Historians pursuing area s p e c i f i c research have t o

unfai l ingly take note of i ts soc ia l dynamics. I n India,

i t has become a pract ice i n the context of micro-studies

now. The d i s t r i c t of Balasore on the northern sea-board

of Orissa, w i t h a l l the v ic i s s i tudes of a long and tenuous

his tory on the backdrop, o f fe r s good p o s s i b i l i t i e s f o r

undertaking a study of t h i s nature.

M Y HWTORY

Tho Pro-colonial period

As f a r as the ancient h is tory of the d i s t r i c t

i s concerned, Balosore claims t o have an ant iqui ty of i t s

own. According t o a loca l t r ad i t ion , "the name is

probably derived from the temple of Mahadev Baneswar,

which is s t i l l standing, and was so cal led a f t e r

Banasura, i t s t r a d i t i o n a l founder"'. Another t r ad i t ion

ind ica tes t h a t the name i s possibly derived from

'Baleswarar which means , the young lord i . e . Krishna'.

Whatever be the f a c t one f i n d s both the Shaivite and the

Vaishnavite t r a d i t i o n being s t rongly present i n the

District. Renuna, s i t u a t e d 5 miles v e s t of Balasore town,

b ?pedally celebrated for the t e q l e of god Kshirchora

W p i m 8: fom Qf Krishnit, in honour of whom a re l ig ious

2 f a i r i s held annually i n February. The f a i r l a s t s f o r 13

days and i s attended by a very large number of p i l g r ~ l n s ~ . S.C. De suggests t h a t the image of Gopinath i n the Remuna

temple had been i n s t a l l e d by the Ganga King, Narasimha

Deva I around 1245 A.D'. T h i s suggestion ascr ibes the

h i s t o r i c i t y of the temple t o a f a i r l y l a t e period., but,

nevertheless, the der ivat ion holds grammatically.

In ancient times, the D i s t r i c t formed p a r t of the

"extensive, populous and f a i r l y c i v i l i s e d kingdom" of

Kalinga, which emerged t o the f u l l l i g h t of h is tory w i t h

the invasion of Ashoka Maurya i n Circa 261 B.c'. Prlor t o

t h a t the Mahabharatha mentlons of the Baltaranl r ive r ,

associated w i t h Hindus mythology and i n ~ t s ea r ly verses

had enjoined upon the pllgrims not t o v i s i t Kalinga as the

Kshatriyas there "had become out-castes6. Babu Manmohan

Chakravarthy, who contributed the a r t l c l e f o r the

Gazetteer, i s of the oplnion t h a t t h l s was s o because

Orissa a t the time of the Mahabharata had not y e t f u l l y

come under the s p e l l of Aryavarta belng mostly peopled by

pr imit ive t r i b e s l i k e the Savaras, the Juangs, the Panas,

the Kewats and, of course, the predominant Odras who gave

t h e i r name t o the land i n Sanskr i t works a t l e a s t before

the 9th Century A. n7. References of the Mahabharata and

subsequently of the Baudhayma Dfiarmsutra which required

persans v i s i t i n g Kalinga t o "offer a s a c r i f i c e i n penance"

possibly p o i n t d t o the spcrradic e a r l y k y a n i d g r a n t s ,

3 who came amidst the m e r o u s non-Aryan people of W n g a

and thereby l o s t the i r castes$ The Nastans and the

Saruas, who claim t o be Brahmins and wear sacred thread

but do not practice usual r i t e s incumbent upon the

Brahmins, were probable the descendants of these early

Aryan immigrants. However, brisk maritime ac t i v i t i e s on

the Kalilngan coast i n course of time linked the country

more thoroughly w i t h i t s northern hinterland. Hence i n

the Mahabharata, one f inds l a t e r verses declaring that

there were good men i n Kalinga and that T i r t h e s existed i n

tha t country, thus withdrawing the ban la id on traveling 8 there ,

I n between 6th and 4 t h century B.C. when the whole of

Indo-Gangetic plain was i n ferment, heterodox sects l ike

Buddhism and Jainism found easy f e r t i l e grounds i n

Kalinga. Buddhism special ly found royal favour a f t e r

Asokars conquest of Kalinga and i t s annexation w i t h the

Mauryan empire. However, when the Mauryan yoke was

overthrown and Kalinga became po l i t i c a l l y independent

under the Kings of the Chedi dynasty, i t s powerful monarch

Khaxavela extended patronage t o ~ a i n i s g . The Murundas

who succeeded the Chedis, again f avowed ~uddhism".

Later during the reign of Harshavardhana when the Chinese

t r a w l e r M e n Tsang v is i ted Orissa around 639 A.D. he

%w#l..Q&sil a b w d i n g with ~uddhist m o ~ s t e r i e s of the

4 Mabayana s e c t "besides 50 deva temples frequented by

sec ta r i es of a l l sortsm1'.

The Bhaumakaras who commenced t h e i r r u l e from 736

A . D ~ ~ continued t o support the Mshayana and the

Vajrayana var ian t of Buddhism till about 846 A.D.

continued till about 846 A. D. when Tribhuvana Mahadevi

the f i r s t reigning queen of the dynasty effected a turning

point not only i n the his tory of the Bhaumas but a lso i n

the socio-re l ig ious his tory of Orissa. According t o

Panigrahi "During her ru le the country advanced i n three

branches (of adminis t ra t ion) , the foes were extirpated,

the glory spread abroad and there was harmony among the

people. W i t h her head sanc t i f i ed w i t h the lo tus- l ike f e e t

of Hari, she enjoyed an unparalleled fortune and thought 13

t h a t there was no other work f o r her t o do" .

The Neulpur char ter of Subhakaradeva I (790 A.D.)

and the Terundia char ter of Subhakaradeva I1 (809 A.D. )

s t a t e t h a t though these r u l e r s were Buddhists, they had

accepted the Brahamanical socio-religious order and had

consequently put Varnas i n t h e i r proper places. They had

encouraged immigration of Brahmans from Mdhyadesa by the

a f f e r af land grant and by f a c i l i t a t i n g the use of

Sanskrit f o r writ ing both insc r ip t ions and the Buddhist

texts", Tha ascendance af Hinduism was accentuated under

the r u l e af the Somavamsi Kings between 922 and 1118 A.D.

S Being protagonis ts of the Brahmanisation of Orissan

cu l tu re , the Somavamsi kings engaged themselves i n massive

construction a c t i v i t i e s of temples. Mahasivagupta Yayati

I (922-955 A.D. 1 who i s c red i t ed w i t h the extension of the

Somavamsi pover t o the coas ta l s t r i p of Orissa i n 931 A.D.

p a r t i c u l a r l y authenticated the necess i ty of sacredote l

sanction t o his r e g a l au thor i ty by inv i t ing ten thousand

Brahmins from Kanauj t o perform the Ashwamedha sac r i f i ce

on the bank of the r i v e r Baitatani a t Jaipur. In a land

where Brahmanism had begun coalesing w i t h the long

favoured heterodox sec t s , Yayati I had the po l i t i co -

r e l i g i o u s compulsion t o ascr ibe t o a more sync re t i c cu l t .

T h i s was desp i t e h i s impressive mi l i t a ry successes.

According t o H.V. Stietencron, 949 A.D. was the terminus

post guem f o r the v ic to r ious kind Yayati I t o bui ld the

Temple of Purushottam a t ~ u r i " . His successor,

~ a h a s i v a g u p t a ~ a y a t i I1 (1025 - 1040 A.D . ) who constructed

the monumental Lingaraj Temple i n Bhubaneswar i n the

honour of Lord Shiva, helped permeate sync re t i c influence

of the Jagannath c u l t . Like the hitapatis of the

Jagannath temple whose legi t imate share i n the worship of

the Lord had been recognised s ince the day the temple of

Puroshottam vas es tabl ished, ~ a y a t i I1 appointed sudra

p r i e s t s a s t h e custodians of the Lingaraj Temple l o c a l l y

k m aa Vadus, these Sudra p r i e s t s have been described i n

thr, sixty sttcond chapter of the Ekaaua Purana as the

6 descendants of a Severa mother by a Salva s a i n t knovn as

Siddhabhuti. The Brahmins took a share i n t he worship of

the Lord only much la ter16. s imi l a r ly , t he custom t h a t was

introduced i n the Lingaraj Temple i n regard t o partaking

of the cooked-rice offered t o Lingaraj became analogous t o

the one prevelent i n Purushottam where no cas t e

d i s t i n c t i o n i s observed while partaking of the cooked-rice

offered t o the Lord.

T h i s i n i t i a l e f f o r t s of the Somavamsi Kings i n

harnessing the p o t e n t i a l inherent i n the Jagannath c u l t t o

bul ld up a pan-orissan empire was epitomised i n 12th

century A.D. when the Eastern Ganges acquired power and

l t s a b l e s t King Chodagangadeva b u i l t the famous S r i

Jagannatha Temple i n the s i t e of the pre-exis t ing

Purushottam Nrusimha Temple on the shores of ~ u r i between

1134 and 1147 A.D. In the opinion of K.C. Panigrahl:

"both ~ a y a t i I and Chodaganga were actuated by p o l i t i c a l

motives f o r paying a g rea te r a t t e n t i o n t o the shr lne of

Jagannath, which must have acquired a g rea t s a n c t i t y by

the time they r u l e s i n Orissa. Both these monarchs did

not possess any l e g a l claim t o the throne of o r i s s a and,

therefore , they wanted t o p laca te the publ ic opinion of

t h i s country by building the spectacular temple of

Jagannath whose c u l t had a g rea t s igni f icance i n the

national life of t he ~ r i y a s and who was considered t o be

t h e unquestioned supreme d e i t y of t h e i r c ~ u n t r y . " ~ '

7 Founded upon a syncre t i c platform i t was possible f o r

Jagannath c u l t t o permeate the whole of regional l i f e i n

Orissa. Other than i n the re l ig io -cu l tu ra l domain,

the c u l t ' s in tegra t ive fo rce i s envisaged i n the presence

af a pa r t i cu la r kind of Debottar tenure cal led Amruta

mnohi. These grants of land meant f o r keeping up the

worship of Jagannath a t ~ u r i , was found i n a l l the

paraganas of Balasore d i s t r i c t1 ' when the Br i t i sh came

t o occupy Orissa i n 1803 A.D. Trustee-holders of such

grants, were usually the res idents of Puri or i t s

neighborhood who col lected the ren t s a t cer ta in in te rva l s

through agents. In ea r ly 2 0 t h century when na t iona l i s t

Oriya leaders were struggling a t a soc io -po l i t i ca l l eve l

t o ge t f o r Orissa a d i s t i n c t p o l i t i c a l i d e n t i t y i n British

~ n d i a , the forerunner amongst them, Gopabandhu Das,

repeatedly harked back t o t h i s once unquestioned symbol of

Oriya national l i f e i n h i s anthology of 13 prison poems

viz . KaraKabitaig. The upswing i n the overarching

influence of the c u l t continued a f t e r the Angas,

throughout the period of the Suryavamsi rule between 1435

and 1538 A.D. The tense p o l i t i c a l s i tua t ion ar is ing out

of incessant mi l i t a ry pressure from both the northern and

southern f r o n t s did not allow the suryavamsi r u l e r s any

r e s p i t e from e i t h e r wars or worries about t h e i r personal

sovereignity. The theocrat ic notion of kingship which had > *, ., .

been. populariesd by the Ganga kings Anangabhim I11

8 (1211-1238 AD) and Bhanudeva I1 (1306-1328 AD)" vas,

therefore , more copiously followed by the Suryavamsis.

Kapilendradeva (1435-1468 AD) warned h i s disobedient

feudator ies t h a t defiance of the author i ty of the

Gajapati amounted t o sacr i legious disrespect f o r Lord

Jagannath. ~ r o n i c a l l y i t was p a r t l y due t o such i n t e r n a l

dissension t h a t the o r i s s a country ult imately l o s t i t s

p o l i t i c a l independence t o the Afghan chief of Bengal

Suleiman Karrani i n 1568 AD.

Once p o l i t i c a l l y subservient Orissa became a theatre

of s t ruggle among a l i en powers f o r mastery and Balasore

became a '' high way along which Muslim armies passed

and repassed and fought t h e i r batt lesu2' . Not only t h a t

the conquerors bequeathed some legaciess but they a lso

added components of population which became parmanent pa r t

and parcel of s o c i a l s t ruc tu re i n Orissa. A s regards the

e a r l y remnants of Afgan domination over Balasore, the

d i s t r i c t preserves a number of tombs of the captains of

Kala Pahara. Located a t Garhpada where the Bhuinyas

enjoyed a rent-free grant t o preserve the tomb of Hitam

Khan ; a t Basta; a t Ramcahandrapur south of Garhpada; a t

Remuna, where the Bazar of Sahaji Patna took i t s name from

the tomb of Gulab Shah Shahid; a t Kasba, a suburb of

Balasore ; Bhadrak; and a t Dhamnagar where the descendents 22

of early Afghan s e t t l e r s are s t i l l l iv ing . The Afghans a l so contributed i n expanding

9 c u l t i v a t i o n by g r a n t i n g jagirs t o t h e o l d s o l d i e r s . I t

was accord ing t o Ba lasore District G a z e t t e e r : "from t h i s

t ime t o o d a t e s t h e r i s e of Ba lasore a s a commercial town

and t h e c l o t h woven t h e r e began t o be famouswz3. But t h e

Afgans d i d n o t p rov ide a s t a b l e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and people

s u f f e r e d u n t o l d m i s e r i e s because of prolonged war fa re .

The Mughals who conquered O r i s s a i n 1592 A.D.

e f f e c t e d some changes i n revenue a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . o u t of

t h e f i v e Sarkars i n t o which O r i s s a was d i v i d e d , Ba lasore

had two v i z . , Ja leswar and Bhadrak. Though land

t h e o r e t i c a l l y belonged t o t h e s t a t e t h e Mughals gave t h e

r a i y a t , patta and Kabuliyat f o r knowing t h e amount of

r e n t t h e y were t o pay f o r t h e i r c u l t i v a t e d l a n d . Whereas

t h e Hindu Kings f o r m e r l y depended upon t h e v i l l a g e headmen

c a l l e d Muqaddams f o r c o l l e c t i o n of l a n d revenue, t h e

mughal system of Tankha Raqmi (revenue s e t t l e m e n t )

depended upon i n t e r m e d i a r y o f f i c i a l s l i k e Chudhuries and

Vi laya t i Kanungoes / Taluqdars f o r t h e purpose. Besides,

t h e Maghals a l s o g r a n t e d jagirs t o bo th Muslim and non-

muslim Benga l i s who along w i t h o t h e r revenue o f f i c i a l s and

c h i e f t a i n s c r e a t e d v a r i o u s t y p e s of sub- tenanc ies i n l and .

