What a coincidence, the person, under whose chairmanship the British Government formed a committee in 1929 on linguistic affinity demanding a separate Oriya province, was to declare on 20 February 1947 , as a Prime Minister, that the British were to leave India after the partition !
He was Clement Atlee. The modern state of Orissa(Odisha) was established on 1 April 1936, as a province in British India and is consisted of predominantly of Oriya speakers. Cuttack remained the capital of the State for over eight centuries until 13 April 1948 when Bhubaneshwar was officially declared the capital. Odisha is the modern name of the ancient Kingdom of Kalinga which was invaded by the Mauryan Samrat( Emperor) Ashoka in 261 BCE. The Marathi Vishwakosh (Encyclopaedia), published by the Government of Maharashtra institution, records : “ Orissa is mentioned as the land of Utkal in Puranas. Vayupuran claims that the first person on this earth appeared on this land.”
Ashoka, the ruler of Maghadh, having Pataliputra ( Patna) as the capital of his vast empire, waged a bitterly destructive war against the state of Kalinga. He conquered Kalinga, which none of his ancestors had done. After witnessing nearly 200,000 deaths in the Kalinga war, he embraced Buddhism. Ashoka, the Great, was the first to formulate firm tenets for the governance of a people. His empire extended from what is now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( earlier North West Frontier Province) in Pakistan in the west, to the eastern boundaries of present India in the north, and certainly, up to the Vindhya Range in the south. Ashoka was responsible for the widespread proselytization of people into Buddhism. He sent his son, Mahendra, and daughter, Sanghamitra, for this purpose to as far south as the present country of Sri Lanka, Sinhal Dweep in ancient times, and Ceylon during the British Empire.
Orissa has been a land of temples. Shri Jagnnath Mandir at Puri and Konark Mandir of Sun God have been attracting millions of pilgrims every year. Some of the rulers were descended from Rajput pilgrims, who , having come on pilgrimage to Puri, stopped on their way back and carved out principalities for themselves; while others were descended from petty aboriginal chiefs. Most of them were under the suzerainty of the Moghuls and later under the Mahratta Bhonslas of Nagpur. Hence, the origin of these States is obscure, according to V.P. Menon, ICS.
From Ashoka to Akabar, the present day Odisha had different masters. During the British Empire, after the bifurcation of Bengal on 22 March 1912, the Bihar Province including Orissa was formed. After sharing a common destiny and history for around 24 years, Orissa was born from the womb of Bihar on 1 April 1936. During the British rule, there were 26 Princely States in Orissa, eleven “A” class, twelve “B” and three “C” class-exercising varying degree of jurisdiction.
The biggest, Mayurbhanj, had an area of 4000 square miles and a population of about 10 lakhs. The smallest was Tigiria with an area of 46 square miles and a population of a little more than 20,000. These Orissa States constituted one of the greatest forest areas in the country and quantities of manganese, copper, iron, coal, limestone, mica etc., abound all over this region, states Menon in “Integration of Indian States”. Menon knew how important it was to have the Princely States of Orissa merged with the Indian Union.
He was the Secretary to States Ministry under Sardar Patel. Both were busy with Junagadh, Kashmir and Hyderabad affairs which caused the delay in tackling the Orissa States. Some of the States were facing agitations. Some rulers were not cooperative with the Indian Government.
The Maharaja of Patna was keen on the Eastern States Union of various Princely States. This Union was a short-lived (1947-48) Union of Princely States in newly-independent India that gathered most of the Princely States of the former Orissa Tributary States and Chhatisgarh States Agency in order to fill the vacuum of power created after the departure of the British and the rapping up of Raj. Sardar was very much disappointed with the attitude of the rulers. Even the agitation of Tribal leaders of Chhotanagpur, Santhal Pargana etc, demanding a separate tribal majority state, was also bothering Patel. As such it was late to take up the issue of Orissa but once the Sardar made up his mind, he was all for fulfilling his mission.
It was on 13 December 1947, Patel along with Menon reached Cuttack. They met the Premier Mahatab and other provincial ministers as well as the Governor. The next day meetings were scheduled with the rulers of the States in batches. Only twelve rulers agreed to the merger and signed the agreement. When he was to meet the “A” class rulers, Patel arranged in such a way that none could show any excuse. Menon records, “He told them that the Orissa States were like ulcers on the body of the province and that they must either be cured or eliminated. If they listened to his advice, they could be cured; otherwise they might find themselves uprooted by the people.” Thanks to the Rajah of Dhenkanal being taken into confidence by Menon, the Maharajas came round. They were scared of the Government of India taking over the administration of the States. On 15 th morning, Patel was waiting for Menon at the railway station since both were to leave for a meeting with the rulers of the Chhattisgarh States in the evening.
Menon came with the merger agreement signed by the rulers of “A” class States. The Sardar was pleased to receive him along with Mahatab. There was criticism of Sardar-Menon duo efforts to convince the rulers for merger. Even Patel had to send Menon to Gandhiji to explain the circumstances. The merger of 25 States except Mayurbhanj became effective from 1 January 1948. The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj, Pratapchandra Bhanjdeo, who was keen to join Bihar, merged his biggest State with Orissa on 1 January 1949 and merger of all the States in the province was completed. Even after nearly seven decades of merger by the Maharaja of Kalahandi, Pratap Kishor Deo, the movement for rethinking on the merger is still on. Though Kalahandi is infamous for poverty in present days Orissa, there was no scarcity of food in the Princely State. During Bengal famine of 1942, Kalahandi alone had supplied One Lakh Tonnes of rice to Bengal. The present movement tries to expose discrimination towards the centrally located areas of the Princely State.
Odisha is proud of being the birthplace of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Next Column : Bihar State of Great Rulers, Buddha and Mahavir
