y e a r before t h e founding of t h e Utkal

S a d l a n i , Bai kunthanath Dey, t h e worthy s u c c e s s o r

of Raja Shyamananda Dey of Ba lasore , had p r e s e n t e d

a memorandum t o Lord Corzon p lead ing f o r t h e

amalgamation of a l l Oriya-speaklng t r a c t s . I n h i s

response t h e Viceroy suggested t o t h e Government

of I n d i a t o use t h e opportunity of B e r a r f s i n -

c o r p o r a t i o n i n t o B r i t i s h I n d i a a s a convenien t

occas ion f o r redrawing t h e e x i s t i n g boundar ies of

t h e I n d i a n p r o v i n c e s on t h e b a s i s of language and

e t h n i c i t y .

When Curzonf s scheme was p u t i n t o e f f e c t ,

as f i r s t s t e p towards t h e i n t e g r a t i o n of O r i s s a

under cne a d m i n i s t r a t i v e s e t - u p . Sambalpur was

wielded i n t o t h e O r i s s a Div is ion of Bengal

Pres idency i n 1905. However, t h e R i s e l y c i r c u l a r ,

which had envis ioned t h e merger of e n t i r e Ganjam

d i s t r i c t a long w i t h t h e Vizakapatanam Agency T r a c t

wi th t h e O r i s s a Div is ion could n o t be implemented

i n f u l l due t o t h e u n w i l l i n g n e s s of t h a

Government of Madras t o p a r t with the s a i d

t e r r i t o r i e s . The press i n Madras a l s o vehemently 3 9 pro te s t ed aga ins t the Rise ly proposal . Lord

Ampthill, t h e Governor of Madras, who o f f i c i a t e d

as Viceroy a f t e r the con t rove r s i a l depar ture of

Lord Curzon on leave, u l t ima te ly r e j ec t ed the

t r a n s f e r of Ganjam and Vizakapatanam Agency t o

Or issa .

Under the auspicious of Utkal Sammllani,

Madhusudan again s a i l e d f o r London t o a g i t a t e f o r

the Oriya cause before the Secre tary of S t a t e

foe India . The London t r ibune commenting on the

out come of h i s meeting w i t h Mr. Morely s t a t e d , " i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o l e a r n t h a t h i s mission

here has not been wholly unsuccessful . He had a t

any r a t e e n l i s t e d the sympathies of . Morely on

behalf of h i s f e l low 0riyasn4' .

The yea r 1911 was momentous i n seve ra l ways.

In t h a t yea r the c a p i t a l of B r i t i s h Empire i n

India was s h i f t e d t o Delhi The p a r t i t l o n of

Bengal was annulled. And the King-Emperor George V

himself announced from h i s Durbar i n Delhi t he

c rea t ion of new province of Eihar and 0 r i s s a . B u t

the announcement came much t o the Chagrin of t h e

Utkal Sammilani leadership . The Oriya l eade r of

Ganjam f e l t unduly l e f t by the way-side and

41 demanded t o be incorpora ted i n t o the new province .

I n December 1916, i n the ~ 1 1 ~ ~ se s s ion of

Utkal Sammilani held a t Balaosre, a committee of

seven members cons i s t i ng of Madhusudan Das, Raja of

Kanika - Rajendra Narayan Bhanja Deo, r a j a of

Seragada - Sobha Cahandra Singh Deo, Harihar

Panda, Braja Sundar Das, Gopabandhu Das and Sudam

Chandra Naik, was cons t i t u t ed f o r c o l l e c t i n g d a t a

pe r t a in ing t o Or issa and car ry ing out executive

w o r k of t he conference through out t he yea r . On

December 11, 1917 the committee presented i t s

memorandum t o the Montague Chemsford Royal

commission complete w i t h a l l d a t a and a map of

the out - ly ing Oriya t r a c t s which i t sought should

be inc luded i n ~ t s proposed province of 0 r i s s a .

The commissions n favourably viewed the memorandum

and i n i t s r e p o r t suggested the concerned

p r o v i n c i a l governments t o exped i t i ous ly cons ider t h e

i s s u e of r e d i s t r i b u t i o n of provinces on a 4 2

l i n g u i s t i c b a s i s .

I n t h e l i g h t of the Royal Commission's

Suggestion, on November 25,1921, a m r e s o l u t i o n moved

by Biswanath K a r w a s passed by t h e Bihar and

O r i s s a L e g i s l a t i v e c o u n c i l recommending t h e

amalgamation of t h e Or iya - speaking t r a c t s t o be

c o n s t i t u t e d i n t o a s e p a r a t e p rov ince . Towards t h e

c l o s e of 1924 , a committee consisting of C. L.

P h i l i p , t h e P o l i t i c a l Agent a t Bengal f o r O r i s s a

s t a t e and A . C. Duff, t h e C o l l e c t o r of B e l l a r y

d i s t r i c t of t h e Madras p rov ince , we appoin ted t o

a s s e s s t h e views of t h e people of Ganjam. The

committee a f t e r conduct ing a thorough i n q u i r y

r e p o r t e d t h a t " t h e r e i s a genuine, long-s tand ing

a deep-sea ted d e s i r e under p a r t of t h e educated

Oriya c l a s s e s of t h e Oriya-speaking t r a c t s f o r

amalgamation of t h e s e t r a c t s w i t h O r i s s a under

one administration". On t h e b a s i s of t h e s e r e p o r t

t h e Governmenet of I n d i a r e f e r e e d t h e i s s u e t o

t h e I n d i a n S t a t u t o r y commission of 1928, p o p u l a r l y

c a l l e d t h e Simon commission.

I n O r l s s a , even a s t h e p o l l t l c a l a o f

t h e c o u n t r y was resounding w l t h t h e c h a n t s of "Go

back Simon", l e a d e r s of t h e Utka l Samrmlani I n

c l e a r disregard t o t h e b o y c o t t c a l l of t h e

I n d l a n N a t i o n a l Congress extended f u l l co-

o p e e r a t i o n t o t h e comrmssion. The commlsslon on

lts p a r t i n s t i t u t e d a worklng s u b - c o m t t e e t o go

i n t o legitimacy of t h e demand and finally

recommended t o t h e Government t o c o n s t i t u t e a

~ o u n d a r i e s Commission i n view of i t s f a v o u r a b l e

f i n d i n g i n s u p p o r t of a s e p a r a t e O r i s s a p r o v i n c e .

I n t h e meantime, t h e Raja of Parlakhemundi,

i ~ r i s h n a c h a n d r a G a l a p a t l Narayan Dev drew t h e

a t t e n t i o n of t h e round t a b l e conference i n London

on J a n u a r y 16,1931 t o t h e f a c t t h a t " a l l i t s

labour t o deve lop p a r l i a m e n t a r y institution i n

prov inces w i t h autonomous powers would be s e r i o u s l y

injurious t o O r i s s a w i t h o u t a s e p a r a t e p rov ince

f o r 1 0 m i l l i o n s of Oriyas" The Maharaj ' s i n v e c t i v e

matched t h e broad p o l l t i c a l d e s i g n s of t h e

B r i t i s h Government. Bes ides , t h e vlew of t h e

recomendation of t h e simian-commission, a t h r e e - member Ores Boundary Committee w i t h Samuel O f

Donned a s t h e chairman and H. M . Meat, and T .

Phonon a s members was appoin ted t o go i n t o t h e

q u e s t i o n of a s e p a r a t e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n f o r Ores f rom

f i n a n c i a l and o t h e r a n g l e s and t o make

recommendation r e g a r d i n g ad jus tment of boundar ies i n

the e v e n t of s e p a r a t i o n .

I t took s e v e r a l y e a r s f o r t h e committee

t o f u r n i s h i t s cont ingency p l a n u n t i l on t h e

b a s i s of t h e recommendation of t h e j o i n t

P a r l i a m e n t a r y committee O r i s s a was made a s e p a r a t e

province under s e c t i o n 289 (I) ( b ) t h e Government

of I n d i a Act, 1935. The o r d e r a f t e r due

p a r l i a m e n t a r y approva l was passed on March 3, 1936

and came i n t o e f f e c t on A p r l l 1, 1936.

The long and p e r s i s t e n t a g i t a t i o n of t h e

Utkal Sammilani "was met half-way by t h e uneas iness

of t h e Britlsh a d m i n i s t r a t o r s ' . The A s s o c i a t i o n of

t h e landed a r i s t o c r a t s who had been c l o s e and l o y a l

t o t h e B r l t i s h Government was a f a c t o r . But what

weighed h e a v i l y i n f a v o u r of O r i s s a was t h e

emerging p o l i t i c a l c a l c u l a t i o n of t h e B r l t i s h i n

I n d i a i n a d d i t i o n t o a t h e a g i t a t i o n by

" p e t i t i o n s , memoranda d e p u t a t i o n and resolution^"^^.