T h i s t o some e x t e n t had l e d t o f r a g m e n t a t i o n of l a n d

r i . g h t s i n h i e r a r c h i c a l form on t h e eve of t h e M u a t h a

rulee4. I n o t h e r r e s p e c t s , t h e Mughal administcation

instead of uphold ing the p r o v i n c i a l c h a r a c t e r of 'Or i ssa

:m4tiw&..it , t o a mere F a appendage . of t h e Bengal

10 Further t o break the c e n t r a l i t y of Jagannath from Orissa 's

na t ional l i f e the Mughals beginning v i t h the re ign of

Aurangjeb imposed J i j i y a on pi lgr ims coming t o Puri. The

t a x was co l l ec ted from pilgrims between Ra] ghat and

Balasore i n d i f f e r e n t chowkies. Besides, AurangzebJs

pol icy of r e l i g i o u s persecution coerced many t o get

converted i n t o Islam. The notable Bhatta Brahmin family

who had received land grants from Purushottamadeva Gajpati

i n 1483 A.D. i n a v i l l a g e near Rupsa i n Balasore thus had

t o embrace Islam. T i l l da te h i s descendants are l iv ing i n 25 Garhpada v i l l a g e as Muslims .

However, i n the realm of cu l tu re , the Mughal

period l e f t behind two important t r a d i t i o n s . The t o l e r a n t

s t rands among the Hindus and the Muslims were played up by

the prevalent , Bhakti and Sufi movements t o make

Satyapir an acceptable common d e i t y f o r both

communities. The Suf i s a i n t s l o c a l l y ca l l ed Fakirs had

i n p a r t i c u l a r won the indulgence of f a i t h among common

f o l k s . Fakir Mohan Senapati r e c a l l s i n h i s auto-biography

how h i s grand mother had promised the two Muslim s a i n t s

i n Balasore t o make him t h e i r Fakir ( s l ave ) provided he

recovers from i l l n e s s . Later h i s grand mother had prefixed 2 6

Fakir t o h i s name t o p lease the Muslim s a i n t s . . The Mughal Tanvlsha of Bhadrak i s another legacy

of t h e Mughal inf luence on the indigenous performing" aft8

of Binlesase &strict. Also c a l l e d Chait i - ~ Tamshe,. %sirit*

11 the T a m s h e s a r e staged tovards the end of t h e Orissan

month C a i t r a i n upen a i r panda1 i n f r o n t of a Shiva

Temple, the Mugbal Tdmashas a re e s s e n t i a l l y s a t i r i c a l

dance-dramas on the decadent l i f e s t y l e of the ers twhi le

M i r z a s or Afgan Z a g i r d a r s . The Tamashas e x i b i t a composite

inf luence of Persian, ~ i n d i , Urdu, Bengali and Oriya i n

t h e i r songs , tune and dance s t y l e . The o r ig in of the

Tamasha has, however, been a t t r i b u t e d t o the Maratha

period when Bansiballabha Goswami, scion of a scho la r ly

Brahnim family of v i l l a g e Saingata near Bhadrak, first

authored i t i n the year 1728 AD.

Under the Marathas who occupied Orissa ( a f t e r r u l e

of Nawab Aliwardi Khan of Bengal) i n 1755 A . D . , Balasore

recelved g rea te r adminis t ra t ive a t t e n t i o n . The town of

Balasore s p e c i a l l y benefited most by the residence of the

Maratha o f f i c i a l s . Among them Motiram i s c r e t i t e d w i t h the

establishment of Motigan] sometime between 1785 and 1790

which became the center of the town and i t s p r inc ipa l

market place. The por t of Balasore a l so f lou r i shed and

the Marathas earned considerable amount of revenue from

the export of l a rge quan t i ty of s a l t t o Berar and Bengal

from t h e por t . H o s t i l i t i e s between the English ~ a s t - I n d i a

Company and the Marathas over t h i s l uc ra t ive s a l t t rade

f i n a l l y l ed t o the B r i t i s h conquest of Orissa i n 1803 A.D.

With B r i t i s h conquest, Or issa entered i n t o an

%rt.tjideky MU phase of her h i s t o r y which is of iarnediate

12 concern t o thte present thes i s . In t h i s regard the survey

of Or i s sa r s pre-Bri t i sh h i s t o r y may seem unnecessary. But

i ts relevance l i e s i n the f a c t t h a t the survey provides an

e s s e n t i a l background f o r a proper perusal of the modern

o r i s san soc ie ty and various changes which came i n i t . I t

i s a l s o important t o note t h a t during a l l the centur ies of

her e a r l y h i s to ry Orissan soc ie ty gradually c r y s t a l l i s a d

i n t o a cognisable e n t i t y with a s p e c i f i c form and inherent

functioning ra t iona le . Under the Somavamsi and the

Survyavamsi ru le , Orissa acquired a d e f i n i t i v e nat ional

character r a l ly lng round the hallowed symbol of Lord

Jagannath.

Social Stratification in Medieval Orinla :

During t h i s period of Hindu sovereignty Orissan

economy was v ib ran t desp i t e occasional horrors of

famine . ~ c c o r d i n g t o Gazetteer of Balasore D i s t r i c t

"Provisions were exceedingly cheap, cowrile-shells were

the only medium of exchange among the people generally, 27

and there was no demand f o r a gold o r s i l v e r currency . The currency of coins i n Orissa, however, predated the

Gupta Age as has been a t t e s t e d by the Bhadrak insc r ip t ion 2 8

of Gana . The kings who had popularised the theoc ra t i c

foundation af t h e i r kingship had monopolised Jagannath i n

the 'te&igious and p o l i t i c a l centers of the S t a t e . Ddspite

ibdulgence i n enormous M l d i n g a c t i v i t i e s by both the

l3 dynasties a l l over Orissa, there vere no Jagannath te@i&

outside Puri and Cuttack till l a t e 15th centu$'. T M ~

v&iq secured f o r the Brahmins the &s i t ion of primacy i n

Wissan socie ty . The Brahmins i n turn bestowed legitimacy

upon bath the lawful successors t o the throne and the

usurpers a l ike . Throughout the period t h i s t a c i t nexus

manifested i t s e l f i n sovereigns and t h e i r feudator ies i n

the names of the sovereigns granting tax-free Brahmottar

land f o r the sett lement and upkeep of the Brahmins. Among

the Lakhiraj lands of a l l kinds, the t h l r t y years

sett lement of 1837 returned Brahmottar land, "granted

e i t h e r t o indlvldual Brahmlns or t o a body of Brahrmns

forming a Shasan or Brahrnana Village f o r t h e i r

maintenance", d l s t r lbu ted very evenly over each pargana

throughout Balasore distr1ct3O. The donees i n these cases

were enjoined upon the obligation t o invoke blessings on

the donor's name three times a day. T h i s provision was

absent from other sanads, as the invocations of Brahmins

and Vaishnavas alone vere considered of any avail3'.

Apart from t h i s pre-eminent posi t ion enjoyed by

the Brahmins, the s o c l a l s t ruc tu re below remalned f l u i d

hecause af several exigencies of the time. F i r s t ly , due

t ~ b ~ r ~ l w m i L j . t w ~ i s a t i o n of the s t a t e by the Somavmsi

and .t&. Stdfyavwsi kings a l l cas tes and ccmwnities, not

~ ~ e & ~ ~ ~ g a ~ n s a t times, were cal led upon t o remain

4im@.i.bbt.+&k&a +par and sandrr - * raikitesga,p"vice at &ha

14 times of emergency32. Drawn mainly from among the

numerous t r i b a l communities and c u l t i v a t o r c a s t e s the

militia-men who served the kings a s r egu la r so ld i e r s ,

formed a new sub-caste c a l l e d Khandayats. W i t h land g ran t s

new t i t l e s l i k e Senapa t i , Nayaka, Gadanayaka, Patra,

Mahapatra, Behera, Dalabehera, Jena, Badajena, Pradhana,

Samala, Rauta, Wunt i a , Parichha, Pa r i j a , Padhihari ,

Dandapani, Dandapata e t c . , the neo-kshatriyas claimed

intermediary s o c i a l s t a t u s and became a wi l l i ng c l i e n t e l e

of t he Brahmins . The Brahmins i n t h e i r own i n t e r e s t i n

the areas of t h e i r new se t t lements and i n view of the

royal patronage accorded t o the predominantly sudra-

turned-khandayats, leg t imised t h i s v e r t i c a l s o c i a l

mobi l i ty by becoming p r i e s t s f o r them3'.

Secondly, i n an ove r t ly cen t r a l i s ed p o l i t i c a l

system, the kings could r u l e only w i t h the help of a

r egu la r hierarchy of c i v i l i a n o f f i c e r s and sc r ibes . In

Orissan context , l a r g e s c a l e recruitment of c i v i l i a n

o f f i c e r s and s c r i b e s of fered scope f o r men of lower

varnas t o move up the s o c i a l s ca l e by holding these

o f f i c e s , vhich s p e c i a l l y i n v i l l a g e and l o c a l l eve l s ,

became he red i t a ry and c r y s t a l l i s e d according t o t h e i r

func t iona l t i t l e s i n t o many sub-castes l i k e Srikarana,

Pattanayaka, Mhanty , Ilanungo e t c . , In the Later Ganga

period these sub-castes were ascr ibed the l o c a l ca s t e name

M &bEena.

1s Thirdly , the r i s e of Jagannath a s the na t iona l

d e i t y and t h e spread of h i s q n c r e t i c c u l t f a c i l i t a t e d

c los ing of the c a s t e ranks i n medieval Orissa. Tradi t ions

were b u i l t up eulogiging Jagannath a s Purushottama,

Patitapavana (L ibe ra to r of the down-trodden) e t c .

Gradually, a pan-Orissan n a t i o n a l i s t i c myth gained

currency. The Suryavamsi kings who themselves were of

humble o r i g i n encouraged t h i s myth. I t s r ep resen ta t ive

pe r sona l i ty was Sara la Dasa who composed the Oriya

Mahabharata, Chandi Purana and Vilanka Ramnaya i n 15th

century A . D . A t a time when the top-most of c a s t e s were

s t i l l the devotees of Sansk r i t l i t e r a t u r e , Sara la Dasa,

himself a Sudra c u l t i v a t o r and a man of no importance

responded t o the c a l l of the time and brought about a

revolut ionary change i n Oriya l i t e r a t u r e by becoming i t s

o r i g i n a t o r and maker. Af ter Sa ra l a Dasa a l l ca s t e s shook

off t h e i r pre judice aga ins t the 0 r iya l i t e r a t u r e and

con, o i n t l y cont r ibuted t c i t s Sara la Dasa

p a r t i c u l a r l y l e n t currency t o myriad f o l k b e l i e f s and

s o c i a l p r a c t i c e s t h a t were approved by men of a l l ca s t e s

and varnas.

Fourthly, the propagation and spread of reformis t

soc io - re l ig ious movements cont r ibuted t o the upward

fi&ifi$i?j of t h e lower varnas and even touched the l ~ l i e s t

t o br ing about a new order of s o c i a l s t r a t i f i c a t i o n i n

medieval Orissa. The r e fo rmis t t rend which Sara la Dasa

16 had s e t a s carr ied Earvard by other equally respected

Vaishnava s a in t s l ike Achyutananda Khuntia, Balaram

Hohapatra, Yoshovanta Mallick and Ananta Hohanty a l l

belonging t o non-Brahmin castes. These sa in t s received

royal patronage of Prataprudradeva and the i r works

reinterpreting the Sanskrit scr iptures i n fo lk language

gained wide acceptance. The s tory of Sriya

Chandaluni, depicted i n Lakshd $na of Balarama Dasa

a l i a s Hahapatra, portrayed the myth of goddess Lakshzni

coming dovn t o accept the worship of Sriya, a Chandala

woman, despite an injunction t o the contrary by her

husband Jaganna t h and h i s elder brother Balabhadra outside

the l imi t s of the temple c i t y being moved by her pious

l i fe -s ty le and devotion. The Purana narrates hw the

Goddess did not find any women belonging t o the so-called

upper varnas leading as pious a l i f e as Sriya withirr the

precincts of the temple ci ty . No doubt, Lakshmi was

thrown out of the temple f o r her deviant behaviour. But

following untold misery suffered by Jagannath and

Balabhadra when she was sought t o be brought back by the

duo, she agreed only on the condition that there would not

be any d is t inc t ion thereaf ter i n partaking of food that

she cooks within the Sri mndira. Not only tha t the myth

became a norm i n the Jagannath temple but people

throughout Orissa startrd sbaerving the wen t rel igiously

17 on f a Tburadilys of the oriya month of Margasira every

yearas.

When S r i Chaitanya came t o Puri i n 1510 A.D.,

the reformist Bhakti movement became much stronger.

Prof. R. D. Banerj ee considers t h i s influence of S r i

Chaitanya t o be great ly responsible f o r weakening the 36 military s p i r i t i n or issa . Other than Vaishhavism,

Sakta-tantrik and Nath cu l t s a lso contributed t o the

process of caste m m e n t s by assimilating lower castes

in to t he i r fold. Khageswar Mahapatra has ident i f ied many

of these tantr ik teachers (Siddhacharyas) as belonging t o

untouchable castes l ike kewat,Mochi, Dons etc3'. However,

the contention that the upward mobility of lover varnas

and the emergence of intermediary castes vho became

dominant economically as well as socio-politically

resulted i n a "marked decline i n the s ta tus of ~rahmins"~'

does not hold good on several counts.

The Gajapatis revered the Brahmins i n a manner

vhich they never did t o anybody else . The induction of

non-Brahmins as pr ies t s i n the Jagannath Temple was a

cosmetic attempt a t building up the cu l t as

u ~ v e r s a l i s t i c . But the in te rna l functioning of the

temple and its methods of worship was always Brahmanic.

