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By SUBHAS CHANDRA
PATTANAYAK
hen her children were trying to form the new State on the basis of their mother tongue
Oriya, packs of regional chauvinists from Bengal led by R.L.Mitra had tried hard to convince their
British masters that Oriya was not a separate language, but rather was a part of Bengali. Their
falseness was razed down by scholars with factual records so detailed that Bengals famous linguist
Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee had to admit in course of time, as noted in Indian Historical Quarterly,
Vol. XXIII, 1947 at p.337,
It may be said without travesty of linguistic truth that Oriya is the eldest of the three sisters (Oriya, Bengali
and Assamese), when we consider the archaic character of the language.
Before Chatterjee had said this, taking cue from chauvinists like Mitra and his associates, inhabitants of
Hindi and Telugu speaking tracks had also started claiming linguistic superiority over Oriya in order
only to retain the opportunity to exploit the Oriya peoples and their soil made available to them by
the British that had annexed Orissa to their States by fragmenting her body under a state of fear
psychosis, which shall be discussed later.
It may be said
without travesty,
Oriya is the eldest of
the three sisters
(Oriya, Bengali and
Assamese) when we
consider the archaic
character of the
language
But their false claim was dismantled when Sir G.A. Grierson declared in Linguistic Survey of India that
Oriya was highly superior to these three languages. To quote him:
The Oriya language can boast of a rich vocabulary in which respect neither Bengali nor Hindi nor Telugu
can vie with it. The richness of the vocabulary is the index by which the vastness of a vernacular can be
gauged.
Why the peoples of the Bengali, Hindi and Telugu speaking provinces were in conspiracy against Oriya
language?
This was simply because, if Oriya language was to be restored to its original majestic position and
Oriya lands were to go back from their provinces, they were sure to loose financially; and massively.
The peoples of those provinces were in traditional rivalry with Orissa and traditionally envious of
Orissas matchless cultural, sculptural, commercial and natural splendor. None of those provinces was
able to aspire to be compared with Orissa. Observations of impartial historians and administrators,
available on records, confirm this.
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UTKAL DIVAS
ORISSAMATTERS.COM
NATURE OF THE
COUNTRY
(ORISSA), AND
DISPOSSESSION OF
INHABITANTS WILL
ALWAYS PRESENT
FORMIDABLE
OBSTACLES TO THE
SUPPRESSION BY
MILITARY OR
POLICE
As for example, Rev.J.Long, in Notes and
Queries Suggested by a Visit to Orissa in
January 1859 has written,
Antiquarian enquiries in Nepal, Ceylon and
China show that the Buddhism so noted in
its regard for enlightening the masses and
opposing caste, was for ages predominant
all through Orissa both among rulers and
the people, though Orissa be now the
garden of the Hinduism and Jagannath its
Jerusalem (Journal of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, 1859, No.III, Vol.XXVIII, pp.
185-187).
The peoples of those days knew that
Buddha was born in Orissa. Hence
Buddhism, as antiquarian enquiries in
Nepal, Ceylon and China had made
R e v. J . L o n g n o t e , w a s f o r a g e s
predominant all through Orissa both
among rulers and the people.
Afraid of Buddhism and unable to defeat
its impact, the Vedists had accepted
Buddha as their own Lord and had
equated their Lord Vishnu to Orissas
Lord Buddha Jagannatha and thereby had
succeeded to transform Buddhism to
Hinduism in Orissa with Jagannath as the
epitome of casteless culture. This had
made Orissa such a land that as reported
by Rev. Long above, Orissa had become
the garden of Hinduism and Jagannath its
Jerusalem. No land of India, specifically in
the neighborhood of Orissa, had to her
credit such splendid historical distinction.
When other provinces of India,
s p e c i fi c a l l y t h o s e i n O r i s s a s
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