Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. Let's talk about history today; yes, I know history is boring, and Odisha history is boring af, but sometimes it becomes necessary to look back, into the past. So, let's have a look at a particular part of history, the Odisha Identity movement. I'm pretty sure most of you don't know about this, as this was neither in any of your history books nor narrated to you by anyone; so, I'll explain this movement in brief.
Except for the British, no other force had succeeded in annexing or colonizing Odisha completely(Ashoka had conquered Odisha, but had renounced the trbone immediately, so that doesn't count). The Britishers annexed Odisha in many phases. They took the reigns of Northern Circars in 1766, in 1803 they conquered Cuttack, Puri and Balasore from the Marathas and took possession of Sambalpur from the hands of the Bhonsla, Marathas of Nagpur in 1818 A.D. Under the British rule, Odisha was divided into 4 administrative units: Sambalpur came under Central Provinces; Ganjam and Jeypore were attached to Madras Presidency, and the districts of Cuttack, Puri, Balasore and Midnapur remained under Bengal Presidency.
Due to this division of Odisha, there evolved the crisis of language. Odia language was neglected, and on other hand, Bengali, Telugu, and Hindi were forcefully imposed on the people of Odisha. Eminent Bengali scholars like Rajendralal Mitra and Kantilal Bandopadhyaya refused to recognise Odia as a distinct language. They pressed the Government to, 'make Bengali the medium of teaching and introduce Bengali textbooks in schools of Odisha.' In Ganjam region Telugu was imposed on Odia schools and in Central Province Hindi was made compulsory for the schools of Sambalpur tract. Such was the disastrous state of a once glorious state.
The Odia Language Movement started in 1866, after the Famine, with the open support of many Britishers. The spread of education, the language crisis, the vernacular press, the associations and last but not the least, leading personalities like Madhusudan Das, Gauri Shankar Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati and Radhanath Ray substantially contributed to the awakening of political consciousness of the Odia-speaking people. It was during this movement that Madhu Babu had written those fiery lines,
"ଉଠରେ ଉଠରେ ଉତ୍କଳ ସନ୍ତାନ ଉଠିବୁ ତୁ କେତେ ଦିନେ, ପୁରୁବ ଗୌରବ ପୁରୁବ ମହିମା ପଡ଼ିବ କି ତୋର ମନେ?"
Finally after much presentations, committees and movements, and the support of the people, Odisha was declared a separate province, on 1st April, 1936, the first state to be formed on the basis of language, and not Andhra Pradesh, as history and Google will tell you.
So, yeah, I skipped the movements, leading to the formation of Odisha, because I wanted to bring to the reader's notice, the main cause leading to this movement, and let's be honest, you wanted it to be short. After having read how the above mentioned personalities revolted to save the Odia language, let's have a look at how we have saved Odia and Odisha, and whether we lived upto their expectation. Fast forward to 2019: Many people staying in Odisha for many years don't know how to speak or write Odia properly, Odia novels have long been discarded, Ollywood movies are shit, Odia songs are played only for dancing, Odia culture is so backward, and Odia language is so uncool. Let's be honest to ourselves, sometime or other, we all have regretted at least once, for taking birth here.
For a moment let's stop complaining about being westernized, and let's see how we have abandoned our culture and our state. Yes, Odisha is a poor state with minimal job opportunities and lesser developments. Blame it on the State Government, which in turn blames in on the Central Government; then go to other states or other countries and live a comfortable life. Running away from problems, or staying safe and out of the problem, is a typical Odia and also Indian way of facing a problem. If we run away from a problem, playing the blame game, we will be safe; and seriously, who cares about others? Have you ever taken even a tiny step toward the development of the state? Did you ever question the Government on its action? Did you demand that the Government should perform better?
It was just weeks before the Hockey Men's World Cup 2018, which was to be held in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar was completely geared up for the mega event. During that time, a large of number of farmers took to the streets and decided to take a rally to the house of the CM, urging him to take some immediate steps in solving their issues. But, they were not even allowed to enter the capital, and disappeared the next day surprisingly. Did we try to find out the cause of such a massive rally? No. The only thing we were concerned about was there would be problem in transportation, and if the Hockey World Cup will be held successfully or not; and also what the world will think of us! But, none of us tried to find out the real reason behind the protest. We could have boycotted the high budget opening ceremony, given the situation that the rural areas are in, but, SRK and Bhaijaan were coming for the first time to Odisha, what would they think of us? Problems like these come up everyday, we couldn't miss our superstars' performances for this, right?