The Brahmins a t tiws took to other professions because af

paliUfial md economic exigencies but tha t did not

I$kr;fen. - i~ - their ablrse ranking or r i t u a l statrtJ.

I4 Sarah Dasa h imel f t e l l s admuseum that different r i t e s

a s s o c i a t d with social l i f e were conducted thoroughly i n

accordance w i t h the vedic rules . The contention that

Brahmins ought only t o engage themselves i n worshipping

and studying rel igious scr iptures i s more of a

theoret ical postulation having l e s s relevance i n temporal

l i f e . 1. In medieval Orissa the social order that

emerged, therefore, was one i n vhich the Brahmins occupied

the top stratum.

2. I n the intermediate level, the Khandayats and

the Karanas contended w i t h each other f o r the rank next

t o the Brahmins, both castes being dravn from the

variegated castes and arnas.

3 . Due t o the increasing sanskri t isat ion as a resu l t

af softening of the social posture by the Brahmins from

the top and various reformist movements from below, Sudras

acquired respectabi l i ty i n society.

4 . As regards the overal l condition of the society

there was a f a l l i n outlook. Though under the over

lordship of the Bhaumas i n or issa , women enjoyed a

d i s t i nc t l y higher s ta tus , t he i r s ta tus declined

considerabay i n sumed ing centuries. Pre-puberty

aarrbp.8 becam a mle. &dab system crept i n t o the tdghu. clmrsrs. nany o t h $ d a l practices based on foUc

I9 bs l ie f such as "if a daughter a t t a in s puberty i n her

fa ther ' s house the raanes sha l l sink t o hell" assumed

charac te r i s t ic acceptance t o the detriment of progressive

outlook. upholding po l i t i c a l independence a t a l l costs and

mar~hal machismo also took its t o l l on social l i feJ9 .

The Coionial Period, 1803-1865

Orissa came under colonial rule i n 1803 and

part icular ly Balasore on 21st September i n the same year.

When Captain Margan captured the Fort of Balasore a f t e r

i t s evacuation by the ~ara thas" . Long before i t since

June 1633, the colonial is ts as t raders had associated w i t h

Balasore t o use i t as a spring-board i n quest of the i r

commercial" and subsequently po l i t i c a l in te res t s i n

Bengal. A l l these years they had carried sal tpeter ,

t a f fe tas , raw s i lk , sannas, cotton yarn, turmeric,

t i nca l l , dussettees or coarse s a i l cloth4* and brought

back broad cloth and lead i n return43. Among the

merchandise taken twa rds the end of 18th century, i t was

s a l t , manufactured i n Balasore tha t was comercial ly more

lucrative. The E n g l i s h East-India Company used t o import

s a l t from Orissa a t the average r a t e of 68,269 munds per

an nu^'^ i n t o Bangal *ere it had established a monopoly

both over unufactwre and s a l e of salt4'. Consequent upon

the P v e m c f f ec t which the smuggled and cheaper (5Zigsa

Salt vaa $&Wing t o tho coqeny"~ trade i n bnga l , it had

24 urged the Marathas t o grant the Company tho exclusive

r igh t t o buy Orissa s a l t . But given tha t the Marathas

vere earning as much as rupees tvo lakhs per annum from

the s a l t sold i n ~ e n ~ a 1 ' ~ they shunned the proposal off-

hand. Thus finding the r igh t opportunity during the

second Anglo-Maratha war the East-I ndia Company mi l i t a r i l y

seized Balasore, Cuttack and Puri and by the Treaty of

Deogaon ,signed on 1 7 t h December 1803, got from Bhonsla

Raja of Nagpur, Raghuji, i n perpetual sovereignty "the

provlnce of Cuttack including the port and the d i s t r i c t of

Balasore".

The Marathas despite frequent charges of

rapacity had found f o r themselves socio-pol i t ical context

i n Orissa. They had restored t o a great extent the pre-

Mughal system of revenue administration by minimising the

role of intermediaries i n revenue collection. In t o t a l

only 32 aiails or revenue commissioners vere responsible

f o r collection of revenue. From a l l the 150 paraganas

i n t o which the en t i re Nughal Bandi area had been divided.

The Anils managed t he i r job only though tvo s e t s of

o f f i c i a l s namely the Taluqdars and the Nllkaddams. The

Taluqdars collected the revenue from the raiyats af

Pahikasth v i l l ages and the JYukkaddam from the mkeddami

ones4'. Further the Marathas respected neither Z h d a r i

nor B d d tenures wbn; it wgs considered sui table

far eAu ta col- d i r e $%am the cul t ivators cd thb

21 soil'. Among other measures, the Marathas, even taking

w e r the administration of the Jagannath Temple i n Puri,

did not interfere w i t h the r i t u a l s ta tus of the Gajapati

Maharaja. The Gajapati s t i l l continued t o exercise the

regal privilege of conferring t i t l e s on the inhabitants

of Mughalbandi and the Garhjat c o ~ n t r i e s ' ~ . I t i s clear

from the records that no t i t l e granted by the Maratha

Government was considered t o confer any dis t inct ion i n

Orissa un t i l confirmed by the Raja of ~hurda". Being

Hindus, the Marathas also lavishly donated t o the

Jagannath Temple as well as t o Brahmins5'. I n tunes of

d i s t ress , resulting out of floods or droughts, tax

remissions as well as takavi advances t o the cul t ivators

used t o be given. The Marathas had also expended money i n

se t t l ing agriculture and i n building embankments t o

prevent flooding. One such embankment constructed a t the

mouth of r iver Subarnarekha did immense good to the people

of ~ a l a s o r e ~ ~ . In short, the Maratha administration had

arrested the process of fur ther fragmentatron of the

medieval Orissan society on caste and class l ines .

Unlike the Marathas, however, the colonial power

had no ralson dre t re i n seeking socio-political

legitimacy, i t s colonial agenda being long drawn up t o be

effected i n any newly acquired terr i tory. Their supreme

motive was t o fur ther colonial ecoanaric in te res t s thraugh

the bait of eradicating lawlessness, relieving the

21 c- from the misrule of native ty ran t s and

~ t a b ~ s h i n g a j u s t administration. But no sooner d id the

Company Government posted i t s e l f t o regular administration

af the country, i t s inner motives s t a r t e d rue fu l ly

manifesting . ( a ) I t s economic po l i c ies brought ruinat ion t o

native indus t r i e s and effected a s h i f t from a s t a t e of

loca l economic sel f -suff ic iency t o helpless dependence on

metropolitan economy.

(b) While the colonial ru le r s remained a

c lass apar t i t s revenue administration created an

intermediate c lass of landed aristocracy, which

perpetuated i t s e l f by exploit ing the cul t ivat ing under

c lass with no constructive obligation i n return.

( c ) Under the garb of organising the

administrative system outs iders mainly from Bengal were

brought i n great numbers. T h i s created a pernicious cycle

of sub-colonialism and demoralised the erst-while forward

sect ions of Orissan soc ie ty who could have worked a s a

moderating lever between the emergent colonial p w e r and

long-term native i n t e r e s t s .

(d) onet ti sat ion of economy and drain of

wealth from the land of i ts production together ensured

(1) econoraic deprivation .leading t o large scale migration

of lower-class people t o d i f fe ren t Garhjats and .to

CeiCUtta as menial workers and servants; (ii) rise of -8

2) c l a s s of money lenders and usurers and (iii) above a l l ,

d i s t ress ing poverty.

( 0 ) The policy of non-intervention i n people's

a f f a i r s did not allow the soc ie ty t o prepare i t s e l f f o r

readjusting t o an emergent system. The natural advantage

was, therefore, appropriated by rank outs iders who had no

soc ia l recognition or commitment whatsoever.

Consequent upon these developments by the middle

of the 19th century, a new s o c i a l s t ruc tu re was evolving

i n place of the one t h a t existed i n medieval Orissa. T h i s

soc ia l s t ruc tu re tending t o be more s t r a t i f i e d on economic

l i n e s ensured weakening of soc ia l a f f i n i t y between the

upper and the lower s t r a t a i n society. In other words,

i n the emergent socie ty the e a r l i e r system of r i t u a l -

ranking was giving way t o a new system where a variegated

numeber of caste-groups were get t ing clustered i n t o e i t h e r

a higher or lower stratum i n terms of t h e i r economic

s t a t u s and s o c i a l mobility was depending more upon who

benefited most out of the government pol ic ies .

A systematic perusal of the various

administrative measures and po l i c ies of the Company

Government would t e s t the above hypotheses.

adarlnirtratbe Ad-Hochm

The sever i ty of the ea r ly Br i t i sh ru le has been

a t t r ibu ted t o the unset t led natures of the c o u n t r y u ~ ~ h e n

a4 "large d i s c r e t i o n had t o be allowed t o the officersns3.

But keeping i n mind the paramoountcy of B r i t i s h power

then, i t sounds unconvincing t h a t the John Company took

more than f o u r decades t o s e t t l e the country f o r

imaginative administrat ion. I t i s s o because there was

hardly any nat ive r e s i s t ance a t the time of the conquest

of Orissa and the B r i t i s h occupied the t e r r i t o r y by

t rading charges of misrule agains t the Maratha regime. The

f a c t t h a t Balasore was erec ted i n t o an independent

d i s t r i c t w i t h Mr.HendryRicketts as i t s f i r s t c o l l e c t o r on

October 23, 1828, long a f t e r i t was administrated a s an

annex of Cuttack and t h a t even afterwards a perplexing

s e r i e s of t r a n s f e r and r e t r a n s f e r of f i s c a l d iv i s ions

continued till as l a t e as 1868 made matters worse f o r the

people of the d i s t s r i c t . W . W . Hunter has quoted the

c o l l e c t o r a s reporting t h a t "Constant s h i f t i n g of

ju r i sd ic t ion has made these parganas very lawless and

d i f f i c u l t t o manage"54. Systemic mismanagement was not

only r e f l e c t e d i n every branch of administrat ion but a130

woefully culminated i n the famine of 1865-66.

Balasore, endowed w i t h a long s a l t t r a c t along

the coas t l ine , had been producing the f i n e s t panga s a l t

s ince the pre-Bri t i sh daysss. Soon a f t e r ge t t ing the

r i g h t t o occupancy over Orissa, t he Company enacted a

telaporai-y regula t ion i n May 4 , 1804 reserving t o i t s e l f ,

25 "the exclusive p r iv i l ege of manufacturing s a l t a s a

source of publ ic revenue". T h i s r e s p o n s i b i l i t y was

ent rus ted t o the S a l t Department w i t h i t s Headquarters a t

~ a l a s o r e ' ~ .

A s a r e s u l t of t h i s monopoly over the

manufacturing and s a l e of s a l t , the Company Government

earned a net p r o f i t of s i c c a rupees 43,435 and 11 annas i n

1804 and rupees 1, 04,894 and 13 annas i n 1805 agains t an

advance of only Rs. 43,000 i n the same year51. Af ter

James K i n g assumed charge of the S a l t Department as i t s

fu l l - t ime agent i n 1806, the quan t i ty of s a l t manufactured

i n the eleven aurangs or s a l t enclosures along the

Balasore coast increased rapidly . In 1811, he

communicated t o the Board of Trade t h a t there was a

prospect of real . lsing a s much as 4 lakh maunds of s a l t i n

h i s agency5'.

In an attempt t o f u r t h e r c e n t r a l i s e the regime

of s a l t monopoly, the headquarters of the s a l t department

under regula t ion 22 of 1814 was s h i f t e d t o Cuttack and

utmost emphasis was l a i d on optimising the output. In the

season, of 1820-21 Charles Becher, the s a l t agent of

Orissa, repor ted t h a t out of a t o t a l of 9,88,300 maunds 9

see r s and 9 chhataks of s a l t the northern Auranga produced

7,76,641 maunds 39 seers. and 9 chhataks of panga sa l tS9

which was much super ior and favoured t o the "di r ty , coarse

and no t very s t rong ly flavoured Xerkutch salt"60.

26 Consequent upon t h e fo rmat ion of t h e d i s t r i c t of

Balasore, t h e Balasore S a l t Agency f u n c t i o n e d under t h e

charge of t h e ~ i s t r i c t C o l l e c t o r . I n t h e season o f 1836-

37 Balasore Agency produced 3,99,436 maunds and 30 seers

of s a l t which i n c r e a s e d t o 4,94,940 a a u n d s on an average

between 1840-41 t o 1845-46. But t h e i n t e r v e n t i o n of t h e

cheap Liverpool s a l t i n t h e Bengal market f o r c e d t h e S a l t

Agency t o s c a l e down i t s produc t ion i n between 1846-47 and

1851-52 t o an average of 3 ,24,910 maunds . Only when t h e

impor t s of Liverpool s a l t i n c r e a s e d i n 1853-54, t h e Agency

produced a maximum of 6,72,999 maunds i n t h e season of

1 8 5 3 - ~ 4 ~ ' .

The fluctuation i n s a l t production t h e r e a f t e r

con t inued unabated not s o much because of a l a c k of

e n t e r p r i s e on t h e p a r t of t h e S a l t Agency bu t because t h e

C e n t r a l Board of Customs, S a l t and Opium pursued a p o l i c y

of check i n tandem wi th t h e i m p o r t a t i o n of s a l t f rom

Liverpool . T h i s c o l o n i a l p o l i c y cont inued till 1863 when

t h e B r i t i s h I n d i a Government f i n a l l y abo l i shed i t s

monopoly over manufacturing and s a l e of s a l t l e a v l n g t h e

p r i v a t e e n t e r p r i s e i n t h e f i e l d under t h e e x c i s e r u l e s of

Act V I I ( B . C . ) of 1864. But t h e ind igenous s a l t could no

l o n g e r compete w i t h t h e imported s a l t of s u p e r i o r q u a l i t y .

The b r u n t of t h e c o l o n i a l p o l i c y s o e a r n e s t l y pursued

by the 6 o v c m n t which was e v e r w i l l i n g to sacrifice t h e

n economic i n t e r e s t s of t h e count ry i t r u l e d , v a s born by

t h e poor Malangis d i r e c t l y . The MaLangis were a c l a s s of

workers whom t h e S a l t Agency employed on c o n t r a c t b a s i s t o

manufacture s a l t i n i t s Aurangs. The General Census

Report of Bengal ,of 1872 which incorpora ted a g e n e r a l

census of t h e d i s t r i c t of Balsore d i d not r e t u r n e i t h e r

t h e c h u l i a s K 2 o r Malangis a s a c a s t e group. No doubt,

t h e r e f o r e , t h e numerous a g r i c u l t u r a l l a b o u r e r s i n s e a r c h

of jobs a t t h e end of every a g r i c u l t u r a l season used t o

from t h e bulk of t h e Malangis .

