EASY DESTINATION
       HOME      WORLD TRAVEL GUIDE       INDIA TRAVEL GUIDE      ADVERTISE           TRAVEL FORUM

  INDIAN CUISINE     SKI RESORTS     TREKKING      MEDICAL TOURISM      WORLD CITY GUIDE    CYCLING


                ORISSA TRAVEL GUIDE

                BHUBNESWAR       CHILKA         CUTTACK      KONARK          PURI

Orissa is a littoral state of India with a long coastline and a storehouse of mineral
wealth. Because of its mineral wealth and strategic location it attracts foreign
investment in steel, aluminum, power, refineries, and infrastructure. Orissa is also
emerging as a player in the outsourcing IT (Information Technology) and IT services
industry. The total planned investment in the state is projected to be 90 billion U.S.
dollars. However, there are environmental concerns and land acquisitions for some
of these projects have been opposed by the local people.

Orissa has several popular tourist destinations. Puri, with the Jagannatha's temple
near the sea, and Konark, with the Sun Temple, are visited by thousands of tourists
every year. Along with the Lingaraja Temple of Bhubaneswar, the Jagannatha
Temple and the Sun Temple of Konark are important in the archaeological history of
India.

Orissa has a history spanning a period of over 2000 years. The history of Orissa is in
many ways atypical from that of the northern plains and many of the common
generalizations that are made about Indian history do not seem to apply to the Oriya
region. The word Oriya is an anglicised version of Odia which itself is a modern
name for the Odra or Udra tribes that inhabited the central belt of modern Orissa.
Orissa has also been the home of the Kalinga and Utkal tribes that played a
particularly prominent role in the region's history, and one of the earliest references
to the ancient Kalingas appears in the writings of Vedic chroniclers. In the 6th C. BC,
Vedic Sutrakara Baudhayana mentions Kalinga as being beyond the Vedic fold,
indicating that Brahminical influences had not yet touched the land. Unlike some
other parts of India, tribal customs and traditions played a significant role in shaping
political structures and cultural practices right up to the 15th C. when Brahminical
influences triumphed over competing traditions and caste differentiation began to
inhibit social mobility and erode what had survived of the ancient republican tradition.

In ancient times, it was the proud kingdom of Kalinga. Kalinga was a major
seafaring nation that controlled and traded with most of the sea routes in the Bay of
Bengal. For several centuries, a substantial part of South Asia & Southeast Asia was
under its cultural influence. The temple at Angkor Wat is a fine example of
Oriya-influenced Indian architecture. Some parts of Southern and South Eastern Asia
such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Java, Sumatra, Bali, Vietnam and Thailand were
colonized by people from Orissa. In Malaysia, Indians are still referred as Kalings
because of this. Many illustrious Sri Lankan kings such as Nisanka Malla and
Parakarama Bahu claim Kalinga origin. The king who destroyed the Sinhalese
Buddhist control of Northern Sri Lanka and established a Hindu Kingdom in Jaffna
was known as Kalinga Magha. One theory holds that the name of the country "Siam"
for Thailand is derived from Oriya/Sanskrit Shyamadesha. The Angkor Wat in
Cambodia is Orissan, with local variations. Bali in Indonesia still retains its
Orissan-influenced Hindu heritage.

A major turning point in world history took place in Orissa. The famous Kalinga war
that led emperor Ashoka to embrace non-violence and the teachings of Buddha was
fought here in 261 BC. Ashoka's military campaign against Kalinga was one of the
bloodiest in Mauryan history on account of the fearless and heroic resistance offered
by the Kalingas to the mighty armies of the expanding Mauryan empire. Perhaps on
account of their unexpected bravery, emperor Ashoka was compelled to issue two
edicts specifically calling for a just and benign administration in Kalinga. Later on,
Asoka was instrumental in spreading Buddhist philosophy all over Asia.

In the third century BC, Kalinga flourished as a powerful kingdom under the Jaina
king, Kharavela. He ruled all the way down south to include parts of the Tamil
country. He built the superb monastic caves at Udayagiri and Khandagiri.
Subsequently, the kingdom was ruled under various monarchs, such as
Samudragupta and Sasanka. It also was a part of Harsha's empire. In 795 AD, the
king Yayati Kesari I of Kesari dynasty united Kalinga, Kosala and Utkala into a single
empire. He is also supposed to have built the first Jagarnnath Temple at Puri
although the current structure of the temple is entirely different and was built by
Kings Choda Gangadeva and Ananga Bhimadeva of the Ganga Dynasty in the 12th
century. The famous Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar was started by Keshari
dynasty king Yayati Keshari III and completed by his son Lalatendu Keshari in the
10th century. King Narasimha Dev is reputed to have built the magnificent Sun
Temple in Konark. Although now largely in ruins, the temple may have rivaled the Taj
Mahal in splendour.

The Moguls conquered Bengal and Orissa in 1576; however, Orissa was
subsequently ceded to the Marathas in 1751.

In 1803, the British under the British East India Company occupied Orissa after the
Second Anglo-Maratha War. In 1823, Orissa was divided into the three districts of
Cuttack, Balasore and Puri, and a number of native tributary states. Orissa was
administered as part of the Bengal Presidency. Following famine and floods in 1866,
large scale irrigation projects were undertaken in the last half of the 19th century.
The coastal section was separated from Bengal and made into the Province of Bihar
and Orissa in 1912, in response to local agitation for a separate state for
Oriya-speaking peoples. In 1936, Bihar and Orissa were split into separate
provinces.

Following Indian independence, the area of Orissa was almost doubled and the
population was increased by a third by the addition of 30 former princely states. In
1950, Orissa became a constituent state in the Union of India


GENERAL INFORMATION


Time zone         IST (UTC+5:30)
Area                   155,707 kmē (60,119 sq mi)
Capital              Bhubaneswar
Largest city       Bhubaneswar
District(s)          30
Population        36,706,920 (11th)
Density              236/kmē (611/sq mi)
Language(s)    Oriya