Commenting editorially on t h e b i r t h of O r i s s a

t h e wro te on J u l y 5, 1937 : " this d e s i r e t o s e e

O r i s s a r e - u n i t e d imported i n t o I n d i a n p o l i t i c s

something of t h e i r r e d e n t a problem f a m l l i a r i n

Europe ; b u t t h e r e has been no narrow

p r o v i n c i a l i s m about this f e e l i n g , f o r men and

women of O r i s s a have long been prominent i n t h e 4 4

I n d i a n N a t i o n a l Movement" .

(C) Participation i n the National meedom

mvement :

O r i s s a ' s p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n what goes under

t h e g e n e r a l appellation of "Freedom Movementf' had

t h r e e i m p o r t a n t s t r a n d s . The movement w i t h wide

popula r p a r t i c i p a t i o n a t t h e c a l l of Mahatma

Gandhi f lowed on t h e s u r f a c e . Underneath it worked

t h e Mahatma's s t i r r i n g e f f o r t s t o reform and

p r o j e c t t h e I n d i a n s o c i e t y i n a new l i g h t . The

more h i s constructive programs of s e l f - h e l p and

H a r i j a n u p l i f t s t a r t e d showing r e s u l t s , t h e more

the undecided q u e s t i o n s of t h e h i e r a r c h i c a l l y

s t r a t i f i e d s o c i e t y mani fes ted i n f a c t i o n a l p o l i t i c s

both w i t h i n t h e Congress and between competing

p o l i t i c a l f o r m a t i o n s and i d e o l o g i e s . With t h e

B r i t i s h g r a d u a l l y r e l e n t i n g t o "development o f

s e l f - g o v e r n i n g institution wi th a vlew t o t h e

p r o g r e s s i v e r e a l i s a t i o n of r e s p o n s i b l e governmentN

and t h e p r o s p e c t of approaching freedom t h e i n t e n s i t y

of f a c t i o n a l p o l i t i c s i n c r e a s e d manifold. In t h e

i n t r i c a t e web of e v e n t s t h a t f i l l e d t h e y e a r s of

s t r u g g l e f o r independence a l l t h e s e t h r e e s t r a n d s

movedlongside each o t h e r .

(I) Pm-~uzdhira nationalist sovspacnt .

0 r i s s a being a p a r t of t h e u n i f i e d Bengal

p r e s i d e n c y could n o t have been deaf t o t h e s o u l -

s t i r r i n g c a l l of t h e swadesi movement. I t was a

movement f o r t h e s i e z a b l e number of Benga l i s

d o m i c i l e d i n O r i s s a t o show s o l i d a r i t y w i t h a

movement t h a t b a s i c a l l y p r o t e s t e d a g a i n s t t h e

p a r t i t i o n of Bengal. The I n d i a n N a t i o n a l o n g r e s s

which from t h e beginning was opposed t o " t h e

p r e s e n t p o l i c y of t h e Government of I n d i a i n

b reak ing up t e r r i t o r i a l d i v i s i o n s which have been

of long s t a n d i n g " c r e a t e d an a n t i - i m p e r i a l i s t mood

by c a l l l n g f o r a country-wide movement of Swadesi

and b o y c o t t . Prominent n a t i o n a l i s t l e a d e r s from

C a l c u t t a l i k e Asin Kumar Banerjee, Fanindra Kumar

Ghos and ~ i p i n Chandra P a l came t o spread t h e

movement i n O r i s s a . The chant of "Vande Mataram"

f i l l e d t h e p o l l t i c a l a tmosphere. I n a p u b l i c

meeting he ld i n t h e Cut tack Munic ipa l h a l l under

t h e p r e s i d e n t s h i p of Babu J a n a k i n a t h Bose on 20 th

August, 1905, Madhusudan Das spoke f e r v e n t l y i n

s u p p o r t of Snadeshi. He a l s o addressed meet ings i n

s e v e r a l o t h e r p l a c e e x h o r t i n g t h e people of o r i s s a

t o b o y c o t t f o r e i g n goods.

D e s p i t e t h e r e p r e s s i v e measures t a k e n by t h e

gwernment t h e movement became s u c c e s s f u l 4 5 . A t t h e

suggestion of Rabindranath Tagore, 26 October 1905,

t h e d a y of p a r t i t i o n of Bengal was t o be

e f f e c t e d , was observed a s t h e "Rakshya bandhan

Divasr'. S t u d e n t s going round t h e s t r e e t o f

Cuttack, t l e d Rakhi even on t h e w r i s t s of t h e

~ u s l i m s .

Balasore had a f a i r s h a r e i n t h i s n a s c e n t

n a t l o n a l l s t movement. Swadeshi meet ings and s t r e e t

p r o c e s s i o n s were organ ised here w i t h e q u a l f e r v o u r .

The weavers of Basudevpur, l n s p i r e d by Swadeshi

l d e a began manufacturing f i n e handloom t e x t i l e s .

Many e n l i g h t e n e d people t o o brought indigenous

c l o t h s on a u s p i c i o u s occas ions . Apart f rom t h e

Swadeshi f e r v o u r , t h e supreme s a c r i f i c e of Bengal

r e v o l u t i o n a r y l e a d e r J a t i n ~ o o k e r j e e a t Odangi

near Ba lasore on 10th September, l915 l e f t a deep

lrnpression ainong t h e n a t i o n a l i s t - m i n d e d people of

Balasore.

(11) First phase of Qsndhian movement

O r l s s a ' s f u l l - f l e d g e d e n t r y l n t o t h e

mainstream of I n d l a n Freedom Movement l e d by

Mahatma Gandhl was ~ n s t l t u t l o n a l l z e d I n 1921. The

Congressr o b j e c t i o n t o t h e f o r m a t i o n of l l n g u l s t l c

P r o v l n m s which was singularly r e s p o n s i b l e f o r

dissuading t h e e a r l y Or iya n a t l o n a l l s t l e a d e r from

ParticApating i n c o n g r e s s programmes was t h e n no

l o n g e r v a l i d . T h e w i l l i n g n e s s of t h e B r i t i s h

government t o c r e a t e a s e p a r a t e O r i s s a p rov ince

was i n any c a s e a p a r t o f t h e subjective

p o l i t i c a l d e c i s i o n which aimed a t r e o r g a n i s i n g t h e 4 6 I n d i a n empire on communal and l i n g u i s t i c l i n e s .

The government was no t r e a d y t o concede t o t h e

p l e a s of Utka l Sammilani l e a d e r s f o r c r e a t i n g an

O r i s s a of t h e i r v i s i o n . The congress on t h e

a t h e r hand dec ided t o form t h e P r o v i n c i a l Congress

Committee on l i n g u i s t i c b a s i s a t t h e Nagpur s e s s i o n

i n December 1 9 2 0 . The f e u d a l l e a d e r s h i p of t h e

Utkal Sammilani t h u s l o s t o u t on both c o u n t s

making t h e way c l e a r f o r O r i s s a ' s f u l l

p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n t h e Congress- led non-cooperat ion

movement "tlll Swaraj was e s t a b l i s h e d " .

Gopabandhu Das upon h i s r e t u r n t o O r i s s a

from Nagpur s e s s i o n of t h e Congress , s u c c e s s f u l l y

persuaded t h e Utkal Sammilani I n i t s annua l s e s s i o n

a t Chakradharpur on December 30,1920 t o r e s o l v e

t h a t t h e "aim and o b j e c t i v e s of t h e I n d i a n

Nat iona l Congress be accep ted . a s t h o s e of t h e

Utkal Union Conference i n a d d i t i o n t o t h e accep ted

o b j e c t i v e s of t h e Congress". "Nobles moderates and

u l t r a - l o y a l i s t s * ' who d i d n o t a g r e e w i t h t h e

r e s o l u t i o n s t a y e d back w i t h t h e t r u n c a t e d Utkal

~ a m i l a n i . Gopabandhu on t h e o t h e r hand c a r r y i n g

along h i s f o l l o w e r s formed t h e Utka l P r o v i n c i a l

Congress Committee i n March 1 9 2 1 w i t h himself a s

i t s p r e s i d e n t , . Ekram Rusool a s V i c e - p r e s i d e n t and

B h a g i r a t h i Mohapatra and Brajabandhu Das a s

S e c r e t a r i e s . T h i s marked t h e beginning of t h e

freedom s t r u g g l e i n O r i s s a and a l s o t h e s p l i t

between t h e o l d e r and younger members of t h e

Utkal Sammilani. The s p l i t was based on t h e

d i f f e r i n g p e r c e p t i o n s between t h e s e two b l o c k s on

t h e emerglng political situation. The b lock i n s i d e

t h e Sammilani sought t o main ta in i t s l e a d e r s h i p

hold by r i d i n g t h e c r e s t of p o p u l a r mood which

i t thought was p r o v i n c i a l i s t . Gopabandhu himself

saw no c o n t r a d i c t i o n I n working f o r t h e Swaraj

and O r i s s a n u n i f i c a t i o n from t h e Congress 4 7 p l a t f o r m . I n h i s r i s e , t h e t r a n s i t i o n i n t h e

c h a r a c t e r of t h e l e a d e r s h i p i n O r i s s a of which

Madhusudan was t h e h a r b i n g e r became complete and

:he Congress , t h e most i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l

fo rmat ion .