A f t e r t h e es tab l i shment of Government monopoly, t h e

s v e l l l n g s a l t i n d u s t r y , t h e economics o f w h l c h remained

beyond t h e Mulangis comprehension and c o n t r o l . kept them

saddled t o t h e monotony of work f o r s u b s i s t e n c e throughout

t h e s a l t manufacturing season. Despite t h e f a c t t h a t t h e

product ion of s a l t boomed t h e Malangis continued t o be

engaged on t h e lowest p o s s i b l e terms. The temporary

r e g u l a t i o n of 1804 had f i x e d 4 annas per maund a s due t o

t h e Malangis . T h i s wage was not favourab le a s t he

Zamlndars made e x o r b i t a n t demand on t h e 1"Ialangis f o r

l e a s i n g s a l t l a n d s and f u e l woods63. A t t h e i n s t a n c e of

t h e S a l t Agent, James King, t h e r e f o r e , t h e payment t o t h e

Mulangis was r a i s e d t o 5.6 annas p e r maund of s a l t . An

agreement w i t h t h e Zamtndars was a l s o reached t o d i s s u a d e

them from e x t o r t i n g t h e Malangis. By this agreement the

Zamindars r e c e i v e d 1 and 1 / 2 annas a s lease-money per-

28 maund on a l l s a l t manufactured within t h e i r es ta tes .

Beaides, the Zamindars a l s o received ce r ta in quant i ty of

s a l t a s khorakee or d i e t allovance f o r t h e i r family

consumption. In the 1820s the payment t o Malangis was

s l i g h t l y ra ised t o 6.4 annas per maund of s a l t .

Occasionally they a l so got 3 annas extra f o r maximising

production. However, the increase meant nothing since the

malangis were asked simultaneously t o pay 15 maunds of

extra s a l t towards the Zamindar's revenue and were a l so

made t o compensate any loss of weight i n s a l t due t o

evaporation by paying Suktee charges64. After continuous

appeals by the Malangis and pleadings of S a l t Agencies on

t h e i r behalf the r a t e was ra ised t o 7 annas per maund i n

1843 but soon enough i t was reverted t o 5 annas i n 1845-

46. The only consideration t o the Malangis was the 3

annas extra per maund of s a l t which they produced i n

excess of the taidad or contract6'.

Scardty and Price Hike

The miserable condition of the Malangis was

matched by the unprecedented hike i n the price of s a l t .

This was c lea r ly co-terminous w i t h the policy of l imited

supply i n t o the domestic market which created a condition

of sca rc i ty .

Whereas, Melville, one of the ~0mmiSSi0ner~ of

Cuttack reported t h a t the pr ice of s a l t could not have

exceeded 5 m a s per; mund during the m a t h a period,

29 i t s p r i c e had been r a i sed t o Rs. 2 i . e . , 32 annas under the

suggestion of James King i n 1 8 0 6 ~ ~ . The p r i ce was f u r t h e r

r a i sed t o Rs.3.4 annas when Charles Becher became the S a l t

Agent. The quantum of s a l t t h a t was allowed t o be so ld i n

the domestic market during Becker's time sus ta ined the

abnormal hike i n p r i ce . In between 1811 and 1816, whereas

according t o a con jec tu ra l es t imate of John Richardson the

D i s t r i c t of Cuttack had 14,62,500 people67. The s a l t

department re leased on an average only 1,51,035 m u n d s of

salt per annum t o the domestic market6'.

Later Walter Ever i n h i s r epor t t o the

Government on the causes of the Paik Rebellion of 1817

un-ambiguously mentioned t h a t the sudden r i s e i n the cos t

of s a l t from 5 t o 6 times i t s former r a t e on the passing

of the Regulation X X I I of 18,14 the s h o r t f a l l i n the

supply of s a l t t o the tune of 2 lakh maunds per annum was

responsib le f o r c r ea t ing s c a r c i t y condit ions c landes t ine

r i s e i n c o s t and ~ r n u g g l i n g ~ ~ .

The Paik Rebellion of 1817 and the consequent

sou l searching on the p a r t of the Company Government had a

sobering e f f e c t i n the sense t h a t throughout 1818 and 1819

s a l t was so ld a t the uniform r a t e of 2 and 1 / 2 rupees per

matand i n the na t ive market and the quan t i ty a l s o increased

t o 2,16,416 m a u n d ~ ' ~ . In '1823, the 3 s a l e g o l a s ( depots

) i n Balasore, Soro and Bhadrak sold s a l t a t the wholesale

r a t 0 of Rs.24 per maund averaging 2,20,000 m u n d s per

JI) annum71. Whereas, the quan t i ty of s a l t thus so ld i n the

Balasore agency s t e a d i l y increased over the years the

wholesale p r i ce remained more or l e s s same. But a f t e r

1850, a t a time when the market f o r Orissa s a l t i n Bengal

vas slackening due t o importation of Liverpool s a l t , the

Company f a c i l i t a t e d p r iva t i za t ion by leaving the supply of

s a l t i n the t e r r i t o r i e s beyond the Aurangas t o t r ade r s .

Out of the 4 Government s a l e s depots i n the d i s t r i c t of

Balasore, 2 s a l e s depots a t Soro and Basta vere a l s o

closed72. T h i s change i n pol icy was t a c t i c a l i n f inding

f o r Liverpool s a l t a way i n t o the Orissa market which

ul t imate ly f in i shed off the native s a l t indust ry .

The economic motive of the Company from the beginning

was t o make maximum p r o f i t from the monopoly over Orissa

s a l t . Out of the huge quan t i ty of s a l t manufactured,

about two-third was exported t o the Government warehouses

a t Sulkia i n the bank of r i v e r Hugli opposite Calcutta.

In 1818-19, 6,13,763 maunds had been exported t o Suikia

f o r publ ic sa le .73. From the Balasore Agency alone, i n

1824, 2,54,563 m u n d s of s a l t were exported by contrac tors

on Government Account a t the r a t e of 16 rupees per 100

maunds t o be so ld a t Calcut ta a t the r a t e of rupees 359, 6

annas and 8 p i e s per 100 maunds7'. In the subsequent

years both t h e export f i g u r e s and the s a l e s pr ice a t

CalCUtta increased s t e a d i l y v h i l e the F e i g h t charges

31 remained varying between a high of Rs.23.8 annas and a lw

of As.12.11 annas 10 pies only75. Considering the net

expenditure which the S a l t Agency incurred i n terms of

paymsnts t o the Malangis, the Zamindars, i t s own s t a f f and

towards the f r e i g h t charges, the p r o f i t t h a t accrued t o

the Government account was enormous. According t o Andrew

S te r l ing , i t gave t o the company a net revenue " fa l l ing a

l i t t l e shor t of 18 lakhs of rupees ann~a l ly" '~ . T h i s

i n i t i a l p r o f i t had tremendously increased t o f e t c h as much

as 39 lakhs of rupees t o the Company Government towards

the end of i t s ru l e .

Efects of Salt Monopoly Uhile Government was appropriat ing enormous p r o f i t s ,

the o r ig ina l producers of the commodity languished a t the

bare minimum subsistence l eve l . ~ e s i d e s , more ~ n ~ 0 n S 0 l i n g

from the point of view of the province was the f a c t t h a t

the huge r e tu rns from the t rade a t Sulkia d id not f i n d i t s

way back t o Orissa. When, f i n a l l y , the Government found

i t expedient t o c lose down the s a l t agency i n February 28,

1863, not only t h a t thousands of workers dependent on the

indust ry l o s t jobs and mounted pressure on land, but the

per iphera l ship-building and other off-season mercantile

a c t i v i t i e s which had revived i n Balasore almost a f t e r a

century's gap a l s o got eclipsed.".

Revenue Adminifitration The e a r l y land revenue pol icy of the Company

Government vas a s much marked by inconsis tencies and

32 ad-hocism. Though the Regulation XI1 of September 5, 1805

s t a r t e d the revenue po l i cy wi th t he avwed ob jec t ives of

ensuring "prosper i ty of t he country" and "happiness of t he

i nhab i t an t s " i n an economy which g rav i t a t ed mostly round

the production, d i s t r i b u t i o n and consumption of r i c e , i n

p rac t i ce i t tendered a t e r r i b l e des t ab l i sh ing e f f e c t on

the whole ag ra r i an system of o r i s s a . As i t became q u i t e

apparent from the s e r i e s of short- term revenue se t t l emen t s

e f f ec t ed between 1804 and 1836, the two important motives

of t he Company Administrat ion was only t o appropr ia te a s

much revenue a s i t could mop up and t o c o n c i l i a t e the

h i t h e r t o land-revenue c o l l e c t i n g c l a s s by making them

p rop r i e to r s of land i n pe rpe tu i ty . I n both the motives,

however, the adminis t ra t ion f a i l e d t o r e a l i s e i t s end-

goals completely.

Rajas Regulation 1 2 of 1805 which included the se t t lement

of land revenue reached by the commissioners p r i o r t o it,

a s i n case of t he Kanika e s t a t e i n Balasore d i s t r i c t ,

f i x e d the q u i t r e n t s of such e s t a t e s i n pe rpe tu i ty . "The

r e s u l t of such a po l i cy was the c r ea t ion a t a p r iv i l eged

and powerful group of Zamlndars i n ~ r i s s a " ~ ~ .

I n course of time these powerful Zamindars assumed

the t i t l e of "Raja" and continued t o draw s p e c i a l

a t t e n t i o n throughout t he B r i t i s h r u l e .

The 1805 r e g u l a t i o n a l s o redeemed t h e e r s t w h i l e

Chandhuris, Kanungoes and Mukaddams who had a l l b u t

e c l i p s e d d u r i n g t h e preceding Maratha r u l e a s a medium

between t h e c u l t i v a t o r and t h e i r sovere ign f o r paying t h e

r e n t s i n t o t h e t r e a s u r y and confer red upon them the

p r o p r i e t a r y r i g h t s over l and i n keeping w i t h t h e Enqlish

concept ion of a Landed estate7 ' . I t e x a l t e d t h e t e n u r e s of

t h e s e f u n c t i o n a r i e s t o a f o o t i n g of d i s t i n c t i o n and

importance which t h e y had never before a t t a i n e d i n t h e

b e s t t imes of t h e n a t i v e governmentB0. Thus, a c l a s s of

l anded a r i s t o c r a c y which was t o t h r i v e l a t e r a s t h e s i n g l e

most i m p o r t a n t prop of c o l o n i a l regime was "manufactured"

i n O r i s s a by t h e " C o l l e c t o r s t r a i n e d i n Bengal ou t of the

m a t e r i a l which t h e y found most r e a d y t o handua1.

Loss of Zamindari by the Oriyas

However incongruous t h e c r e a t i o n of t h e i n s t i t u t i o n

of Zaminders by t h e British i n O r i s s a m i g h t be, t h e

a l i e n a t i o n of Zamindaris from t h e hands of t h e Or iyas due

t o t h e e x a c t i n g n a t u r e of revenue demands by t h e

Government was much more d i s c o n c e r t i n g . While t h e Government i n c r e a s e d i t s revenue demands

over e v e r y s h o r t term s e t t J e m e n t w i t h o u t f i rs t a c q u i r i n g

a c t u a l i n f o r m a t i o n about t h e r e a l a s s e t s of t h e e s t a t e s ,

i t s p o l i c i e s , such a s ( I ) making it compulsory f o r

Bamindars and o t h e r h o l d e r s of l a n d s t o pay revenue by t h e

34 Calcut ta S ~ C C ~ rupee, (ii abandoning the e a r l i e r Mara tha

p r a c t i c e of giving remission f o r the l o s s of crops In

heavy f loads o r severe drought and (iii) introducing the

f a t a l process of the s a l e of e s t a t e s of a higher Jama of

rupees 5,000 o r more a t For t Williams, Calcut ta ,

dispossessed many Oriyas of t h e i r Land and allowed Bengali

specu la to r s t o buy valuable p rope r t i e s a t very low p r i ces .

During the t r i e n n i a l se t t lement of 1805-08 the Noanand

e s t a t e i n Balasore was so ld f o r rupee 5,013/- but was

again so ld up i n 1818 only t o be bought back by the

Government f o r rupee one ". Thus, a t a time when the people were d ishear tenea a t

the cons tant a l t e r a t i o n of revenue and many l e f t t h e i r

e s t a t e s t o be held Khas by the Government, the Col lec tors

e i t h e r managed them through corrupt Tahsildars or farmed

them out t o specula tors who reck-rented the tenants . The

Government kept on dodging the oft-repeated promise of a

permanent se t t lement beginning with the Regulation XI1 of

1805. In a despatch of the 16th June, 1815, the Court of

Direc tors ru led t h a t "there cannot be i n our opinion a

more indefens ib le proceeding than f i n a l l y t o decide on the

r i g h t s of i nd iv idua l s and the i n t e r e s t s of Government i n a

s t a t e of declared ignorance regarding bothna3.

I t was only a f t e r the peasant m i l i t i a of Khurda

r a i s e d the s tandard of r e v o l t i n 1817 t h a t the grievances

of the Qriyaa was brought home t o the authorities i n

35 Calcut ta . Consequently Regulation XI1 of 1822 marked a

change i n t he revenue adminis t ra t ion . I t extended f o r 5

yea r s t h e e x i s t i n g se t t l emen t and s e t f o r t h t he i n t e n t i o n

of t he Government t o a sce r t a in , s e t t l e and record the

r i g h t s , i n t e r e s t s , p r i v i l e g e s and p rope r t i e s of a l l

c l a s s e s . As a r e s u l t of t h i s avocation the S i a r i Es t a t e

i n Balasore could be s e t t l e d by 1831''. During t h i s time

i n response t o a query by the Sadar Board of Revenue, the

Commissioner of Cuttack Stock we l l recommended f o r the

b e n e f i c i a l employment of "the na t ives of r e s p e c t a b i l i t y "

t o perform the se t t lement dutiese5.

