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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.