This was just a small example to show that we have started to consider things like these normal. Farmer suicides don't intrigue us nowadays. We are more concerned about which political bigshot came to India; in which movie was Odisha mentioned, which brand did our so-called youth icons promoted, and who posted the saddest microtale on Instagram, because in front of our break-up and self-imposed loneliness issues, these issues seem so minor, don't they! We have stooped to such a low level that we find a person cool, just because he speaks Hindi instead of Odia. It has been seen that even parents discourage the kids from speaking Odia, and teach them to speak in Hindi or English, so as to 'look cool.' Kishore Kumar is maybe the best music composers, but who is Akhaya Mohanty? Ollywood movies are shit because we allow them to be. Honestly speaking, have you seen a single Ollywood movie? Or did you brand them as shits without seeing? If we support good movies, then the filmmakers will get encouraged and make such movies. The same goes for songs as well. And also, if you are good at screenwriting, don't go to Mumbai, try your luck here. Try and improve your own movie industry first, then go for others. And we really need a campaign to save regional novels, Odia novels included.
Days back, the Cyclone Fani hit the coast of Odisha and left few cities of the state, including the capital Bhubaneswar, devastated. If this were the case with any other state, then there would be 24x7 news coverage, many online donation campaigns, and top celebrities would have tweeted their prayers and support for the state. But this is Odisha, the most neglected state, and this is the time of the elections, so national media houses should be thanked, that they at least gave a segment from their busy schedule for reporting this. And as of now, no so-called Youth Icon, or celebrity, except Amitabh Bachchan, who did so due to continuous tweets from many people, requesting him to do so, has even tweeted to pray for Odisha. In hard times like these, Odisha has been abandoned. Thanks to the brilliant job done by the disaster relief teams, who transported over 1.2 million people, living near the coasts to safety. No microtale, no post for Odisha from your fav Youth-Icon or meme page, not even a tweet from any Union Minister, except the PM.
It is we who have brought the once glorious state down to this. We have ruined the magnificent Odia culture and its history. There's still time. We can rebuild the culture again. Here are a few steps we can follow. Unfollow all major celebrities, who didn't tweet or posted prayers for us, and were either promoting brands, self-praising or celebrating the victory of their favourite team. And, we can also boycott going to the theatres and watching their movies or reading their books. Let's save as much money possible and lend a hand in rebuilding the devastated cities. Let's also revive the glorious Odia culture again, so that we won't be looked down on again. Can we do that? I think we can, and I think we should! We, the youths, need to rise; let's try and bring back the Odia culture again. I would like to conclude by these lines from the poem by Godabarish Mahapatra,
"ଉଠ କଙ୍କାଳ, ଛିଡ଼ୁ ଶୃଙ୍ଖଳ, ଜାଗ ଦୁର୍ବଳ ଆଜି, ଉଠୁ ଗତ ଗୌରବ, ହୃତ ଗୌରବ, ମୃତ ଗୌରବ ରାଜି।"
Let's not let Odia die. Let's be proud to be an Odia.
Except for the British, no other force had succeeded in annexing or colonizing Odisha completely(Ashoka had conquered Odisha, but had renounced the trbone immediately, so that doesn't count). The Britishers annexed Odisha in many phases. They took the reigns of Northern Circars in 1766, in 1803 they conquered Cuttack, Puri and Balasore from the Marathas and took possession of Sambalpur from the hands of the Bhonsla, Marathas of Nagpur in 1818 A.D. Under the British rule, Odisha was divided into 4 administrative units: Sambalpur came under Central Provinces; Ganjam and Jeypore were attached to Madras Presidency, and the districts of Cuttack, Puri, Balasore and Midnapur remained under Bengal Presidency.