F ina l ly , a t the behest of Lord William Bentinck, the

f i r s t d e f i n i t e r u l e s were l a i d down i n the Kequlation of

1833 f o r a long term se t t lement i n Or issa . The work

beginning I n 1837, was succes s fu l ly completed i n 1845 '~ .

A t the end, A.J.M. Mrl l s , the Commissioner of Cuttack

remarked " t h i s g r ea t work was undertaken w i t h f o r hlgher

views than t o improve the exchequer". In h i s es t imat ion ,

"operat ions which have conferred such permanent b less ings

on the people, and w i l l be so b e n e f i c i a l t o Government

from a f i s c a l and j u d i c i a l po in t of view, have not been

dea r ly purcha~ed"~ ' .

Effects of the 30-Yearr' Settlement

(1) Perpetua t ion of Zamindari tenures a t t he expense

of ord inary c u l t i v a t o r s .

36 Though s e c t i o n I V of Regulations V I I of 1822 had

declared t h a t "it was i n no degree the In t en t ion of

Government t o compromise p r iva t e r i g h t s of p r iv i l eges o r

t o r e s t the Sadar Malguzars with any r i g h t s not previously

possessed by them", i n a c t u a l i t y the 30 years se t t lement

allowed a l l these ers twhi le c o l l e c t o r s and payers of

revenue, the r i g h t of f reehold p ropr i e to r s under the more

honor i f i c appe l l a t ion of Zamindar. There were a l toge the r

1388 such Zarmndari e s t a t e s i n Balasore v l t h a maximum

concentrat ion of them i n the southern p a r t of t h e

d i s t r i c t . To meet the high cos t of t h e i r tenures each

Zamindar took recourse " to ge t every scrap of h i s land

under t i l l a g e " and "rack-rent a l l tenants not protec ted by

a r i g h t of o c c ~ ~ a n c ~ " ~ ~ . ~ . ~ . Maddox's " ~ i n a l r epor t on

Survey and Settlement" quotes Mr. Kingsford as repor t ing

t h a t i n the d i s t r i c t of Balasore, where ex t r a - l ega l

co l l ec t ions were endemic, the Zamindars had the propensity

t o Increase the imposit ion of a new cess on the peasantry

which could be at tended w i t h l e s s d i f f i c u l t y than the

enhancement of r e n t s . As f o r the regular demands,

Kingsford c i t e d the following ins tances : ( a ) Road and

Public works cess; (b ) Bisodhani (Payment on the r e c e i p t

of a holding by a t e n a n t ) , ( c ) Bahachina (Marriage due

paid by the parents of the br ide and bridegroom); (d)

Suniabheti (new year acknowledgment of the Zamindar' s

author i ty ; (e)Magan (Payment towards expenses of marriage,

37 funera l , v i l l a g e f a i r s o r e r ec t ion of a shr ine by the

Zamindari); ( f ) Salami/ Najrana (Payment on meetlng the

Zamindar, t o which mostly tenants re turning from Calcut ta

were more r igo rous ly sub jec t ed ) ; (g) Dakhil Kharaj

(mutation) ; ( h ) Tahasil Kharcha (maintenance of Zamindar's

o f f i c i a l ) ; (i) Piyadamani ( f e e s f o r the peon on c a l l ) ; ( j )

Zarimana ( f i n e s f o r p e t t y crimes) ; ( k ) Pathshala Kharcha

(maintenance of dancing g i r l s a t Zamindars r e s idence ) ; (rn)

Rahadarr ( c o s t of sending remittances t o the Treasury

under e s c o r t ) and ( n ) Thani Kharcha (Payment by the thani

r a i y a t f o r subscribing the se rv ices of the Gomasta and

Amin) ".

As a r e s u l t of these numerous abwabs the ac tua l

r a i y a t s were almost always In debt w i t h so much of t h e l r

produce going out everytime the landlord or t he v i l l a g e

usurer swooped down on h im a t harvest trme. No wonder,

therefore , the shop-keepers were " ra ther b e t t e r off than

husband men who held the same pos i t i on i n the s o c i a l

scaleuB9.

The 30 yea r r s a se t t lement of 1837 not only l e f t the

uncul t iva ted and wastelands r en t - f r ee i n the hands of the

Zamindars but a l s o e n t i t l e d them t o a high Malikana

percentage of 35 per cent t o 40 per cent on Sadar Jana if

the revenue was co l l ec t ed d i r e c t l y from the r a i y a t s ; 15

per cen t t o 20 per cent when co l l ec t ed through Mukaddams,

Sarbarahtars o r second c l a s s Kharidadars; . S per cent t o 1 0

38 per cen t when co l l ec t ed through first c l a s s Kharidadars,

and from 15 per cent t o 2.5 per cent even on Lakhiraj

tenures which remained ves ted i n the Government, depending

upon how many hands the co l l ec t ion passed throughso.

Creation of SubZamindari Tenure With High Stake on Land:

In the d i s t r i c t of Balasore, o ther than the Zamindari

tenures, t he re were 86 Mukaddam? tenures, t h e i r a rea being

included wi th in the parent Zamindaris through which they

paid t h e i r revenues. More incongruent were the

Sarbarshkari tenures t o t a l i n g 76 of the heredi tary and 85

of the temporary kinds. R.Hunter, Col lec tor of Cuttack i n

1831 suggested t h a t "the t i t l e Sarbarahkari was applied by

the Zamindars t o d i v e s t Mukadamms of t h e i r o r i g i n a l

s t a t u s f o r an i n f e r i o r and more vague d e ~ i g n a t i o n " ~ ' . As

regards the two c l a s ses of Kharidadars v iz . , li) those who

purchased t h e i r lands from ZamindarslPargana Telukdars

before 14th October 1802 and (ii) those whose who made the

purchase from Vi l lage Mukaddams, the d i s t r i c t had 990 such

tenures a l l wi th in the parent e s t a t e s t o which they were

at tached.

A t the lower rung of t he agrar ian s t r u c t u r e were the

lakhiraj tenures and two kinds of Jegirs i . e . (1)

KhandaitilPaikdli Jegirs, and (2) Sebait Jagirs. The

Brahmins who lived i n Brahottar land forming a Shasen

39 were the main bene f i c i a r i e s of the LaKhi ra j lands. As

regards the K h a n d a i t i J a g i r s i n Balasore, o ther than the

l a rge J a g i r of the C h a n d h a l i K h a n d a i t , which had been made

i n t o a separa te e s t a t e w i t h a revenue of rupees 3411 under

the name of Thunura P a i k a l i J a g i r Ba j y a f t i , the se t t lement

of 1837 recorded 815 of them t o t a l i n g 4,400 acres of

land. Confirmation t o the J a g i r S of such a l a rge number

of K h a n d a i t s (swordsmen) S a r d a r Paiks" ( foo t s o l d i e r s ) and

P a l k s had been given i n an attempt t o use them as a body

of m i l i t a r y pol ice under the d i r e c t con t ro l of the

The S a b a i t J a g i r s were mostly being held by v i l l a g e

servants such as C h a u k i d a r s (Watchmen), Bhandar i (Barber)

Dhoba (washermen), B a r h a i (Carpenter ) , Kamara (Blocksmith)

and Kumbhara ( P o t t e r ) . The land i n possession of these

v i l l a g e servants accounted f o r a t o t a l of 2 ,280 acres of

land i n 1837 se t t lement .

Apart from these j ag i r s , a number of miscellaneous

j a g l r s under the patronage of the Zaminders were a l so

being held by (1) B e t h i a B a u r i (Labourers bound t o render

s e rv i ce vhen ca l l ed upon), ( 2 ) Bha t (Vi l lage ba rds ) , (3)

Nagarda B a j a d a r (drum b e a t e r s ) , ( 4 ) T u r i a Bharang iya

( trumpeters) , ( 5 ) Mohuria S a r a r c h i (F lu t e p layers) , (6)

Manga t jan (dancing g i r l s , ( 7 ) D i h i d a r and Simandar (Keeper

of t he marches), ( 8 ) Gaurs (Vi l lage cov hards ) , (9)

Baishnkbs ( r e l i g i o u s mendicants), (10) A d h i k a r i (head

411 p r i e s t s of temples) , (11) Madhia Brahmans (ceremonial

a s s i s t a n t s ) and (12) Baruas ( a v i l l a g e headman found only

i n north Balasore) .

CWatlng Tenures

The a c t u a l cu l t i va t ing tenures which bore the weight

of the e n t i r e agrar ian e d i f i c e were of two p r inc ipa l

c l a s ses i . e . the thani and the pahi.

The thani or f ixed c u l t i v a t o r held h i s homestead

land r en t - f r ee and paid f o r h i s a rable holding a f ixed

r a t e of r e n t a p a r t from carrylng the burden of a l l ex t r a

abwa Cesses) . Andrew S te r l ing , who was Col lec tor sf

Palasore, s t a t e d i n 1832 t h a t "sometimes the Burden became

s o hedvy, and so f a r outweighed the advantages of a tbarii

raiyat ' s pos i t i on t h a t many of them were driven t o give up

t h e l r l o c a l habi ta t ion and name and became pahi r a i y a t s i n

places where the condit ion of l i f e were l e s s

b~rdenso rne"~~ . The 30 years se t t lement of 2 8 3 7 granted

p a t t a t o the thani c u l t i v a t o r but d id not ameliorate h i s

condition. Commissioner Mil l s candidly admitted i n 1847

t h a t w i t h pressure of population s t e a d i l y increas ing on

land, the thani patta became marketable ~ommodity'~. In

times of d i s t r e s s , the thani c u l t i v a t o r of ten resor ted t o

s e l l h i s ' p a t t a r t o persons who were wi l l i ng t o pay 3

pr i ce f o r such r i g h t a s t he t r a n s f e r might qive them. I n

Balasore, ou t of the 836 average number of t r a n s f e r s per

annum, 45 were bought by Mahajdns (money &piers ) , 139 by

41 zamindars, 453 by p ropr i e t a ry tenure holders, 136 by

r a i y a t s and 63 by othersg5.

Pahl r a i y a t s , o r i g i n a l l y meant non--resident peasants

c u l t i v a t i n g lands i n v i l l a g e s o the r than t h e i r own. I n

course of time the term came t o be used f o r a l l lands t h a t

were ne i the r thani nor pr iv i leged. Henry Rickettes, the

Col lec tor of Balasore wrote i n r e p l y t o the quer ies of the

Board of Revenue i n 1831 t h a t i n Balasore i n t e r change of

p a t t a s and Kabuliyats was very r a r e w i t h any c l a s s of

r a i y a t s , but i n p r a c t i c e pah i r a i y a t s f r equen t ly held f o r

years a t an unvarying r e n t , and t h a t s e l f - i n t e r e s t

prevented undue exaction on the p a r t of the land lord ,

though no length of possession was considered t o confer

any r i g h t of occupancy and when the land was wanted by a

thani and Pahi tenant had t o give i t up96.

A s regards the Pahi r i g h t s , the 1837 se t t lement l a i d

down t h a t "Pat tas should never be given by the assessing

o f f i c e r t o Pahi cu l t i va to r " as "such a proceeding

necessar i ly c r e a t e a f a l s e and mischievous impression of a

r i g h t of o c c u p a n ~ y " ~ ~ . Thus the se t t lement l e f t the grea t

mass of Pahi c u l t i v a t o r s r i g h t l e s s and the whole of Pahi

land v i r t u a l l y i n charge of t he Zamindars.

A c t X of 1859 introduced the new method of

recognising the r i g h t of Pahi . r a i y a t s who had held t h e i r

lands continuously f o r 12 yea r s , but a s i t was observed

i n Balasore, t h e r a i y a t s were e i t h e r i g ~ o r a n t of t h e i r

42 r i g h t o r were not s t rong enough t o ge t them enforcedm.

The poorer Pahi r a i y a t , of course, was no more than a mere

tenant -a t -wi l l . I n Balasore, the 1837 se t t lement recorded

the area under such holding t o be 219,000 acres, which due

t o machinations of the Zamindars t o increase t h e i r a rea of

nichas , grew tremendously i n subsequent years .

Chandinadars belonging t o the TeLi, Bania and o ther

a r t i s a n and labouring cas t e s who had no arable land, paid

r e n t f o r home-stead holdings only. The term implied

i n f e r i o r i t y , a s on t h i s c l a s s f e l l the obl iga t ion of

supplying forced labour o r postage when required by any

Government o f f i c i a lg9 .

On the whole, the revenue pol icy of the B r i t i s h

adminis t ra t ion ensured a miserable existence f o r the

numerous c u l t i v a t o r s and crea ted a pyramidal s t r u c t u r e of

pr iv i leged ca t egor i e s on them who thr ived and acquired

hlgher socio-economic s t a t u s a t the c o s t of the former.

The 30 years se t t lement helped the rapid expansion i n

c u l t i v a t i o n and the consequent growth i n the production of

r i c e vhich found an easy way out of the d i s t r i c t .

Balasore being a maritime d i s t r i c t possessing 7 po r t s

which vere o r i g i n a l l y cons t i t u t ed by a Specia l Act of

1858, accounted f o r most export of r i c e through the sea

routes . Out af t h i s export, Calcut ta a lone had a whopping

43 share of 98.5 per cent. On land, the export of r i c e from

Balasore a l s o headed towards Bengal through the Trunk

road. The mart of Banghal near Contai i n Midnapur vas the

p r inc ipa l emporium sought by the in land t r a f f i c loo . The

na tu ra l bene f i c i a r i e s of this burgeoning trade vere the

~ r i t i s h Government i n the first place and the Zamindars

and t r ade r s i n t h a t order. contrary t o the claims of the

D i s t r i c t c o l l e c t o r t h a t the export added " to the wealth

and t o the general resources of the country", ~t pushed

the economy and the people of the d i s t r i c t unre t r ievably

i n t o the t r a p of the metro-centric colonia l economy.

Neglect of the Social Sector

The co lon ia l government while i t concentrated i n

fu r the r ing i t s economic i n t e r e s t s , thoroughly neglected

the s o c i a l s ec to r . The enormous co l l ec t ion of revenue vas

not correspondingly invested i n education, publ ic work,

and heal th care even i n i t s f r ac t ion . Resultingly, the

soc ie ty remained entrenched i n i t s medieval s o c i a l psyche

whereas ou t s ide r s mainly from Bengal took the advantage of

the opening up of the governmental s ec to r f o r jobs as

amlas. Not u n t i l the all-devouring famine, the

administrat ion thought se r ious ly about co-opting any

sect ion of the l a rge r Oriya socie ty .