The respectability f o r org.anis lng t h e D l s t r i c t

Congress Committee i n Ba lasore was bestowed on

Harekr i shna Mahatab. I n h i s s i n c e r e e f f o r t t o

o r g a n i s e c o n g r e w a c t i v i t y i n t h e d i s t r i c t and

spread among t h e people t h e i d e a s of non-co

o p e r a t i o n ha was a s s i s t e d by Karunakar ~ a n i g r a h i ,

Biswanath Hota and Harendra Ghose a t Ja leswar ;

~ r i s h n a Prasad Mahapatra and Nilambara Das a t

Basta; Nanda Kishore Das a t Soro; and Banchanidhi

Mohanty, Ghanashyama Sahu, Upendranath panda and

Muhammad Hanif a t Bhadrak. Mahatab h imse l f w i t h

t h e h e l p of Bhairab Chandra Mahapatra, Surendrana th

Das and Subodh Chandra De worked hard t o s p r e a d

t h e message of congress I n Ba lasore town. Most of

t h e s e men gave up t h e i r s t u d i e s o r l e f t jobs t o

j o i n t h e non-co o p e r a t i o n movement a t t h e c a l l of

Mahatma Gandhi who I n h i s whir lwind t o u r of t h e

c o u n t r y had came t o O r i s s a i n t h e l a s t week of

t h e March 1921. T h e i r work was f a c i l i t a t e d by t h e

a l r e a d y p r e v a i l i n g nationalist sentiment among t h e

i n t e l l e c t u a l c i r c l e i n t h e d i s t r i c t . To r o u s e i t

f u r t h e r a V S w a r a j Mandir" was s e t up i n t h e

Ba lasore town and a c y c l o s t y l e d weekly c o n s i s t i n g of

e i g h t pages i n t h e name of Swarajya Samachar was

brought f rom h e r e . Swara] Mandir a l s o played t h e

r o l e of a c a t a l y s t i n t r a i n i n g v o l u n t e e r s i n

t h e congress programme which i n c l u d e d :-

( a ) b o y c o t t of f o r e i g n goods and government

i n s t i t u t i o n s ; (b) p r o p a g a t i o n of hand-spinning and

wearing w i t h t h e h e l p of Charkha; ( c ) o r g a n i s i n g

v i l l a g e Panchayats and n a t i o n a l s c h o o l s and

(dl prohibition.

The v o l u n t e e r s v i g o r o u s l y c a r r i e d on p i c k e t i n g

i n f r o n t of l i q u o r - s h o p and a g a i n s t f o r e i g n c l o t h .

The measure was s o s u c c e s s f u l t h a t even t h e

p o r t e r s r e f u s e d t o t r a n s h i p t h e consignments of

f o r e i g n c l o t h from t h e r a i l w a y s t a t i o n t o t h e

l o c a l shop. N a t i o n a l i s t news paper l i k e The Sarnaj,

Amrit Bazar P a t r i k a and a The S e r v a n t were

s u b s c r i b e d i n t h e d i s t r i c t w i t h t h e f i n a n c i a l

h e l p f rom t h e Congress . smal l - t ime businessmen and

middle c l a s s people were drawn i n l a r g e numbers t o

t h e Congress programme. But t h e Zarnindars i n t h e

c o u n t r y - s i d e were no t fo r thcoming . However, some

Zamindars of Bhadrak a r e a i n s t e a d of r e g i s t e r i n g

r e n t - s u i t s i n t h e c o u r t submi t ted t h e i r l l s t of

d e f a u l t e r s t o t h e Congress o f f i c e . I n S r i j a n g

v i l l a g e even s a l e - d e e d s were r e g i s t e r e d i n t h e

l o c a l congress o f f l c e . A t Soro a n a t i o n a l s c h o o l

was e s t a b l i s h e d t o h e l p s t u d e n t s who l e f t 4 8 government-run s c h o o l .

I n December 1921, I n d i a n N a t i o n a l Congress

i n i t s annua l s e s s i o n a t Ahmedabad r e s o l v e d t o

s t a r t c ivi l d i s o b e d i e n c e under Gandhi j i f s

l e a d e r s h i p . 53 Delega tes f rom Balasore who a t t e n d e d

t h e Ahmedabed s e s s i o n r e t u r n e d w i t h much en thus iasm

t o carry out t h e congress r e s o l u t i o n . The d i s t r i c t

l e v e l o r g a n i s e r s s e l e c t e d S a r t h a village i n t h a n a

Basta f o r t h e purpose. But i n t h e meantime

v i l l a g e f i r e s and a rson caused by t h e a g e n t

p r o v o c a t e u r s of a t h e p o l i c e c r e a t e d wide-spread

p a n i c i n t h e d i s t r i c t . Also p e a s a n t u p r i s i n g i n

t h e Zamindari of Kanika a g a i n s t i l l e g a l c o l l e c t i o n s

of c e s s , a r b i t r a r y s e t t l e m e n t of revenue and

mismanagement of d rought r e l i e f measures added

a n o t h e r dimension t o t h e non-cooperation movement.

A t t h e b e h e s t of t h e Raja of Kanika, Rajendra

Narayan Singh Deo, who was an i m p o r t a n t l e a d e r

of t h e Utkal Sammllani, t h e government took t h e

u p r i s i n g a s rnotlvated by t h e non-cooperat ion

movement. A r e i g n of t e r r o r was l e t l o o s e on

the p r o t e s t i n g t e n a n t s . Gopabandhu Das and

s h a g i r a t h i Mahapatra who came t o e x p r e s s s o l i d a r i t y

wl th t h e oppressed p e a s a n t s t o Bhadrak were taken

p r i s o n e r f o r s i x months f o r v i o l a t i n g t h e

p r o h i b i t o r y o r d e r s of t h e government a g a i n s t 4 9

holding any meeting .

The Kanika u p r i s i n g had s e v e r a l p o r t e n t s f o r

a t h e Congress p o l i t i c s i n . o r i s s a . I t becaame

a p r e n t t h a t i n an a g r a r i a n s o c i e t y t h e meaning of

Swaraj f o r p e a s a n t s cou ld o n l y be r e l a t i v e t o

t h e i r freedom f rom f e u d a l bonds. Leaders l i k e

Nabakrishna Choudhuri, Sursendrana th Dwivedi, and of

course, H a r e k r i s h n a Mahtab had a n i n k l i n g of t h i s

f a c t and o r g a n i s e d Kishan Sabhas (Farmers A s s o c i a t i o n )

i n subsequent y e a r s . Such indulgence i n a g r a r i a n

p o l i t i c s by Congress l e a d e r s brouhgt f o r t h e p a r t y

r i c h e l e c t o r a l d i v i d e n d s when t h e occas ion came.

But a t t h e same t ime ~t s n u f f e d ou t p o s s i b i l i t i e s

o f autonomous p o l i t i c i z a t i o n of t h e a g r a r i a n

committees. I t a l s o c r e a t e d i n t h e s u b s t a n t i a l

l and-holders and f e u d a l c h i e f s a group of

formidable p o l i t i c a l o p p o s i t i o n which cont inue a s a

f e s t e r i n g s o r e on t h e b o d y - p o l i t i c of O r l s s a f o r

g r e a t l e n g t h of t ime .

(iii) Swarajists and Factionalism within the

Congress . Non-cooperation movement came t o an a b r u p t

2nd f o l l o w i n g v i o l e n t i n c l d e n t a t Chauri Chaura

I n February 1 9 2 2 . Except ing c o n s t r u c t i v e works,

Gandhil i suspended t h e programme of c i v i l

disobedience i n d e f i n i t e l y . Most of t h e Congress

l eaders responsible f o r t h e movement were p u t

sehlnd t h e b a r s . At t h i s t ime a d i v i s i o n i n t h e

congress rank based on i d e o l o g y appeared on t h e

scene. A s e c t i o n of t h e Congress p a r t y l e d by

Mot i la l Nehru and C h i t t a r a n j a n Das formed t h e

swaraj P a r t y i n 1923 t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e

e l e c t i o n s t o t h e v a r i o u s l e g i s l a t i v e bodies . There

o b j e c t i v e was t o o b s t r u c t t h e work of t h e

Government from w i t h i n t h e Counc i l s . With a g r e a t

d e a l of p e r s u a s i o n t h e S w a r a j i s t succeeded i n

g e t t i n g approva l of a t h e Congress f o r t h e i r p l a n .