Due to this division of Odisha, there evolved the crisis of language. Odia language was neglected, and on other hand, Bengali, Telugu, and Hindi were forcefully imposed on the people of Odisha. Eminent Bengali scholars like Rajendralal Mitra and Kantilal Bandopadhyaya refused to recognise Odia as a distinct language. They pressed the Government to, 'make Bengali the medium of teaching and introduce Bengali textbooks in schools of Odisha.' In Ganjam region Telugu was imposed on Odia schools and in Central Province Hindi was made compulsory for the schools of Sambalpur tract. Such was the disastrous state of a once glorious state.
The Odia Language Movement started in 1866, after the Famine, with the open support of many Britishers. The spread of education, the language crisis, the vernacular press, the associations and last but not the least, leading personalities like Madhusudan Das, Gauri Shankar Ray, Fakir Mohan Senapati and Radhanath Ray substantially contributed to the awakening of political consciousness of the Odia-speaking people. It was during this movement that Madhu Babu had written those fiery lines,
"ଉଠରେ ଉଠରେ ଉତ୍କଳ ସନ୍ତାନ ଉଠିବୁ ତୁ କେତେ ଦିନେ, ପୁରୁବ ଗୌରବ ପୁରୁବ ମହିମା ପଡ଼ିବ କି ତୋର ମନେ?"
Finally after much presentations, committees and movements, and the support of the people, Odisha was declared a separate province, on 1st April, 1936, the first state to be formed on the basis of language, and not Andhra Pradesh, as history and Google will tell you.
So, yeah, I skipped the movements, leading to the formation of Odisha, because I wanted to bring to the reader's notice, the main cause leading to this movement, and let's be honest, you wanted it to be short. After having read how the above mentioned personalities revolted to save the Odia language, let's have a look at how we have saved Odia and Odisha, and whether we lived upto their expectation. Fast forward to 2019: Many people staying in Odisha for many years don't know how to speak or write Odia properly, Odia novels have long been discarded, Ollywood movies are shit, Odia songs are played only for dancing, Odia culture is so backward, and Odia language is so uncool. Let's be honest to ourselves, sometime or other, we all have regretted at least once, for taking birth here.
For a moment let's stop complaining about being westernized, and let's see how we have abandoned our culture and our state. Yes, Odisha is a poor state with minimal job opportunities and lesser developments. Blame it on the State Government, which in turn blames in on the Central Government; then go to other states or other countries and live a comfortable life. Running away from problems, or staying safe and out of the problem, is a typical Odia and also Indian way of facing a problem. If we run away from a problem, playing the blame game, we will be safe; and seriously, who cares about others? Have you ever taken even a tiny step toward the development of the state? Did you ever question the Government on its action? Did you demand that the Government should perform better?
It was just weeks before the Hockey Men's World Cup 2018, which was to be held in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar was completely geared up for the mega event. During that time, a large of number of farmers took to the streets and decided to take a rally to the house of the CM, urging him to take some immediate steps in solving their issues. But, they were not even allowed to enter the capital, and disappeared the next day surprisingly. Did we try to find out the cause of such a massive rally? No. The only thing we were concerned about was there would be problem in transportation, and if the Hockey World Cup will be held successfully or not; and also what the world will think of us! But, none of us tried to find out the real reason behind the protest. We could have boycotted the high budget opening ceremony, given the situation that the rural areas are in, but, SRK and Bhaijaan were coming for the first time to Odisha, what would they think of us? Problems like these come up everyday, we couldn't miss our superstars' performances for this, right?
This was just a small example to show that we have started to consider things like these normal. Farmer suicides don't intrigue us nowadays. We are more concerned about which political bigshot came to India; in which movie was Odisha mentioned, which brand did our so-called youth icons promoted, and who posted the saddest microtale on Instagram, because in front of our break-up and self-imposed loneliness issues, these issues seem so minor, don't they! We have stooped to such a low level that we find a person cool, just because he speaks Hindi instead of Odia. It has been seen that even parents discourage the kids from speaking Odia, and teach them to speak in Hindi or English, so as to 'look cool.' Kishore Kumar is maybe the best music composers, but who is Akhaya Mohanty? Ollywood movies are shit because we allow them to be. Honestly speaking, have you seen a single Ollywood movie? Or did you brand them as shits without seeing? If we support good movies, then the filmmakers will get encouraged and make such movies. The same goes for songs as well. And also, if you are good at screenwriting, don't go to Mumbai, try your luck here. Try and improve your own movie industry first, then go for others. And we really need a campaign to save regional novels, Odia novels included.