Af ter the Br i t i sh conquest of Orissa the i n i t i a l

at tempts t o w r i t e her h i s to ry had been undertaken by the

46 scholar -adminis t ra tors of the East xndia company. T h i s

had p a r t l y been necess i ta ted by the pains of gwernance

vhich the company faced i n the e a r l y decades of i ts r u l e

over a comparatively "unsett led" country10'. The f irst

adminis t ra tor t o take up the task was Andrew S te r l inq . He

had associa ted himself i n var ious capac i t i e s w i t h the

e a r l y adminis t ra t ion of o r i s s a and hence had evinced keen

i n t e r e s t i n studying the complicated i s sues of revenue

adminis t ra t ion i n depth. His book, AII Account of cu t t ack

o r Orissa proper published from London i n 1841, opened up

avenues of research i n geographical, h i s t o r i c a l and

s t a t i s t i c a l aspects of Orissa. John Beames' Memoir o f a

Bengal C iv i l i an , (London 1961), was the second work on

Orissa of t h i s genre. But more pe r t inen t from the point

of view of the present t h e s i s i s h i s note on The h i s t o r y

of Orissa under the Mohammed, Marathas and English r u l e

which he had wr i t t en a s Chapter I1 of a Manual of the

d l s t r i c t of Balasore where he was Col lec tor from 1869 t o

1873. But unfor tunate ly the note ends abrupt ly w i t h a

na r r a t ive upto 1828 "due t o the most unfortunate l o s s of

the concluding pages of Beames manuscript v h i l e passing

through the presa"102. Around the same time William Wilson

Hunter wrote comprehensively about o r i s s a i n h i s The

Annals of Rural Benqal: and published them i n two volumes

from Calcut ta i n 1872 unde r . t he t i t l e , Orissa o r the

Vic i s s i tudes of an Indian Province under Native and

45 ~ r i t i s h Rule. I t was by f a r t h e most s y s t e m a t i c work on

contemporary O r i s s a . Coupled w i t h h i s , A S t a t i s t i c a l

Account o f Bengal. The D i s t r i c t s o f P u r i , Cut tack and

Balasore W.W. Hunter ' s work i n a sense l a i d t h e b a s i s f o r

f u t u r e h i s t o r i a n s t o f u r t h e r t h e i r h i s t o r i c a l

i n v e s t i g a t i o n . I n 1873 t h e Commissioner of O r i s s a of t h e

cime, George Toynbee c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h i s e a r l y endeavour

by p u b l i s h i n g A s k e t c h o f t h e H i s t o r y o f Or i ssa , 1803-lE28

from C a l c u t t a . I t i s t o t h i s work of Toynbee t h a t

subsequent r e s e a r c h e r s owe a g r e a t d e a l f o r render ing a

c r l t i c a l a p p r a i s a l of t h e British occupat ion of t h e

p rov ince , t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ' s measures t o suppress the

s a r l y popula r u p r i s i n g s and ~ t s c i v i l and revenue

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n up t o 1828. E a r l i e r , Commissioner Henry

R i c k e t t e f s Report on t h e D i s t r i c t o f Pooree and Balasore,

a l s o publ i shed from C a l c u t t a i n 1859, which a c t u a l l y

formed p a r t of t h e Records o f t h e Government o f Bengal,

No.XXX, had i n c o r p o r a t e d enough in format ion on t h e s t a t e

of company a d m i n i s t r a t i o n i n both t h e d i s t r i c t s .

Barr ing t h e s e p i o n e e r s who had been s i n g u l a r l y

anlmated by a sense of purpose, a h o s t of o t h e r Br i tons

a l s o , c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h i s nascen t body of H i s t o r i c a l

l i t e r a t u r e on O r i s s a by w r i t i n g t h e i r memoirs and

monographs. Cap. S.C. Macpherson (1842) and Maj. John

Campbell added dimensions t o 1 9 t h c e n t u r y Or i ssan

h i s t o r i o g r a p h y by p u t t i n g a c r o s s t h e i r mj-l?tary exploit!!

46 i n t h e Khond l a n d wherein t h e y d e s c r i b e d t h e s o c i a l

customs of t h e (19 th c e n t u r y ) Khonds of hlgh land

~ r i s s a ' ~ ' . W.F.B. Laurie , J . J. Feggs and Amos Button v r o t e

t h e i r brand of h i s t o r i c a l t r e a t i s e s d i s p a r a g i n g t h e

ind igenous s o c i o - r e l i g i o u s i n s t i t u t i o n s of O r i s s a . The i r

works p r i m a r i l y focused on t h e spread of C h r i s t i a n

miss ionary a c t i v i t i e s i n t h e provincelo4.

So f a r a s t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h i s genre i s

concerned, t h e twin o b j e c t i v e of (i) p e r p e t u a t i n g t h e myth

of t h e benevolence and s u p e r i o r i t y of B r i t i s h

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n over p rev ious d e s p o t i c r u l e of n a t i v e

t y r a n t s and (ii) bequeathing a dependable c h r o n i c l e of t h e

p a s t f o r f u t u r e a d m i n i s t r a t o r s t o b u i l d upon i t t h e

c o l o n i a l s u p e r s t r u c t u r e , i s writ l a r g e i n a l l t h e s e

accounts . No doubt , t h e r e was an element of s h e e r

c u r i o s i t y i n knoving t h e s o - c a l l e d terra incognita about a

newly conquered t e r r i t o r y and i t s people. But t h e v e r y

s u b j e c t i v e n a t u r e of t h e q u e s t p u t t h e company h i s t o r i a n s

i n a bind of t h e t i n g e d popula r t r a d i t i o n s and anecdotes .

I t was obvious, t h e r e f o r e , f o r one w r i t e r t o f i n d

" inaccurac ies" i n t h e "account" of anotherIo5.

However, i n between them t h e s e w r i t e r s c r e a t e d an

atmosphere of h i s t o r i c a l avareness v h e r s t h e n a t i o n a l i s t

school of h i s t o r i o g r a p h y found i t s most f e r t i l e ground.

I n i t i a l l y t h e r e was an approach of swimming along

w i t h t h e c u r r e n t . As early a s 1869 and 1870 when

41 ~akirmohan wrote from Balasore i n o r iya me History of

I n d i a i n two volumes 'it matched the broad ou t l ine of the

c o l o n i a l i s t ' s perception of Indian ist tor^"'^^. gut i t

was a l s o the time when the emergent c r ea t ive

i n t e l l i g e n t s i a i n Or issa was imbued w i t h the idea of

e levat ing the Oriyas t o be worthy of a d i s t i n c t p o l i t i c a l

i d e n t i t y . This purpose was amply demonstrated i n the

works of Pyarimohan Acharya, Krupasindhu Mishra and

Jagabandhu Singh, a l l of whom Wrote i n Oriya about the

h i s to ry of Orissa f o r School s tudents and general public

alike1''. There was a pre-planned but admirable endeavour

on the p a r t of these e a r l y n a t i o n a l i s t scholars to

disseminate t h e i r knowledge among the people of ~ r i s s a ' ~ ~ .

Under such circumstances, not su rp r i s ing ly , the h i s to ry

they wrote was a l s o churned out of innumerable native

t r a d i t i o n s and was r e p l e t e w i t h the ideas of in tense

nationalism and phi losophica l p red i l ec t ions .

In the post-independence period, Orissan h i s to ry

found the t r u e idiom of modern historiography. The task

was g r e a t l y f a c i l i t a t e d by the c o l l e c t i o n of var ious

source mater ia ls by the Orissa S t a t e Museum and Archives

i n Bhubaneswar. Specia l ly , during the l a s t two decades of

the present century a number of scholars l i k e H . K .

Mahatab, B . C . Ray, K.C. Jena, . K.M. Patra , J . K . Samal,

B.S. Das, N.K. Sahu, G.C. PattanaikJena , P. K. Mishra, P .

C . Das, N: #. J i t ew., have considerably enhanced the

I q u a l i t y and content of 19th-20th century Orissan

historiography by undertaking spec ia l i sed research on the

p o l i t i c a l , economic, c u l t u r a l and adminis t ra t ive h i s to ry

of Orissa.

However, not much se r ious work has been undertaken on

the s o c i a l h i s to ry of this period. The only scholars who

can be sa id t o have made some contr ibut ion i n t h i s area

are F.G. Bailey, L.K. Mahapatra and Vidyananda Patnaik . Bailey's works include, Pol i t i c s and Social change i n

orissa i n 1959, (Barkeley: 1963) and 'Tribe, Caste end

Nation: A Study of Poli t ical Ac t i v i t y and Change i n

Highland Orissa (Manchester; 1 9 6 0 ) . In a sense, i t vas

Balley who s e t of f the process of systematic discourse on

Orissan soc ie ty i n academic parlance. Since then a good

deal of s tud ies i n the form of research a r t l c l e s have

appeared i n d i f f e r e n t academic a s well as non-academic

journals. Scholars in terspersed over a v a r i e t y of

d i s c i p l i n e s have contr ibute i n t h e i r own way t o i l lumine

the var ious f a c e t s of modern Orissan soc ie ty . But

cons t r i c t ed a s these a re i n scope and area covered, the

s tud ies have not c r y s t a l l i s e d i n t o standard works.

Paucity of research on Socia l His tory of Orissa i s

one reason t h a t prompted me t o undertake the present work

on Boolrl Stuti f icutiau rPd QIllngc in Cbl- and Past-

aOZopirZ oxima: d - atb q e d A zyfmmwe to the

49 &striot of m o r e s , 1865-1965. The o t h e r reason i s t h e

t y p i c a l exper ience of O r i s s a borne o u t of experiments

under l o c a l c o n d i t i o n s by t h e B r i t i s h regime t h a t makes

t h e vork s o p e r t i n e n t .

Known a s t h e "Lover Bengal Province" under t h e B r i t i s h r u l e , t h e t h r e e c o a s t a l d i s t r i c t s of Balasore,

Cut tack and P u r i , " the home of t h e Oriya race", formed a

more o r l e s s homogeneous u n i t l W . The h i s t o r y of t h i s u n i t

was not q u i t e far-removed from each o t h e r . Never the less ,

the d i s t r i c t of Ba lasore had some added f e d t u r e s . S ince

t h e e a r l y decade of 1 7 t h c e n t u r y t h e d i s t r i c t had provided

impor tan t opening t o European t r a d i n g companies i n t o t h e

e a s t e r n zone of t h e I n d i a n sub-cont inen t . T i l l t h e second

h a l f of t h e 1 8 t h c e n t u r y when t h e pre -emnence of Balasore

d e c l i n e d due t o t h e s h i f t i n g of t h e Engl i sh Eas t I n d i a

rompany's t r a d l n g concerns t o Hugli and C a l c u t t a ~t

remained t h e hub of manufacturing and b u s i n e s s a c t i v i t i e s .

.A port- town Balasore was, t h e r e f o r e , t h e f i r s t t o

exper ience t h e impact of wes te rn commercial i n t e r e s t s on

O r i s s a l c o a s t . I n view of i t s geographica l l o c a t i o n t h e

d i s t r i c t a l s o wi tnessed s u b s t a n t i a l i n and o u t migra t ion

of people dur ing t h e c o l o n i a l p e r i o d . Besides, i t s

prox i rmty t o Bengal made i t t h e c o c k p i t of s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l

resurgence i n O r i s s a d u r i n g t h e 1 9 t h and 20th c e n t u r i e s .

Put t o g e t h e r , t h e s e f e a t u r e s p rov ided f o r me possibilities

f o r a s t u d y o f s o c i a l s t r a t i f i c a t i o n a*. ch-4 of t h i s

d i s t r i c t d u r i n g t h e c o l o n i a l p e r i o d . i ' - i

1 "\ %. .., s. . B

50 Periodira tion

The decis ion of spreading the t o p i c over a century

betveen 1865 and 1965 has p o l l t i c a l and s o c l a l

s ign i f i cance . Although o r i s s a came under co lon ia l

occupation i n 1803, y e t 1865 marked the r e a l turning point

i n her h i s to ry . The change i n the t a c t of co lon ia l

adminis t ra t ion and the growth of a middle c l a s s

i n t e i l i g e n t s i a i n the aftermath of the devas ta t ing famine

of 1866 which devoured almost one t h i r d of the t o t a l

population of c o a s t a l ~ r i s s a , heralded a period of

momentous s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l process. That process p a r t i a l l y

culminated on 1st Apr i l 1936 when o r i s s a was made l n t o a

separa te l i n g u i s t i c province i n Br i t i sh- India . Thereaf ter

n r i s s a marked the beginning of another phase of socio-

p o l i t i c a l and economic transformation which only took a

d e f i n i t i v e and cognisable shape i n the post-independence

era . E lec to ra l p o l i t i c s and state-sponsored development

economics broadly charac ter i sed this phase of

transformation. Q u a l i t a t i v e l y therefore , t h i s period stood

out i n sharp c o n t r a s t i n the pre-independent c o l o n i a l

experience. Hence, i n order t o have wider perspect ive on

both t h e c o l o n i a l and pos t -colonia l s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e I

considered i t prudent t o incorpora te the first tvo f i v e

year plan per iods i n my study terminating v i t h 1965.

Scope of Study

As regards approach, the present study has the

compulsion of not conforming e n t i r e l y t o the empirical

module a s i s the standard norm i n socio-anthropological

researches. Primarily h i s t o r i c a l i n i t s or ienta t ion, the

work t r i e s t o analyse the transformation of Orissan

soc ie ty a t large and Balasore i n pa r t i cu la r i n two phases

i . e . colonial and post-colonial . In other words, i n the

first ins tance my study i s an exploration i n t o the journey

of Orissan soc ie ty from the pre-colonial t o the colonial

strangle-hold which mired by the visage of an a l i en

administrative system nei ther subscribed t o the native

e t h i c a l norms nor a l l w e d the f u l l - f l w e r i n g of soc ia l

personality of the people . Secondly, the study deals

w i t h the transformation of the colonial socie ty i n t o a

soc io -po l i t i ca l ly conscious one which was made possible on

account of a f r e s h agglomeration of cas te and c lass groups

I n response t o the colonial ru le on the one hand and the

growth of a renaissance s p i r i t on the other. Finally, the

thes i s focuses on the post-colonial independent socie ty t o

take stock of the gains of the cherished goals of

independence. In t h i s work, therefore, no necessity has

ar isen t o take a broadside against the well-accounted

p o l i t i c a l h i s to ry of the time. The e f f o r t r a the r has

concentrated on fb s o c i a l map v i t h its&anging contours

52 i n c l e a r harmony vi t h the development af p o l i t i c a l

history.