I n O r i s s a t h e Swaraj p a r t y s t a r t e d w i t h

the Sa tyabadi Bana Vidyalaya, o r i g i n a l l y founded

by Goapabandhu Das dur ing t h e days of Svadeshi

movement a t Sakshigopal i n t h e d i s t r i c t of Puri

a s i t s nuc leus . The keenness showed by Pandi t

Nllakantha Das and Pandi t Godavarish Mishra, t h e

former c o l l e a g u e s of Gopabandhu Das a t t h e

Satyavadl Vidyaiaya, t o f i g h t e l e c t i o n whl le most

:f t h e congress l e a d e r s were s t i l l i n p r i s o n , 50

srasa a not l i k e d by l e a d e r s l i k e Mahatab , I n

the e l e c t i o n Pandi t Godavarisha Mishra, Jagabandhu

Slngh and Radharanjan Das of Ba lasore were e l e c t e d

t o t h e Bihar and O r l s s a p r o v i n c i a l a l e g i s l a t i v e

counc i l and P a n d i t Ni lakan tha Das t o t h e c e n t r a l

legislative assembly.

Upon t h e l r r e l e a s e Gopabandhu and

Harekrishna Mahatab began t o work o u t t h e

c o n s t r u c t i v e programme a l l over a g a i n . I n Balasore,

Mahatab s t a r t e d a new weekly news paper , c a l l e d

Praja tan tra from t h e Swara] Mandir on 2 nd

September 1923. He a l s o took i n i t i a t i v e t o open a

number of congress Ashrams i n d i f fe ren t p a r t s of

t h e d i s t r i c t . I n 1924 w i t h t h e s p a c i o u s i n t e n t i o n

t o promote G a n d h i l i r s c o n s t r u c t i v e programme he g o t

e l e c t e d a s t h e chairman of t h e Ba lasore Z i l l a 51 Board . I n 1926 i n t h e e l e c t i o n t o t h e Bihar

and O r l s s a P r o v i n c i a l l e g i s l a t i v e c o u n c i l he became

t h e congress c a n d i d a t e from t h e Bhadrak

c o n s t i t u e n c y and go t e l e c t e d . Beside i n h i s own

admission he c o n t r i v e d t o g e t e l e c t e d Nanda

Klshore Das, a d e s e r t e r f rom t h e Sa tyavadi

Vidyalaya, t o t h e same c o u n c i l f rom Balasore

The compulsive e f f e c t s of e l e c t o r a l p o l i t i c s

w l t h i n t h e p r o v i n c l l Congress c r e a t e d bitterness

between t h e two seemingly opposing camps. Mutual

insinuations and lobbylng f o r b e r t h s i n t h e

v a r i o u s legislative c o u n c l l s a r o s e o f t e n whlch had

become p i t c h e d i n t h e e a r l y y e a r s of 20th

r e r n t u r y . I n a competing atmosphere, ~ r a h m i n

A s s o c i a t i o n s i n P u r i and Karan A s s o c i a t i o n s i n

Cuttack had been s e t up t o promote e d u c a t i o n a l

and o t h e r i n t e r e s t of p e o p l e ' be longing t o t h e 5 3 r e s p e c t i v e c a s t e s . The i n t e n t i o n i n i t i a l l y might

have been noble b u t s u b s e q u e n t l y i t assumed a

repulsive form "when a group of non-Brahmin

congress workers mainly belonging t o Cut tack and

Balasore d i s t r i c t " s e t up a new p o l i t i c a l c e n t e r

named Alkashram a t J a g a t s i n g h p u r i n Cut tack

d i s t r i c t a s "a r e v i v a l t o t h e Sa tyavadi group of

~ r a h m i n p o l i t l c i a n s l e d by Gopabandhu as"^^. ~ u r i n g h i s l i f e t lme Gopabandhu, whom Mahatma

andh hi h a i l e d i n h i s condolence message a s "one

of t h e n o b l e s t among t h e sons of O r i s s a , t h e

l and sorrows and t e a r s " , used t o s o r t o u t

d i f f e r e n c e s between h i s o l d and new c o l l e a g u e s by 5 5 e x e r t i n g t h e f o r c e of h i s p e r s o n a l i t y . But w i t h

t h e un t imely d e a t h of Gopabandhu on 1 7 t h June

1928, c a s t e - p o l i t l c s broke i n t o open . I n t h e

words of Lalmohan P a t t n a i k , "misunderstanding grew.

Puri be ing t h e s t r o n g hold of Brahmln and Cut taack

of Karanas t h e i r d i f f e r e n c e s q u i e t l y ushered i n

the noxious Brahman-Karana problem. Gradua l ly , i t 56

developed i n t o a menace t o t h e s o c i e t y .

( i v ) Gandhi' s v i s i t t o Orissa . O r i s s a " t h e epitome of I n d i a ' s poverty"

could, indeed , have done we.11 w i t h o u t g e t t l n g

embroi led i n s t e r i l e f a c t i o n a l p o l i t i c s . The high-

p o i n t of t h i s t r u t h was n o t l o s t on Mahatma

Gandhi when he v i s i t e d O r i s s a f o r t h e t h i r d t ime

i n t h e 2nd week of December 1927'~. During h i s

two d a y s s o j o u r n i n C h a r b a t i a v i l l a g e he g o t a

d e e p e r i n s i g h t i n t o a c t u a l s t a t e of r u r a l s o c i e t y

i n t h e d i s t r i c t of B a l a s o r e . S c o r e s o f marooned

people came t o him e x p l a i n i n g t h e i r misery and

f o r s u c c o u r . Harassed by t h e r a v a g e s of f l o o d and

e x e c i s s i v e i n c r e a s e i n revenue demands any number

of them were m i g r a t i n g t o C a l c u t t a . Among 6240

house h o l d s i n t h e v i l l a g e a s c h o o l t e a c h e r w i t h

a monthly s a l a r y of r u p e e s 1 0 , who could b a r e l y

manage d a l and v e g e t a b l e s toge. ther f o r a f a m i l y

of f o u r members, was o n l y n e x t t o t h e Zamindar

I n rank and was considered a r l c h man. While he

a d v i s e d Chakradhar Behera, t h e p e a s a n t l e a d e r from

Kanika t o submi t t o t h e c o u r t s f o r t h e

s e t t l e m e n t of a l l l a n d d i s p u t e s , he e n t r e a t e d t h e

j u s t demands of t h e p e a s a n t s . There cou ld no t have

been a s e c r e t a r y on t h e f a c t i o n - r i d d e n l e a d e r s h i p

of t h e c o n g r e s s f o r l a c k of c o n c e r t e d t h e i r p a r t

t o a m e l i o r a t e t h e s u f f e r i n g s of t h e people . I n

his p a r t i n g a d d r e s s on 2 1 s t December G a n d h i j i

c a l l e d upon e v e r y one t o s i n k a l l d i f f e r e n c e s 5 8

and h o n e s t l y work f o r n o b l e r c a u s e s .

G a n d h i j i r s v i s i s t had a b e n e f i c i a l

e f f e c t . I n 1927 and 1928 when t h e d i s t r i c t of

B a l a s o r e suf fe red due t o e x t e n s i v e f l o o d s ,

Congress v o l u n t e e r s and g e n e r a l p e o p l e a l i k e went

round the marooned v i l l a g e s doing rescue and

r e l i e f works. This was a p o s i t i v e t u r n around i n

the s o c i a l a t t i t u d e of t he people s ince the days

of the Na-Anka famine. Besides, S r i J ivramji

Kalyanaji Kothari a t the in s t ance of Mahatma

iandhi a f t e r giving of a l l h i s personal proper ty

came long w i t h h i s wife t o Charbatia t o work

among the people the re permanently. Iswar Lala

Vyas and Purubai a l s o came t o do Sarvodaya work

permanently a t Bhadrak and Soro.