Days back, the Cyclone Fani hit the coast of Odisha and left few cities of the state, including the capital Bhubaneswar, devastated. If this were the case with any other state, then there would be 24x7 news coverage, many online donation campaigns, and top celebrities would have tweeted their prayers and support for the state. But this is Odisha, the most neglected state, and this is the time of the elections, so national media houses should be thanked, that they at least gave a segment from their busy schedule for reporting this. And as of now, no so-called Youth Icon, or celebrity, except Amitabh Bachchan, who did so due to continuous tweets from many people, requesting him to do so, has even tweeted to pray for Odisha. In hard times like these, Odisha has been abandoned. Thanks to the brilliant job done by the disaster relief teams, who transported over 1.2 million people, living near the coasts to safety. No microtale, no post for Odisha from your fav Youth-Icon or meme page, not even a tweet from any Union Minister, except the PM.
It is we who have brought the once glorious state down to this. We have ruined the magnificent Odia culture and its history. There's still time. We can rebuild the culture again. Here are a few steps we can follow. Unfollow all major celebrities, who didn't tweet or posted prayers for us, and were either promoting brands, self-praising or celebrating the victory of their favourite team. And, we can also boycott going to the theatres and watching their movies or reading their books. Let's save as much money possible and lend a hand in rebuilding the devastated cities. Let's also revive the glorious Odia culture again, so that we won't be looked down on again. Can we do that? I think we can, and I think we should! We, the youths, need to rise; let's try and bring back the Odia culture again. I would like to conclude by these lines from the poem by Godabarish Mahapatra,
"ଉଠ କଙ୍କାଳ, ଛିଡ଼ୁ ଶୃଙ୍ଖଳ, ଜାଗ ଦୁର୍ବଳ ଆଜି, ଉଠୁ ଗତ ଗୌରବ, ହୃତ ଗୌରବ, ମୃତ ଗୌରବ ରାଜି।"
Let's not let Odia die. Let's be proud to be an Odia.
Goosebumps
ReplyDeleteIt am flabbergasted . just one correction Ashoka was also able to conquer odisha completely.. So the 1st line needs a small correction
ReplyDeleteActually Ashoka had renounced the throne after conquering Odisha, so it doesn't count as annexing; still, thanks for pointing this out, am editing.
Delete'How do you save a million people from cyclone? Ask a poor state in India' - New York's Time
ReplyDeleteUN praises the govt for minimal loss in cyclone, says 'pinpoint accuracy'
On the other hand our Indian media......
👏👏🤓
ReplyDeletePerhaps, my pal with a poor understanding of history of India as well Odisha has flamboyantly commented that "History of Odisha is boring AF".
ReplyDelete- Odisha, first state to merge in united India (1936)
- Brags numerous great monuments few examples are Black Pagoda also known as Konark Temple. An UNESCO world heritage site.
-One of the primary hub of Buddhism.
-Brags history of being host for characters of Ramayan and Mahabharata.
-It was state ruled by merchants who were famous for sea route trades with Indonesia.
- One of the oldest forms of dance
in Indian history is Odishi Dance.
We also have more Sambalpuri, Gotipua, Bagha Nrutya and more perhaps you may need to refer Google for it.
- Unique handicrafts and painting skills. From world famous Patachitra, Pipli applique works, Sambalpuri sarees, Dhanu Yatra, more.....
- World famous cuisine which extraordinary food and sweets.
Perhaps, you must have heard about Rasogolla controversy. It belongs to Odisha.
- Adobe of Lord Jagannath, the most powerful diety amongst the four dhams. (Char Dhams)
- World famous for Rath Yatra, official car festival of Lord Jagannath. Now being celebrated worldwide from American, European to Australian subcontinent. Don't confuse it with Iskcon commercial trade.
- History brags Veer Surrendra Sahay, one of the first freedom fighters of India. Buxi Jagabandhu, the founder of Paika Rebellion often considered as the first fight against the Britishers.
Many more... Refer Google 😉
"Sometimes learn to step out from claws of your school history books and refer some books of higher standards. In fact a field study would be a better option to know about Odisha. Unlike other states we don't need over glorification, we know what we are"
Beautifully penned down, Asutosh. Wow. <3
ReplyDelete