The sources f o r t h i s work a re ample and may be

categorised as under.

(1) The publirhed and unpublirhed government

~oorda, r a p r t r and monograph#: Amonq these, the

'reports of the Commission appointed t o inquire i n t o the

famine of Bengal and Orissa i n 1866", "annual general

administration repor ts of the Orissa division", "reports

of the Commissioner appointed t o inquire i n t o ce r ta in

matters i n connection w i t h the Orissa canal" " f ina l repor t

on the survey and sett lement on the province of Orissa,

1892 t o 1900"; 'annual repor ts on the survey, and

sett lement of the province of Orissa", Bihar and Orisra

Qovemmmt rooordr i n the form of "review of the

administration and development of the province of Orissa";

"reports on the working of the municipality and other

loca l se l f government"; CWmrnmnt of Orirra, "History of

services of Gazetted and other officers", "annual and

quinquennial r epor t on the progress of education i n

Orissa"; and, awQllr#nt of Yldrrr "report on the

manufacture of s a l t system and .administration of s a l t

revenue of Balasore, Cuttack and Puri d i s t r i c t s " are

important. These along w i t h other re levant - records I have

It consulted a t the National Archives and Library, Nev Delhi

and the Orissa S ta te Archives and Library, Bhubaneswar.

The Original administrative papers copies of which

are i n p 0 ~ 3 e ~ s l o n of the West Bengal Gwernment Record

Room pertaining t o the correspondence between the loca l

administrators and cen t ra l administration a t Calcutta have

been widely consulted by scholars t o reconstruct the

administrative and economic his tory of colonial Orizsa. I

have adopted some of the conclusions arrived a t by these

scholars a s basic accepted hypotheses t o analyse f o r

myself t h e i r s o c i a l implications.

( 2 ) Qarettaarr, Csnrur Rspartr; Carts and T r i b e

r tud ie r . The Orissa Division Gazetteer published i n the

Provincial s e r i e s of the Imperial Gazetteer of India,

1905; the Balasore D i s t r i c t Gazetteers published i n the

Bengal D i s t r i c t Gazetteer s e r i e s of 1907 as a l s o by the

Bihar and Orissa Government i n 1915 from Patna along w l t h

the decenial census repor ts published s ince 1881 and

various cas te and t r i b e s tudies done under the auspices of

the Anthropological Survey of lndiano a s well as by the

individual s o c i a l a n t h r ~ ~ o l o g i s t s ' ~ ' have enabled me t o

reconstruct the demographic e r a f i l e of the d i s t r i c t of

Balasore i n betveen 1865 and 1965. Besides, I have

b e n o f i t u from t%e archival records which have furnished

54 me with the d e t a i l s of administrative measures undertaken

and o f f i c i a l view expressed on the native socie ty of

o r i sea during the high-noon of colonialism.

Since the second half of the 19th century, Orissa

witnessed a spur t i n the publication of a large number of

Journals and newspapers which re len t l ess ly chronicled the

soc io -po l i t i ca l and economic l i f e of the people w i t h

dex te r i ty and zeal. Among newspapers The Samaj, The

Pra j a tantra; among periodicals, Otkala Dipika, Lltkala

Putra. The Mouyurbhan j Chronicle, lulukura, Bodhadayini ebam

Baleshwara Sambada Bahika, Sambada Kaumudi e tc . , vere

prominent. But only some of these valuable works which

are preserved i n the 'Utkala ~ a h i t y a Samaj' a t Cuttack and

the Orissa S ta te Acchives, Bhubaneswar have enabled me t o

recapture the native perception of contemporary socie ty

and times. My e f fo r t has consis tent ly been t o pick on

both o f f i c i a l records and contemporary publications f o r a

c lea re r understanding of the s o c i a l dynamics of the

period.

(4 ) Autobiographies, Biographies and Literary

Works of oriya amative writers:

The v~luminous works of contemporary literatures

provide an extension of the pic ture t h a t i s p a r t i a l l y

gleaned froln the per iodicals and newspapers. In history

U there already e x i s t s a t r a d i t i o n of biographical approach

f o r h i s t o r i c a l reconstruction. I t has been accepted as a

dependable aathod especia l ly while redrawing the soc ia l

p o r t r a i t . I n the context of colonial Orissa the yearning of the

leaders f o r freedom from the colonial yoke and t h e i r

e f f o r t t o rejuvenate the socie ty i n t h a t process have

found a palpable depiction i n the creat ive l i t e r a t u r e of

the period.

T h i s c r e a t i v i t y his tory stands testimony t o the f a c t

tha t when soc ie ty was gasping against colonial challenges

and l i f e sulking under duress, leaders coming from a

cross-section of socie ty metamorphosed i n t o inspired

writers. There was no time nor did they have the

inc l ina t ion t o indulge i n ideological luxury. Their e f f o r t

was so le ly focused on the a l l ev ia t ion of human s p i r i t by

ref lect ing the soc ia l pangs and aspira t ions of the time.

I t was not an exercise i n one-up-manship nor was

there v i s i b l e any d i a t r i b e against the colonial regime i n

the contemporary c rea t ive l i t e r a t u r e .

The autobiography of ~akirmohan senapati'12,

Godavarish ~ishra" ' , Milakantha as"', Harekrishna

Mahatabns; the biographies of Madhusudan as"^, Gopabandhu

Chaudhury"' and the col lected works of these leaders and

several other v r i t e r s provide an innate impression on

t h e i r times.

Along v i t h the population prof i le recorded i n the

post-independence census repor ts , the s t a t e and d i s t r i c t

Gazetteers, s t a t i s t i c a l repor ts and reviews of the Five

Year Plans which have been published by the Government of

o r i s s a as public documents, have provided me v i t h the

essen t i a l mater ia l f o r evaluating the post-independence

soc ia l scenario.

(6) Lastly, f o r proper appreciation of the soc ia l

dyanmics I have had discussions and interviews w i t h a

cross-section of inhabi tants i n the d i s t r i c t of Balasore.

T h i s exercise has enabled me t o put my research i n r i g h t

perspective a s many of the inhabi tants both l i t e r a t e and

i l l i t e r a t e interviewed by me a re themselves the l iv ing

witness t o the s o c i a l drama t h a t took place i n the f i r s t

half of the 20th century Orissa.

C U P T E N B A T I O I

T h i s t h e s i s i s organised i n s i x chapters.

In the Introduotion I have made an attempt t o t r ace

the his tory of Balasore since ancient times till 1865

along with broad p o l i t i c a l l ines . Without embroiling the

narra t ive i n any controversy I have l a i d emphasis on the

socio-cul tural aspect of h i a t o d c a l progression which

formed the bas i s for the consolidation of Orissan soc ia l

s t ruc tus r during the medieval period. After 1803 an

9 ent i re ly nev epoch s ta r ted i n the history of Orissa. Here I have t r i ed t o shw how the exploitative at t i tude

inherent i n the colonial system of governance brought

about s ignif icant changes i n the pre-colonial social

structure. An accentuation of c lass i n t e r e s t was i ts

d i rec t consequence. Besides, I have reviewed of the 19th

and 2 0 t h century h i s tor ica l l i t e r a tu r e pertaining t o

Orissa and also indicated the scope, the rationale of

periodisation and the various sources of nry present

research.

In the second chapter, goaial S t ra t i f iea t ion i n

Balaroro i n Ilocio-Hirtorioal Perspmotiw, I have made an

endeavour t o present the geographical and the demographic

profi le of the d i s t r i c t mainly on the basis of the

findings of the decennial censusr and various settlement

reports. Here caste has been adopted as the basic

component of soc ia l s t ructure w i t h i t s s t a t i c and dynamic

character is t ics . Besides, other variables of

s t r a t i f i c a t i on have been analysed t o outline the

inequi t ies which developed between different s t r a t a i n the

post-famine period of Orissan society. The chapter a lso

takes i n t o account the basis of caste-tribe interact ion i n

the d i s t r i c t af Balasore which evidently formalised the

process af acculturisation among some t r i b a l groups. The

c d n g of the Bri t ish brought along missionaries and a new

class of non-oriya i d g r a n t s i n to Orissa. - In t h i s

s context the chapter seeks t o f ind out the placement of

t h i s nev c lass of non-Oriya immigrants i n the Orissan

society, who came i n t o the d i s t r i c t a f t e r colonial

occupation and the ac t i v i t i e s of the missionaries who

exerted great influence on the native society. Finally,

the chapter reviews the overall social condition of the

d i s t r i c t within the larger framework of the Orissan

society.

The Third chapter, The Years of Transformation: 1865

t o 1947 revievs the various exogenous forces that brought

about a dynamic social change i n the d i s t r i c t of Balasore

as also i n the whole of Orissa. The period was

part icular ly s ignif icant on tvo counts. F i r s t , because of

the cumulative r e su l t of w e r a century's mal-

administration Orissa suffered grivously i n the great

famine of 1865-66. The chapter reviews the long run up t o

the Famine and both the B r i t i s h as well as the native

at t i tude towards t h i s great calamity i n order t o lend

focus on the post-famine period of change. Secondly, the

chapter evaluates the measures tha t the guilt-stricken

administration took t o ameliorate the s i tuat ion a f te r

1866.

From the s ide of the administration a number of

measures l i ke the introduction af the mass mans of

communication, creation of def in i te r igh ts f o r tenants on

land, i n i t i a t i o n of the people i n t o English education,

4D s e t t i n g up of law courts and health service f a c i l i t i e s ,

a l l i n the aftermath of the great famine of 1866, breached

the comparative i s o l a t i o n of the Orissan society.

HoUeVer, everything t h a t the colonial administration

effected vas not i n the best i n t e r e s t of the people.

Measures such as the incentives given t o foreign products

a t the cos t of the domestic industry and enterpr ise ,

increasing commercialisation of loca l economy adversely

affect ing the the people, allowing the immigrant o f f i c i a l

c l ass t o create a ring of sub-colonial strangle-hold

e tc . , thus created conditions f o r the Orissan socie ty t o

respond i n equal measure. The tremendous growth of socio-

p o l i t i c a l consciousness i n the Orissan socie ty soon enough

culminated i n a p o l i t i c a l movement f o r the amalgamation of

a l l scat tered Oriya-speaking areas i n t o a separate

province. Thus the chapter along w i t h chapter four t r i e s

t o see soc ia l change through t h i s d i a l e c t i c of colonial

i n t e r e s t s versus native response.

The Fourth Chapter L i t e ra tu re , Soaio-Politfoal

Conroiournarr, and Change deals with the indigenous fo rces

of s o c i a l change which Orissa witnessed during the period

under review. The whole chapter is divided i n t o three

major sect ions . The first sect ion deals w i t h the e ~ l y

attempts of s o c i a l r e fo rm through. the r i s e of Mahim c u l t

and the spread of Brahmo movement i n Orissa. This sec t ion

a l so deals with. t+e upsurge of crea t ive i n t e l l e c t u a l

6u a c t i v i t y during the second half of the 19th century.

Graving out of the Oriya language nwernent, t h i s creat ive

phenomenon not only gave b i r t h t o the native press but

a lso produced a large body of vernacular l i t e r a t u r e vhich

ref lected copiously the contemporary soc ia l secnario a s

well a s the emerging aspira t ions of the various soc ia l

c lasses . his phase was spread out between 1965 and 1905.

The second sect ion encompasses the phase of in tense

soc io -po l i t i ca l a c t i v i t y b u i l t over the foundations l a i d

during the preceding decades. T h i s phase s t a r t e d more

accurately i n 1903 w i t h the formation of the Utkal

SamgLilani and continued well i n t o the 1930s. The most

s ign i f i can t achievement of t h i s phase was the formation of

Orissa i n t o a separate l i n g u i s t i c province i n 1936. Apart

from t h i s overa l l p o l i t i c a l achievement, the movement f o r

in tegrat ion of the sca t t e red Oriya speaking areas i n t o a

separate administrative u n i t a l s o brought t o l i g h t the

inherent c l a s s contradictions t h a t had grown i n the 1 9 t h -

2 0 t h century or issan socie ty .

The t h i r d sect ion dea l s w i t h the phase which may be

traced appreciably t o the beginning of the 1920s. T h i s

phase saw the merger of Orissa 's p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t y with

the mainstream of nat ional freedom st ruggle i n a more

symbiotic manner and continued upto 1947 when the country

won indepdence. In between, however, Orissa experienced

the e f f e c t s of the constructive p r o g r a m s of the Gandhian

61 movement and the po l i c ies of the native Governments which

were formed s ince 1937 i n the separate province of Orissa

under the provision of the Government of India Act, 1935.

The conf l ic t ing c lass i n t e r e s t which had surfaced during

the Orissa unif icat ion movement were ref lected fo rce fu l ly

during t h i s phase i n what may be cal led factionalism

within the congress and s t ruggle f o r o f f i ce between the

congress and other p o l i t i c a l formations.

The chapter t r i e s t o recapture the f a c t s of a l l the

three phases and analyse t h e i r impact from the point of

viev of s t r a t i f i c a t i o n i n the 1 9 t h and 2 0 t h century

Orissan society.

The F i f th chapter, Indspsndenae and Mter endeavours

t o analyse the post-colonial s o c i a l matrix. I t has t o be

noted t h a t the post-independence years were momentous f o r

the whole of India as a l so f o r Orissa. Specially, t h i s

period marked the beginning of a new era of planned

economy based on the themes of poverty a l l ev ia t ion and

development. The system of parliamentary democracy

introduced universal adul t f ranchise and gave each Indian

a sense of dign i ty and scope f o r pa r t i c ipa t ion i n the

nation building process. T h i s initiated a process of

soc ia l transf omation by f a c i l i t a t i n g int ra-regional

Q democratic pol i t ics . Under the guidance of the Directive

~ r i n c i p l r s of the State policy the Government also

introduced various social lengis lat ions which contributed

t o the gradual transformation of the society. In t h i s

context, a c loser scrut iny of the development po l i t i cs

makes one t o ask a few questions. Did a l l these measures

break the strangle-hold of the colonial social s t ructure ?