(v) Second phase of Qandhian Movement

The appointment of t he Slmon Commission

I n November 1927 t o evaluate the working of the

Government of Ind la Act , 1919 wi th a view t o

determining the f u t u r e course of c o n s t i t u t i o n a l

development was not appeasing t o the Indlan

National Congress. Disgusted wi th the continuing

"divide and r u l e " p o l i c y of t h e ~ r i t i s h

Government the Congress f i n a l l y declared

Purnasvaraj (complete independence) as i t s goal a t

Lahore i n December 1929. For i t s accomplishment

the congress working committee i n February 1930

author ised Mahatma Gandhi t o launch the c i v i l

disobedience movement. Many Congress men of o r i s s a

resigned from t h e va r ious pos t s a t t he d i r e c t i o n

of t h e Congress t o t a k e a c t i v e p a r t i n t h e

movement . G a n d h i l i commenced t h e c i v i l d i s o b e d i e n c e

movement on '19 March 1930 w i t h h i s famous

sa l t -march from Sabarmat i t o Dandi . The Utka l

F ' r o v i n c i l a Congress Committee on i t s p a r t had

dec ided t o s t a r t t h e movement a t Inchudl on t h e

Ba lasore c o a s t . On 1 4 t h A p r i l 1930 t h e f i r s t

b a t c h of v o l u n t e e r s l e d by Acharya H a r i h a r Das

broke t h e s a l t laws by manufac tur ing cont raband

s a l t a t t h e a p p o i n t e d p l a c e . There was

' ~ n p r e c e d e n t e d en thus iasm among t h e people

Surendrana th Das, t h e man beh ind t h e s u c c e s s f u l

g r g a n i s a t i o n of t h e e v e n t , was acclaimed a s 60 Sardar . For t h e f i r s t t ime a l a r g e number of

voman l e d by Ramadevi and M a l a t i Devi j o i n e d

tne movement a t Inchudi on 20 A p r i l 1930 . Thus

kegan t h e e r a of women's p a r t i c i p a t i o n l n t h e

Treedom s t r u g g l e i n 0 r i s sa6 ' . Soon t h e movement

spread t o o t h e r p a r t s i n B a l s o r t e , C u t t a c k and

i ' u r i d i s t r i c t s .

Bes ides s a l t a g i t a t i o n , o t h e r programmes of

c i v i l d i s o b e d i e n c e i n c l u d i n g p i c k e t i n g before

exc i se shops , b o y c o t t o f f o r e i g n c l o t h ,

Propaga t ion of Khadi and non-payment. of c h a u k i d a r i

t ax were also c o n t i n u e d . D e s p i t e t h e a r r e s t of

a l l prominemt Congress l e a d e r s and hundreds o f

S a t y a g r a h i s ( c i v i l d i s o b e d i e n c e v o l u n t e e r s t h e

movement showed no s i g n of f l a g g i n g . A t S r i j a n g

n e a r I n c h u d i a p o l i c e p a r t y was manhandled by

i n f u r i a t e d mob on 1 2 J u l y 1930. I t l e d t o t h e

a r r e s t of 54 p e r s o n s and t h e i m p o s i t i o n of

p u n i t i v e t a x amounting t o s i x thousand r u p e e s on

t h e v i l l a g e r s . Out of d e s p e r a t i o n t h e Government

p roc la imed an o r d i n a n c e d e c l a r i n g a l l c o n g r e s s

o r g a n i s a t i o n s unlawf u l . Stringent p r e s s

regulations f o r c e d t h e two n a t i o n a l i s t news

p a p e r s , t h e Samaj and P r a j a t a n t r a t o postpone

t h e i r p u b l i c a t i o n s . Some Congress men l e d by

S a r d a r S u r e n d r a n a t h Das s t i l l c a r r l e d on t h e

movement a t Inchudl from underground.

However, t h e C l v i l Disobedience Movement

r e c e i v e d a s e t back on 5 March 1931 due t o

Gandhi- I r w i n p a c t . The Congress withdrew t h e

movement t o f a c i l i t a t e Mahatma Gandhi' s

p a r t i c i p a t i o n I n t h e second Round Table Conference

i n London. The Government r e l e a s e d a l l t h e

p o l i t i c a l p r i s o n e r s a s p a r t of t h e agreement .

But t h e e n t i r e e x e r c i s e was i n v a i n . Not o n l y

t h a t t h e Mahatma r e t u r n e d empty-handed b u t a

g r e a t damage was i n f l i c t e d on I n d i a i n August

1932 by t h e p r o c l a m a t i o n of t h e scheme of

communal r e p r e s e n t a t i o n by t h e B r i t i s h Prime

M i n i s t e r , Ramsay Mac Donald. The Congress had

resumed t h e C i v i l Disobedience Movement b u t i t

f a i l e d t o c o n t a i n t h e impact of t h e "Communal

Award". Under such c i rcumstance two p a r a l l e l

movement began t a k l n g r o o t s w i t h i n t h e Congress .

A s e c t i o n of c o n g r e s s f o l l o w i n g t h e p a c t reached

between t h e Hindu and t h e Depressed c l a s s

l e a d e r s a t Poona, s u b s t i t u t i n g r e s e r v a t i o n of

s e a t s f o r t h e Depressed c l a s s e s I n j o i n t

e l e c t o r a t e s , c o n c e n t r a t e d i n t h e works of H a r i j a n

emancipa t ion . Another group of young Congressmen

" i n s p i r e d by M a r x l s t ph i losophy sought t o channe l

t h e c o n g r e s s movement a long w i t h t h e l l n e s of

c l a s s s t r u g g l e " . I n t h e o p i n i o n of Harekr i shna

Mahatabn t h e appearance of t h i s group of

"Congress s o c i a l ~ s t s " was a r e a c t l o n t o t h e

f o r m i d a b l e f o r c e of appointment w i t h i n t h e

Congress who d i d n o t c o n s i d e r Gandhian i d e o l o g y

a s good enough b u t sought t o use t h e Congress 62

p l a t f o r m f o r e l e c t o r a l g a i n s .

(vi) Socialist movement.

I n O r i s s a t h e f i r s t s t e p towards o r g a n i s i n g

t h e o c i a l i s t movement was taken on 1933. I n a

s e c r e t c o n c l a v e a t C u t t a c k Nabakrishna Cahoudhury,

h i s w i f e M a l a t i Chaudhury, Surendrana th Durivedi,

Goura Chandra Das, Bhagabat i P a n i g r a h i and

Rabindra Mohan Das came t o g e t h e r t o form t h e

"Utkal Congress Worker's Communist League". Wide

s p r e a d c r o p f a i l u r e i n t h a t y e a r p rov ided t h e

League w i t h t h e r i g h t o p p o r t u n i t y t o g e t c l o s e r

t o t h e p e a s a n t r y . I t submi t ted a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n

on b e h a l f of t h e cultivators t o t h e Bihar and

O r i s s a Government a t Patna f o r r e m i s s i o n of

r e n t s . I n 1934 t h e League brought o u t a weekly

paper c a l l e d S a r a t h i t o p ropaga te t h e

r e v o l u t i o n a r y i d e a s of a g r a r i a n r e f o r m s . I n 1935

a f u l l - f l e d g e d K l s a n Sangha war: founded t o

o r g a n i s e t h e p e a s a n t s a g a l n s t t h e o p p r e s s i v e

Z a m i n d a r s . Here Krlshna Mahatab, who was more

d i s p o s e d t o be on t h e r i g h t s i d e of t h e

Gandhian i d e o l o g y , saw no c o n t r a d i c t i o n i n 63

becoming i t s p r e s i d e n t . He a l s o c h a i r e d a

p e a s a n t ' s c o n f e r e n c e he ld a t Bhagalpur e a r l y i n

1936 which demanded t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t of

a g r i c u l t u r a l marke t ing o r g a n i s a t i o n s and d e b t

r e c o n c i l i a t i o n banks t o save t h e p e a s a n t s f rom

i n d e b t e d n e s s . However, H a r e k r i s h n a Mahatab soon

r e t r e a t e d t o h i s Zarnindar i a t Agarpara i n

Ba lasore t o d e v o t e h imse l f more t o t h e

c o n s t r u c t i v e work ' of H a r i j a n emancipa t ion .

(vii)Oandhijils Orissa tour for promotion

of Harijan works.

Mahatma Gandhi came t o O r i s s a f o r t h e f o u r t h

t ime i n May 1934 on H a r i j a n t o u r . Before h i s

v i s i t , S r i J i v r a m j i Kalyan j i Kothar i a long w i t h

h i s w i f e and Purubai were a l r e a d y working among

t h e H a r i j a n s i n t h e Bhadrak a r e a . Desp i te h i s

c o n t r a c t i n g l e p r o s y he had no t l e f t t h e p l a c e .

To c r e a t e a conducive atmosphere f o r h i s work

and t o s p r e a d G a n d h i j i ' s message i n O r i s s a he

was encourag ing educa ted people t o s u b s c r i b e The

H a r i j a n newspaper. I n c e r t a i n c a s e s he had

p e r s o n a l l y p a l d on b e h a l f of some people f o r

such subscription. However, h i s e f f o r t t o persuade

t h e Panda of p u r i t o l i f t t h e ban on temple

e n t r y f o r H a r l j a n ' s cou ld no t be s u c c e s s f u l even

a f t e r P a n d i t N i l a k a n t h a Das e s t a b l i s h e d t h e f a c t

of e n t r y of H a r i j a n s from o t h e r p r o v i n c e s i n t o 64

t h e S r i Jaganna th temple .