If yes, then how and i f no, then why ? T h i s chapter

s t r ives t o f ind answers t o these questions.

I n the Sixth and concluding chapter, my findings

regarding the impact of change on the general condition of

the d i s t r i c t i n par t icular and the society of Orissa i n

general has been discussed.

I m p r i a l Gazetteer af India (Provincial s e r i e s ) ,Bengal:CRriur. Wdaiap, ~01.11~1905, P . 276. W.W. Hunter, A Bt.tisticul baormt of Barrgrl: me Llirtdcrtr af Porf, mtt.d: and 811.rron, Vo1.18, Calcutta: 1877, P . 247. Imperial Gazetteer, Op.cit., P. 275-74. Sushi1 Chandra De, "Po l i t i ca l History of the Balasore District through Ages (Ancient Period)" i n anCulturalJieritagemdfClstoryof B.lrsars, District Office, Balasore; 25 and 26th January, 1981,P.9. Cazeetteer of the Balasore D i s t r i c t (Bengal D i s t r i c t Gazetteer S e r i e s ) , Calcutta: 1907, P .19 . Ibid., P . l O . Ibid.. P . l O . Ibid.. P.lO.

Ha tig~ngDha Inscr ipt ion of maravela i n the Udaigiri H i l l near Bhubaneswar, 1st Century, B.C. Bhadrak Stone Inscr ipt ion, 3rd Century, A . D . Gazetteer of the Balasore D i s t r i c t , Op.cit . , P . 2 1 . K.C. Panigrahi, Eistoq of missa: aYmdn Period, Cuttack: Kitab nahal, 1981, P.70. Ibid . , P.81. A.C. Pradhan, d 8 ~ o f I f i s t o q o f Bhubaneswar: Panchashila, 1985, P.53. Ibid., P.68. K.C. Panigrahi, Op.cit., P. 344. Ibid. , P . 338. W.Y. Hunter, Op.cit., P.312. Surendra Maharana, mp S a U t p ~ a I-, Cuttack: Banirupa, 1988, P.481. D.C.Sorcar, "Two Lingaraja Temple Inscriptions" i n Xadirn Cblture, Vol, 6; 1939, P.72. Gazetteer of Balasore District, Op. cit., P.27. A. Ste r l ing , "The History of Orissa under the nahontaadan Marathas and English Rule" i n N . K. Sahu I & . ) , A I f i . h q a e ~ b J 1 I P m ~ , -*, Pua (Ird lElSfP, Val. XI; Calcutta: 1956, P. 296-297.

61 Cazettrer of 0alasore Distr ict , op.cit., p.24. -Y IDotap..n -.E. in mgpur Zbrrftorf .s, Nagpur: PP.3-56. S.C. Dsy, Op.cit., P.9. Fakimohan Senapati, Atma Jdvrpr Qurita ransl slated from Oriya by John Boulton) ,Cuttack: Orissa, 1985, P.5. Gazetteer of Balasore Distr ict , Op. c i t . , P . 26. ZncUn I lbhtiaal Qaarterly, Vol.XXXV, P. 327. Herman Kulka, "Kshatriyaization and Social Change: A Study i n Orissa se t t ingN, S. D. P i l l a i (ed.) , mt8 of India, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1976, P.102. W.W. Hunter, Op.clt., P.312. Ibid., P.313. K.C. Panigrahi, Op. c i t . , P . 257. H.Kulke, Op.cit., P.405. K.C. Panigrahi, Op. c i t . , P . 209. Surendra Maharana, O p . c i t . , P.280. R.D. Banerjee, Xistoryof ariJslr, Vol.1, Calcutta: 1931. Khageswar Mahapatra, BiWa, Cuttack: 1976, P .8 . S.K. Panda, "Social Mobility i n Medieval Orissal' i n ID&-, Vol. 21(2); Sept. 1984, P . P . 81-85. S. Maharana, Op. C i t . , P.236-237. John Beames, Op. c i t . , P.315. C.R. Wilson, Intmdu~tory &aormt of the Early m* of tb. -1iah in Bargrl, Vol. I , London: 1895, P.21. Foster's "English ~ a c t o r i e s i n lndial', ( Vol. 11, New Series, P. 335), quoted i n K.Majumlar, "Early ~ n g l i s h Trade i n orissa", adurr ifdstarlcrl Pu.rrab JommaJ (O.I.P.J), Vol. VII , (3 & 4),P.209. C.R. Wilson, Op.cit., P.17. Bengal S a l t and Opium Consultations. 26th December 1817, No.3, Secretary, Board of Trade t o Secretary, W o c m e n t of Bengal of December, 1817. U.K. Sinha, 'Widnapur S a l t Papers", PP. 1-6 quoted i n 6.C. Patnaik, ad epw &paat. ef UL.

68 ildm -0 POUW in 1866-1905, Cuttack: Vidyrpuri, 1980, P. 7.

46. B.C. Ray, m D d e r t&Jllt.tbu, Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1960, P.137.

47. Bengal Revenue Consultations, 1st ~ u g u s t , 1822, NO. 5; A. Ste r l ing t o Government of Bengal, 15th

october, 1821. 48. Board of Revenue Collections, Cuttack: Vo1.586,

P.300. 49. B.C. Ray, Op.cit . , P.127. 50. Board's Collections: Op. c i t . , P. 1. 51. Gouldesburg, Commissioner of Cuttack t o Secretary,

Government of Bengal on X i s t o q of Annachhatra xhnd, 28th Feburary, 1814 ( F i l e i n the Record Room of Board of Revenue, Cuttack).

52. Gazetteer of Balasore Dis t r i c t , Op.cit . , P . l l l . 53. W . W . Hunter, Op.cit., P.248. 54. Ib id . , P.248. 55. Andrew S te r l ing , & Amount of Orissa proper or

Cuthakt London: 1846, P.53. (Panga S a l t was produced by using the method of a r t i f i c i a l evaporation as against the sun dr ied method used t o produce Karkutch.

56. Wal lhdiaial ( C i a ) Prwecrdirrg, No.26, September 5, 1805; Secretary, Government of Bengal t o Commissioner of Cuttack, May 4 , 1807.

57. Ibid.,No.27, 5th September 1805; commissioner of Cuttack t o Gwernment of Bengal, 2nd September, 1805.

58. Chttaok salt Jhcramb (CSR) , Account No. 531, S a l t Agent of Cuttack t o Board of Trade, January 11, 1811.

59. Ibid . , Account No.531, Becher t o Pakenham, Off ic ia t ing Commissioner of Cuttack, December 28,1821.

60. John Beames, 'rrr ofab . l lgr l Civilian, London: 1961, PP. 207-8.

61. & l a m e Salt Records (BSR) , Account No.649; S a l t Agent of Balslsore t o omm missioner of Cuttack, June 29, 1867, No. 110; and ao tb. ZWtzicrt cB

66 BlLLuazv by Henry Ricketts, 1853, from Selections from Records of Government of Bengal, 1853, N0.m. "ChuliasH were the ch ie f s af the malangis i n the laanufacture of s a l t . m., Account No.577; B l u m t o Doyly, May 6, 1825. U., Account No.537; S a l t Agent of Cuttack t o Board Trade, Ju ly 25, 1808. Ibid. , Account No. 772; Commissioner of Cuttack t o S a l t Agent of Balasore, September 25, 1855. m., Account No.9, J. King t o Board of Trade, April , 1806. Wmgal ~~00 Pmoeodqa (BSR) , No. 29, March 10, 1815, Richardson t o Government of Bengal, December 20, 1814. (Aissa Rsoards, Vol.11; Becher t o Board of Trade, May 18, 1877, P P . 52-57. No.15, July 17, 1818; Y.Ewer t o Government of Bengal, May 13, 1818. Ibid., No.25, Hay 19,1820; A s t e r l i n g , Secretary t o Commissioner of Cuttack t o Blunt, Feb.24,1920. B S t . , Account No.573; A Doyly t o Commissioner of Cuttack, Dec. 16,1823 and Dec.7, 1824. bid., Account No.769; Secretary t o Board of Revenue t o commissioner of Cuttack, February 10, 1855, NO. 193. bid., No.75, May 19, 1820; A.Sterling t o Blunt, February 29, 1820. BBR., Account No. 573; S a l t Agent of Balasore t o Conunissioner of Cuttack, August 23, 1824. bkloatla~rs t k a the ZLeo~rds of BoP.&naant of Bmqd (SRGB), No.XXX, Report on the d i s t r i c t of Balasore by Henry Ricketts, 1853. A. S te r l ing , Op.cit., PP . 5-7. Fakirmohan's A h a Chzlta, Op.cit . , P.15. K.M. Patra, Qd.M 'tmdr+ the B u t IIldir m y , Nev Delhi: 1971, P.7. W.V. Hunter, Op.cit., P.304. BliP., No.5, August 1, 1922; Andrew S te r l ing , Secretary t o ColRncissioner af Cuttack t o Gwernment of Bengal, October 15, 1921.

G. Toynbee, A e t c h of tho HIAxny of adaaa, 1803- 1120, Calcutta: 1873, P. 26-27. S.L. Haddox, mm w r t an tbe ~ ~ n r q l r rmd mttzrmt of tbo Provfnar, af Chioar: T8qW¶!a!dl? 86tffd -, 1896-1900 A.D., Vol. I , Board of Revenue, Cuttack: (Reprint) , P. 164. Ibid . , P.165. Bengal ( T e r r i t o r i a l ) Revenue Proceeding No. 60, December 27, 1862; Comrmssioner of Cuttack t o Sadar Board of Revenue, January 20, 1832. BilP., No.37 of September 9, 1823; Regulation of 1833. 8R88)., 1847,No. XXIV 'B' (3); Minute of A. J.M. Mills, January 23, 1947. V.W. Hunter, Op.cit., P.29. S. L. Maddox, Op.cit., PP . 179-181. W.W. Hunter, op .c i t . , P.209. SRGB., Minute af A.J.M. ~ i l l s , op .c i t . , W.W. Hunter, Op.cit., P.307. S.L. Maddox, Op.cit., P.231. W.W. Hunter, o p . c i t . , P.314. SRGB., Minutes of A. J.M. ~ i l l s , ~ p . c i t . , S.L. Maddox, Op.cit., P.218. S. L. Maddox, Op.cit., P.222. Letter No.1199, Para 8 of 22nd August 1837; Secretary t o the Government of Bengal to the Off ic ia t ing Additional Secretary t o the Sadar Board of Revenue. S . L . Maddox, Op.cit . , P.224. S.L. Haddox, Op.cit . , P.224. U.Y. Hunter, Op.cit., P.338. Ibid . , P.248. N . K . Sahu (ed . ) , Op.cit., P.320. S.C. Hacpherson, R q o r t an tho Rhardr of the Diatriat. of Bmjau dad CbtW, Calcutta: 1842; John Comphell, A Parscoral Harrat;im of mi*teen Yeax# SendaeRnoPrgrt mld rebe8 of xa?mcbtm for tho sqppdm of nmm m a ! , London: 1864. V. F. B. Laurie, Orissa the Sam2m1 of Bqwr8tit ian rmd Idol.-, London: 1850; J . J . PeggS, 1Clldi. -08 t o

0 llsitirtb Ibrrritlu, London: 1830 6. A of tho Q r m r z z l ~ t t r t l d u i a a & ~ l a t h e ~ , London: 1846 (added t o A ~ d r 9 ~ ' 8 Orissa) ; &nos Sutton, U md it. hrmg. l l r r r t iam Pltawpread d* .ep.nrtitlo~u th. 10- OtfIQlldlt -tjsgot Lldi.n X l ~ I a w ; Derby: 1850.

105. John Beames f i n d s many inaccuracies i n the accounts af H u n t e r i n h i s - o f & Bapgrlairllllrrr (P.197). He a l s o points out inaccuracies committed by S te r l ing i n h i s Ilu XCi8torp of C&irwrunder the MohmmbL #Irat.hamd Etg1i.h rale.

106. Bisvamoy Pat i , "The High-lw d i a l e t i c i n Fakirmohan' s Chamdna Athagun tha : Popular Culture, Li tera ture and Society i n nineteenth century Orissa", i n B b d l 8 8 i n -tory, Vol.XI1, (1) ; Jan- SJune 1996, P.103.

107. Jagabandhu Singh, Pr&cUm Vtkala, 1928 ( i n Oriya), Reprint, Bhubaneswar: 1982 (2 volumea) Pyarimohan AchArya, Odisr Itlhua ( i n Oriya) 1879; Krupasindhu Mishra, l7Wa.h X t i h a 8 a till 1920, ( i n Oriya), 1920, e tc .

108. Pandit Godavarish Hishra. JWha Satrbcllu Odim 0 Tahinro WD BUMM ( i n Oriya) , Cuttack: 1958, P.126.

109. W.W. Hunter, Op.cit . , 110. N.K. Bose (ed . ) , Dab am Clste: CM-,

Antbmpalogiorl 8arwy of Ib&i&, Memolr No. 7, Calcutta: 1960.

111. H.H. Risley, l210 Edbo8 lad -to# of Boagal, (2 Vol.) Calcutta: 1981.

112. Fakirmohan ~ e n a p a t i , A- J i m QuWr ( i n o r i y a ) , Cuttack: 1969.

113. G. Mishra, Op.cit., 114. NdSakantha ms. a j i r r u l ( i n Oriya) , Cuttack, l%3. 115. Harekrushna Mahatab. Path. ( i n 0r iya) ,

Cuttack: 1972.116. Surendra Mohanty, XuZahAdha,

694.344 ( i n Qriya), Cuttack: 1978.

BP 116. Surendra Hohanty, Knlabddha, 1903-34 ( i n

Oriya Cuttack: 1978. 127 S.C. Das, P e t Bap.b.lrclhu: A B l u g r a p h p ,

Cuttack: 1964. 11 8. Gopinath Mohanty, nhrrli mtira ~antana,

( i n Oriya), Cuttack: 1985.