~ n a d h i j i a r r i v e d a t P u r i on 8 t h may

1934. From t h e , n e x t d a y onwards i n c o u r s e of

h i s Padayatra he was a p p a l l e d t o s e e t h e p l i g h t

of t h e Harijans i n O r i s s a . I n between P u r i and

t h e v i l l a g e of Harekr i shnapur he found t h e

Harijans l i v i n g i n t h e c l u s t e r a d j a c e n t t o t h e

Munic ipa l s e r v i c e l a t r i n e s . They were n o t

a l lowed t o f e t c h w a t e r f rom t h e same bank of

t h e v i l l a g e pond which was r e s e r v e d f o r t h e

c a s t e Hindus. For namesake t h e Harijans were

e n t i t l e d t o c o l l e c t w a t e r f rom t h e m u n i c i p a l i t y

w e l l s . The few Harijan c h i l d r e n s tudying i n t h e

D l s t r i c t Board School used i t s i t s e p a r a t e l y f rom

o t h e r c a s t e c h i l d r e n . Even t o h i s s u r p r i s e t h e r e

G a n d h i j i found t h e ~ r a h m i n s en joy ing monopoly

r i g h t s over p l a n t a t i o n of coconut t r e e s . t h e non-

Brahmln c a s t e s f o r f e a r of d i v i n e r e p r i s a l were

no t do ing s o .

A t Birapurushot tarnapur, where t h e Brahmin

were l a r g e l y i n f a v o u r of t h e removal of

u n t o u c h a b i l i t y b u t had no courage t o do s o , he

a d v i s e d them t o a c c e p t e v e r y one a s e q u a l

e s p e c i a l l y under t h e changed c i rcumstance when t h e

Brahmins themse lves were adopt ing a l l k i n d s of

jobs f o r e a r n i n g l i v e l i h o o d and f o r g e t t i n g

r i c h e r . On 1 5 t h of May he i n a u g u r a t e d t h e

K u n j a b i h a r i temple a t B a l i a n a t a f o r a l l Hindus

i n c l u d i n g t h e h a r i j ans.

A t Kalyanapur i n the d i s t r i c t of Cuttack,

GmdUji got .":a coaQlete picture af the social

s t r a t i f i c a t i o n tha t prevailed among the Depressed

Classes i n Orissa. In t he i r representation the

inhabitants apprised Gandhi j i tha t there were

three grades of untouchable caste i n t he i r

vi l lage.

1. The most polluting castes were Panas,

Kandaras and dladis. They vere untouchables a t a l l

times of the day and i n a l l places.

2. The polluting castes who could be

touched i n times of taking works from them were

Gokhas ( f i sher men ) , Dhohs (washer men ) and

Chamers ( toddy tapers )

3. Other polluting caste who could be touched

certain times i n the day were Radhis ( r i ce huskers)

and Telis ( oilmen ) .The laws of puri ty and

pollution operated d i f fe ren t ly i n case of each of

these castes. The Gokhas were generally

untouchables but the f i s h caught by them would

be consumed by men of a l l castes including the

Brahmins. -bas could be touched only a t the

time of accepting washed cloths from them. But

greera.L&y tho womenfolk used t o receive cloths

f f q th Qbbas venturing the r i s k of pollution.

It , =yap aqf,+,*p&&.tng., y e n for the m a w n s tQ

accept a Coconut pierced by Chaaulrs. Radhis arrd

T e l i s v~ould be touched by a man of pure castes

only before taking bath. f l a t tened r i c e prepared

by the Radhis could be polluted if touched by

men of any other untouchable caste.

Hwever, such laws of pol lut ion were not

confined only t o the relat ionship between the

pure and untouchable castes. These laws operated

equally amongst the various grades of untouchable

castes. The higher castes among the untouchable

maintained the same distance from lower

untouchable castes as much as any clean caste

would do i n re la t ion t o a higher untouchable

caste. Among the Chamars there were four grades

and even among the Hadis there were two such *

grades.

The lovest among the untouchables such as

Hadis, Kandara, Panas, Gokhas e tc . were landless.

They earned t h e i r l ivelihood by giving vage-

labour. In addition the Hadis serviced t h e

l a t r i n e s and a l so did bamboo-works. I t was

i n n u b s n t upqn fhem not t o enter the temple o r

use th. v i l l age wells. They could use the

bathing ghats, v i l l age roads and go t o v i l l age

s c ~ ~ k t carefu l ly s o as not t o touch other

caste people. s imi la r ly i t was incumbent upon

t h t o live outside of the v i l l age i n

segregation. I t was forbidden t o the men a ,

cleaner cas tes t o v i s i t s t he i r habitations.

Specif ic penance were t o be undertaken f o r

violat ing such norms. The Harij ans themselves were

reluctant t o touch men of cleaner caste f o r f e a r

of divine repraisals . They ea t the f l a sh of dead

animals and were not inclined t o lead a hygienic

l i f e . Mahatma h and hi noticed s imilar d i s a b i l i t i e s

suffered by the Harijans through out his tour

till Bhadrak. A t Bhadrak, on 8 t h June 1934, he

advised the Harijan workers t o concentrate more

on v i l lages where the stigma of untouchability

was greater65. Gandhiji 's month long tour roused . the people t o the necessity of the removal of

untouchability. Some prominent Congress-men inspired

by Gandhian idea ls , devoted themselves t o build

congress center i n remote r u r a l areas f o r taking

up the cause of Harijans, Kadis and propagation

of village construction. In the d i s t r i c t af

Balasore i n addition t o ~ i v r a m j i ' s Bhadrak Ashram,

Agktpara t o engage hilaself i n Harijan works.

By 1936 the p o l i t i c a l climate of India

had decis ively changed w i t h the advent of

Government of India Act, 1935. The c i v i l

disobedience movement having been l e f t behind the

A 1 1 India Congress Committee was preparing f o r the

ensuing elect ions t o the Central and Provincial

Legislative Councils. For Orissa, the general

e lec t ion t o the newly created sixty-member

Provincial Assembly, was f i r s t such experience.

There had already taken place vas t changes i n the

p o l i t i c a l complexion of the new Province. Not

only t h a t a d i s t i n c t ba t t l e - l ine had been drawn

between the landed ar is tocracy* and i n t e l l e c tua l

torch-bearers af the Congress abut a l so a kind

of uneasiness among the top-ranking leaders had

came t o prevai l within the Congress. Under such

circumstances the p r io r i t y before the Pradesh

Congress Committee was t o s a i l through the

t roubles waters of provincial p o l i t i e s t o

victory.

In the e lec t ion held i n January 1937

tho congress won 36 sea t s out of a t o t a l 36

elisctad seata, 4 being n d n a t e d onas. The Orissa

Nati~nal Party and the united Party mostly

representing the Rajas and Zaaulnders could manage

t o secure o n l y 1 0 seats , the r e s t 10 sea t s vent

t o the independent candidates. Pandit Nilakantha

Das who then headed the eradesh Congress

Committee earned f o r his party t h i s laurel of

e lec tora l success through innovative methods of

electioneering and promise f o r radical agrarian

reforms. The v i s i t of Javahar La1 Nehru t o Orissa

just before the election and the natural

influence which Mahatma Gandhi had on the people

also helped swaying the voters i n favour of a

the Congress. But the ~ radesh Congress had yet

several issues t o resolve.

The f i r s t important issue that cause a

stand-aff vi thin he party was the question of

leadership. Nilakantha Das w i t h h i s organisational

s k i l l and recent e lectoral success would have

been the natural choice. But unlike other

prominent provincial leaders he had not sought

election t o the Assembly. H i s decision t o head

the Congress ~ e g i s l a t i v e Party was an a f te r -

thought. A section of the congressmen led by

HarekrSshna Mahatab objected t o the . back-door

en- plan af Nilakantha Das. Even i n t he i r

f i r s t of strength aver the Pradosh

COngElrSB C d t t e e elect ion Nilakantha Das l o s t

out t o Harekrishna Mahatab by one vote. Though

i n the immediate context the row on leadership

was resolved w i t h the elect ion of Biswanath Das

as the leader of the leg is la ture party yet the

fac t iona l feud tha t began i n 1937 f o r the

control af the party and thereby the Government

continued ever a f t e r .

The second Issue revolved round a

d i rec t ive from the A l l India Congress Committee

which permitted congress men t o accept off ice i n

the province provided the leader of the

leg is la t ive could declare tha t the special powers

af the Governor would not be used t o overrode

the advice of the ministers w i t h regard t o

provincial administration. In case of Orissa

Governor S i r John Austen Hubback refused t o give

such an assurance. I n the eventuality the

Gwernor invi ted the National Party Leader Krishna

Chandra Gajapati Narayan Dev, the Maharaja of

Par lakhmndi t o form the government. I t vas a

const i tut ional abarration created by the Congress

party's rafusal t o accept off ice. However. a f t e r

an intrglude d three months the Governor

W s i w the untsnabi2ity af the s i tua t ion math

a a o l m ,aarwanc!a t o exercise h i s powers in

accordance w i t h the advice of the council of

ministers.There upon Biswanath Das w i t h two

c o l l e a g ~ e s , Nityananda Kanungo and Bodhram Dube as

ministers and four members as parliamentary

secre ta r ies wee svorn i n t o the off ice on 19th

Jualy 1937. Forming the f i rs t Congress ministry

i n Orissa. Mukunda Prasad Das and Nanda Kishore

Das the two Congress Legislators from Balasore

were duly elected as Speaker and Deputy

Speaker of the House.

The ministry from the beginning faced

formidable administrative and p o l i t i c a l

challenges.0n the side of administration the

ministry had generated great expectation among the

cu l t iva tors and the common people t o do something

d r a s t i c on the agrarian f ron t . I t was a

d i f f i c u l t proposition w i t h the peasantry backed by

the Kisan Movement on the one hand and the

powerful Zamindar community supported by the

imper ia l i s t s on the other. The government was

a lso alvays threatening t o go on the offensive

harpskmng by scarce resources. Speaker Mukunda

Prasada Das announced a voluntary cut from h is

salary i n considaration of the general poverty of

the people. Prim Minister Biswanath Das on 1s

part askad t h e o f f i c e r s t o accept voluntary cu ts

i n t h e i r pay. But notwithstanding these

constraints, the Congress ministry took a number

of progressive measures.

In the Orissa Tenancy B i l l the Government

proposed t o grant the r a iya t s of north Orissa

the r i gh t of f r e e t ransfer of occupancy holidays

abol i t ion of mutation fees and the reduction of

the r a t e of i n t e r e s t on a r rears rent . Hovever,

the B i l l f a i l ed t o get the Viceroy's assent t o

the great disappointment of the peasants,

p o l i t i c a l l y though, the measure won f o r the

congress continued peasant support i n i t s struggle

against the foreign yoke.

I n Balasore, the Government implemented a

comprehensive programme t o tackle the problem af

opium addiction. Excepting the border out lets , a

majarity of opium shops vere closed down i n the

d i s t r i c t . An off icer was a l so appoointed t o

enforce of the progamme. Balasore which ranked

second i n the country i n terms of volume of

opium consumed, benefited i m n S e l y out af t h i s 66

drive against opium addiction . Besides , during

t h i s tima the Balasore port was opened w i t h the

help of a Calcutta-based company and the l oca l

businesswn.

Other progressive measures which the

Gaverment took included (I) the Orissa Money

Lender8 Act, (2 ) the Orissa Small-holders Relief

Act, ( 3 ) t he Orissa Prevention of Adultration and

Control of Sale of Food Act and ( 4 ) the Orissa

Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank Act. The middle

c lass constituency of the Congress benefited

grea t ly out of a l l these Act.

Po l i t i c a l l y i t was a trying-time f o r the

Bisvanath Das Government. soon a f t e r the

i n s t a l l a t i on of h i s government group alignment

v i t h in the congress changed dramatically. Nilakntha

Das and Godavarish Mishra, the two Brahmin

pol i t i c ians holding allegiance t o the Satyabadi

group arrayed themselves against the predominantly

Karan group led by Nityananda Kanungo and

Harekrishna Hahatab. having f a i l e d t o contain the

ascendance of the Karan group v i th in the party,

they v i r t u a l l y played opposition t o the ministry.

In March 1938 a t the annual conference of Gandhi

Seva Sangh held a t Delang i n the Puri d i s t r i c t ,

the d i ss ident submitted t o the Sardar Patel a

chaps-sheet against the ministry. Though the

charge-sheet was found baseless by Patel, still

for breaking the impasse, Harekrishna Mahatab had

t o s t ep dovn from h i s post of president of a the

Pradesh Congress Conunittee.

Apart from the intra-party problems the

ministry had t o overcome a serious const i tut ional

c r i s i s over the issue of the Governor's leave.

In December 1937, the Government i n Britain while

accepting the leave application of Governor

Hubback announced the appointment of John Daine,

the Revenue Commissioner, i n h i s place. The

Ministry peeved a t the supercesssation of a sub-

ordinate s t a f f threatened t o revive the old

const i tut ional deadlock ultimately canceled h i s

leave and the Ministry, i n e f fec t won a

p o l i t i c a l victory. on the issue of the

relat ionship between B r i t i s h Orissa and the native

s t a t e s a l so the ministry asserted i t s primacy

w e r the Governors prerogatives. The measures gave

a f i l l i p t o the State People's Movement. The

ministry , however, resigned on 4 December 1939

i n pursuance of a the Congress resolution not t o

co-operate w i t h the B r i t i s h War e f fo r t . While

Orissa passed on t o the Governor's Rule, the

Indian National Congress i n March 1940 from

Rangah cal led upon the congressmen t o launch

~nakyidua l civil Disobedient

However, individual c i v i l disobedience did not

take off f o r apparent reasons. In Orissa the

Satyabadi group c r i t i c i s e d the movement as a

" se l f i sh electioneering by a s e t of leaders who

had l o s t the f a i t h of the masses". Under the

garb of capturing power they wanted t o a s s i s t

Subhas Chandra Bose who sought t o f o r c i b l y dr ive

the Br i t i sh out of India w i t h the help of the 67 axis powers . But t h i s was achieved a t a

tremendous cost amounting t o a permanent loss of

face. For the loya l i s t s , the ~ a t y a b a d i group

became a 'bunch of opportunities"68.

Opportunism or otherwise, the first

coal i t ion ministry headed by Maharaj of

Perlakhemundi formed on 24 November 1941, created a

strange combination i n s t a t e p o l i t i c s by bringing

the Congress diss idents and the landed ar is tocracy

together. Inner contradictions among the coa l i t ion

partners vere bound t o surface sooner than l a t e r .

On the i s sues re la ted t o the export of r i c e t o

the famine-stricken Bengal, personal di f ferences

cropped up between Nilakantha Das and ~ o d a b a r i s h

Mishra. In the meantime the Prime MitLister

resigned f ran the Government causing imposition of

Gwfrrnws mle f o r the second time i n CWissa

frolp 1944 t o 1946. Among the achievement of t h i s

ministry, the notable thing was the establishment

of the Utkal univers i ty i n November 1943.

In the meanwhile, the Congress s t r a tegy

shif ted from individual c i v i l disobedience t o mass

revo l t . Under extraordinary circumstances Mahatma

Gandhi asked the B r i t i s h t o "Quit India". The

confusion emerging out of a the rapid advance of

Japanese fo rces towards India, will ingness of a

s e c t i o ~ of the Indian National Congress l e t by

Pandit Jawahar La1 Nehru and Maulana Abdul Kalam

Azad t o a s s i s t i n the a l l ey ' s war e f f o r t i f a

nat ional Government i n India was i n s t a l l e d and

the motivated proposals of S i r Sta t ford Cripps t o

break India ' s uni ty came t o an end w i t h h i s

heroic c a l l . The h i s t o r i c resolut ion was passed by

the A l l India Congress Committee i n the night of

8 t h August, 1942 a t Bombay. Y i t h a l l the

r e s o l u t i o h i s t s taken i n t o immediate custody the

"August Revolution" became a spontaneous people's

movement f o r f i n a l l ibe ra t ion . .

I n o r i s s a desp i t e a vic ious campaign s e t

o f f by the Government and i t s native stooges

against the Congress c a l l , thousands of men and

women joined the struggle. Meetings, processions

and h a r t a l s became an everyday phenomena.

In Balasore the movement often took v io len t

turns. On 17 August 1942 score of v i l l a g e r s

attacked a pol ice s t a t ion a t Bhandari Pokhari i n

Bhadrak and s e t f i r e t o it. The v i l l a g e r s a l s o

destroyed a road-bridge t o prevent pol ice from

reaching the disturbed areas. The Goverment took

strong act ion and imposed a co l l ec t ive f i n e of

rupees s i x hundred upon the 1 2 surrounding

vi l lage$. In places l i k e Dhamnagar and Khairadihi

a l s o the pol ice came under a t tack and took t o

r e t a l i a t o r y measures k i l l i n g a t l e a s t 8 people

and in ju r ing many. But the most ghast ly act ion of

police was committed a t Eram i n Basudevpur. On 28

September 1942 the police svooped down upon a

gathering of f i v e thousands people and k i l l ed 26

persons on the spot recreat ing another episode af 69

Jal ianvala Bagh i n Orissa . General p a t r i o t i c

fervour a p a r t as the Eram Enquiry Report revealed

there were important loca l f a c t o r s of pr ice r i s e

and atorage of e s s e n t i a l suppl ies of food which

contributed not the l e a s t i n fomenting

discontent.

In the wake of in tense oppressive measures the

August revolution demurred i n a matter of months

But the sheer un tenab i l i ty af f u r t h e r B r i t i s h

co lon ia l hold on India was exposed i n no

uncer ta in manner by t h i s movement. The e lec t ion of

the Labour Par ty Leader, S i r Clement Atlee i n the

post-war B r i t i s h general e l ec t ion q u i t e sensibly

underscored t h i s f a c t . On 2 0 t h February 1947, he

declared the B r i t i s h decision t o q u i t India by June

1948. On a preparatory note provincia l e l ec t ions

vere held t o cons t i tu te the e l e c t o r a l f o r the

Consti tuent Assembly i n 1946. I n Orissa the

congress pa r ty secured majority of s e a t s i n the

Provincial Assembly and formed ministry under the

Presidentship of Harekrishna Mahatab on 23 Apri l

1946. F ina l ly the sun s e t on the B r i t i s h empire

i n India i n the mid-night hours of August 15,

1947. The dawn of a new era of Freedom was

beaconing the nation.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

Utkal rmpitrr reported i n 1867 t h a t there were by then about tventy t o t h i r t y thousand followers of Mahima Dharrna i n Orissa. ma2 Dipika ( Undated ) Vol.ix.No 3, 1960. Ba2.rroz-e d j r r t r i a t a e t t e e r ~ , 1994, P.129. Sitakanta Mahapatra. BUma m i . Kendriya Sahitya Academy, New Delhi: 1983, P.26. Ibid, Stutiabirptamani, 27th Boli (canto) couplet N0.7 , P.27. Ibid, 15th Boli, couplet No.1. Radhakanta Barik, "sub-altern p o l i o t i c t s and the unrecognised in t e l l egen t i a i n Orissa" , B o c i r l Bclanaa Prcrbings, Vo1.4 (3) ; September 1987, P.344. Utka.2 Dlp3.kaf part-16,No.11, dated 13-3-1881. Brrlabha ( i n Bengali) reported i n B.Nepak, Bhoi: Life , R d i g f 4 n and PMlo~@r, Bhubanesvar: 1973. W. W. Hunter, Stati8tiorl A4cur-t of wal. f ie District of Purl, Cuttack and -ore, Calcut ta : 1877,P.278.

Fakir Mohan's A b u Jivan Ob.rita, ( T r . from Oriya by John Boulton),cuttack:Orissa Sahitya Academy, 1985, PP. 41-42. Pq?ort oi me DKUala Bt.trr* -oms, Vol. 11, London : 1930, P. 25. Surendra Mohanty, WIdbnmaha D m , New Delhi: 1972, PP. 4-5 . ProQ.rdingrrr of the Licmtemt governor of. -, general Departent (Educatf on) , June 1862, No.15; C d s a i o n e r af Orissa t o Govt. of Bengal, No. 180.

Ib id . June 1863, No.143; Inspector of Schools South-West Division t o D. P. I. NO. 1475, 16 Apr i l 1863. Ib id . June 1863, No. 147; f ? r o m x o f oriasa to Bort of R a p X No. 78, 9th June 1863. Ibid. November 1869, No. 6; Inspector of schools, south-west Division t o D . P . I . No. 2625. 30th March 1868. Vide. Utkal Wpika, 22th June,1875. Surendra Mohanty. Op.cit., P.27. B.R.P. March 1873; J.C. Geddes, Collector of P u r i t o the Commissioner of Orissa,No.28, 1872. Sudhakar Pat tanaik, &8mba& pakram Odisara Xrrtba (S to r i e s from news papers about Orissa.) Par t I,Cuttack:1972. Fakir Mohan's Atma Ji- Chrita, Op. c i t , . PP 32-36. Khageswara Mahapatra i n K.M.George (ed) -ative Indian Literature, vol . 11, Delhi: s Macmillon Indian Pub. 1955, P.909. Ib id , P.105. Mayadhar Mansingha, "oriya Literaturea i n -ative -an Literaatare, P . 174. Natabara Samanta Ray, Z b t o x y of Wpa literalaare, 1803-1920 ( i n Oriya) Bhubanesvar:1964.

Khageswar Mahapatra, Sociology of Fakir M3hants Fic t ions i n Prof B. K. satpathy and Brajanath Rath (ed) Phakir S e h D :xisLiiO andLiteYa-, Balasore: 1984, PP.66-72. ~ i t e n d r a Mohan Mohanty, i n K. M. George, Op.Cit., Vol.11 P. 408 . ~ o p i n a t h Mohanty, Radbanath P.p, elh hi: sh i tya Accademy, 1978 ,PP. 46-47. 4 -, 25, December 1886. Ib id . 26 May, 1883. Ibid. 25 Decebber 1886.

mt llasar P a m , January 9, 1804. quoted i n Surendra Mohanty, Op. Cit . , PP. 72-73. Ib id . me C11Sya, Apr i l 10, 1918, P.73. Ib id . P.74. Ib id . lbffit &war Ptrika, January 9. 1904, P . 73.

Report of the Indian S t a tu to ry Commission; Memoranda submitted by the Government of India t o the Indian S t a tu t a ry Commission Vol.1 Par t I1 Calcut ta: 1930. P. 4 4 4 . Baikol i Mohapatra, me %%story of the 0 x 3 ~ Mbvment ( i n Oriya) Cuttack: 1976. P . 10. Lovat Fraser. TnAlr under Ctnzan and After, London: 1911,P. 377. K.V. N. RaO, Xhe BaeYgence of m a Pradesh, Bombay:1973,P.13. The Tribune, London: September 26, 1907, quoted i n Surendra Mohanty, Op. C i t , PP.80- 81. Report of trbc lhdian Statntow Commission, Op. C i t . , P P . 539-554. K.V.N. Rao, Op. C i t , P.124. F.G. Bailey, "The o r iya Movement" i n Economic Weekly, Vol.XI (39), 2 6 t h Sept. 1959. Quoted i n Sunit Ghose, Orissa i n Turmoil : A Study i n P o l i t i c a l Developments, Bhubeneswar: 1991 (New Edn.) P. 25. utbl WpiPa, I ssues of 26-8-1905 and 16-9-1905. Harekrushna Mahatab, nylhm;rrr Pathe ( i n

~ r i y a ) ,Cuttack : (3rd Edn) 1987, P . 168. S.N. Dwivedi, ' P o l i t i c s of , Regionalism I n r i s s a N i n 8.8. Jena and J.K. Baral (ed) OorrrnarPlt und P d t l a u 3n Oxism, Lucknow: 1988, PP. 63-64.

H.K. Mahatab, Op.Cit. PP. 38-50. Ib id , PP. 55-64.

50. Ib id , P.94. 51 Ibid. 52. I b i d , PP. 109-110. 53. P t . Godavarish Mishra, Ardha Satabdira

I t i h a s a 0 Tahinre Ma Sthana, ( i n Or i aya ) , Cuttack: 1973, ( 5 t h Edn) P P . 109-111.

54. S. Ghosh, Op. C i t . , PP. 21-22. 55. H. K. Mahatab,Op. C i t . , P . 52. quotes

from Yo~rrg India, 21-6-1928. 56. L. M. Patanaik, R e s ~ ~ Chlssa, quoted

i n S. Ghosh, Op.Cit., P.21. 57. H. K. Mahatab, Op. C i t . , P . 1 1 4 . 58. . . . , 6dndxiji 0 Odisa ( i n Oriya) ,Cuttack:

1971 ( 2nd Edn), PP. 44-58. 59. I b i d , P P . 59-60. 60. The Samaja, 16-4-1930. 61. H. K. Mahatab. Oandhiji 0 Wsa, Op.Cit ,

P.83. 62. . . . ,Sadhaaara Pathe , 0p .C i t P P . 164-165. 63. . . . , Ib id , P . 166. 64. . . . , Bandhiji 0 adiaa, Op. C i t . , PP.87-90. 65 . . . , I b i d , PP. 93-127. 66. . . . , Pathe, Op. C i t . ,

P.182. 67. S. Ghosh, Op. C i t . , PP.47-52. 68. H. K. Mahatab, S&harmCa Pathe, 0p.Ci t . ~ P 2 1 4 -

216. 69. . . . , (ed) EbtoV of -t

in Chlssr. Vol.IV. Cuttack :PP.81-85.