orissa review * january -...

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Orissa Review * January - 2005

The political consciousness of the Oriyapeople had been sufficiently aroused by the lastquarter of the nineteenth century. Within thisperiod a big public meeting was organised atCuttack on 30th June 1882 to celebrate theoccasion of the adoption of new scheme oflocal self-government in India by Lord Ripon'sGovernment. Madhu Sudan Das, HariballabhaGhosh, Priyanath Chatterjee, Madhusudan Rao,Bipin Bihari Mitra were among others whospoke on the occasion and they observed thatthe people were prepared to shoulder theresponsibilities entrusted to them by the newscheme of local self-government. They desiredthat the people should be allowed to elect theirrepresentatives to the local bodies in order tomake them more effective and popular (UtkalDipika, 8 July 1882). A public meeting in thisconnection was also held at Puri in the firstweek of August 1882 where some decisionswere made (Utkal Dipika, 9 September 1882).

Incidentally, an association named 'UtkalSabha' was established at Cuttack in 1882 tospearhead the socio-political activities of thepeople. The 'Utkal Sabha' was soon regardedas the most important and prominent politicalorganisation of the intelligentsia in the maintown of the Orissa Division which wieldedconsiderable influence in moulding publicopinion in the Province in the last two decadesof the 19th century. The first meeting whichbrought the 'Utkal Sabha' into existence washeld in the premises of the Cuttack PrintingCompany on 16th August 1882. Many leading

people of Cuttack attended on that meeting anddecided to establish a permanent organisationin order to champion the cause of the peopleand to help the institutions of local self-government particularly in the district ofCuttack. The first office-bearers were alsonominated in that meeting. Chaudhuri KasinathDas and Gauri Sankar Ray were chosen as thefirst President and Secretary of the organisationrespectively. Besides there were two vice-Presidents and a few members of the executivecommittee (Utkal Dipika, 19 August 1882).Madhu Sudan Das, who returned from Calcuttaand joined the Bar at Cuttack, was associatedwith the 'Utkal Sabha' from the beginning. Hewas the first Oriya pleader and soon took theleading part in organising and moulding publicopinion in the Province. Gauri Sankar Ray, theeditor of 'Utkal Dipika', the leading journal ofOrissa, acted as the Secretary of theorganisation for a long time. In fact, most ofthe meetings of the Sabha were held in thepremises of the 'Utkal Dipika' itself and throughhis journal. Gauri Sankar Ray gave duepublicity to the activities of the organisation.

The 'Utkal Sabha' organised a specialmeeting on 21st May 1883 to discuss the IlbertBill. Ilbert Bill united the Indians against thegovernment by arousing public opinion. Thisbill abolished judicial discrimination on thebasis of race and nationality. So the membersof the 'Utkal Sabha' unanimously agreed tosupport it and they sent a petition to theGovernor-General for acceptance of the Bill

The Utkal Sabha and Indian National Congress

Dr. Janmejay Choudhury

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(Utkal Dipika, 26 May 1883). In 1886 petitionswere sent to the government for reconstitutingthe legislative councils in order to give morerepresentation to the Indian people in thosebodies (Utkal Dipika, 25 December 1886).This was one of the factors which helped thegrowth of political consciousness in Orissaduring the first two decades of the 20th century.It was the period of participation of the Oriyamembers in the Legislative Councils wheremany problems were raised and discussed.Raja Baikunth Nath De of Balesore was thefirst member of the Bengal Legislative Councilto which he was nominated in November 1883.In 1886 Madhusudan Das was elected as therepresentative of the Municipalities of Orissaand Chota Nagpur (Utkal Dipika, 22 February1896).

The national consciousness of the peopleof Orissa was again aroused, as elsewhere inIndia, during the last decade of the 19th centuryby their association with the Indian NationalCongress. The struggle for India's freedombegan with the establishment of Indian NationalCongress in 1885. It was possible due to theuntiring efforts of Allan Octovion Hume, aBritish civil servant. His aim was to combinethe provincial associations to a national one.Once he writes, "Scattered individualshowever capable and well defined cannot drawline of action and to secure these an associationis required. The first meeting of the IndianNational Congress was held at Bombay inDecember, 1885 under the presidentship ofWoomesh Chandra Banerjee. First phase of theIndian National Congress (1885-1905) wasknown as the period of protect, petition andprayer. It was known also as period of politicalmendicancy. Immediate attention of the Oriyapeople was drawn to its activities, and a publicmeeting was held in the town of Cuttack on3rd March 1886 to discuss the resolutionsadopted by the Congress in its first session.All the leading personalities attended this

meeting and took part in its deliberations.Except the partial modification of oneresolution, all other resolutions were acceptedin that meeting (Utkal Dipika, 6 March 1886).The modified resolution related to theexamination for entering into Indian CivilService for which it was felt that the candidatesshould not be asked to go to England due toapprehension for the loss of caste. To thesecond session of Indian National Congressheld in the last week of December 1886, the'Utkal Sabha' sent its four selectedrepresentatives. They were : Madhu SudanDas, Golak Chandra Bose, Hariballabh Ghoseand Kalipada Banerjee. Besides, the 'NationalSociety' of Balesore also selected threedelegates namely Baikuntha Nath De, BhagabanChandra Das and Ramesh Chandra Mandal, forparticipation in the Congress Session (UtkalDipika, 25 December 1886). Thereafterdelegates from Orissa, nominated by theseassociations, attended the Congress Sessionsheld at different places. Rev. Sham Sahu, JohnSumson Raut, Munshi Mahammad Atabar,Bhagaban Chandra Das, Ramesh ChandraMandal, Gauri Sankar Ray and Madhu SudanDas took keen interest in the activities of theCongress in its early years. Especially theleaders of the 'Utkal Sabha' like Madhu SudanDas and Gauri Sankar Ray acted as thepioneers in bringing the message of Congressand its liberal ideas to Orissa in the last twodecades of the 19th century. They laid thefoundation of constitutional struggle of thepeople against the British authorities. However,the energy and enthusiasm of the leaders inOrissa was soon diverted to a different problemand that dissociated some of them from thenational mainstream for nearly two decadesfrom the beginning of the 20th century.

Dr. Janmejaya Choudhury is a Lecturer in History inSri Jagannath College, Kaipadar, Khurda.

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Gandhiji's emergence in on Indian nationalscene was an event of highest significance. Inthe apt and colourful words of Pandit Nehru, itwas like "a breath of fresh air" in an otherwisegloomy and choking atmosphere. After havingspent nearly a quarter of century in South Africawhere he led an extraordinary movement ofthe Indian settlers for the vindication of theirnational honour and human rights, Gandhireturned to India in early 1915 and started hisAshram on the bank of Sabarmati river nearAhmedabad.

in 1915, to the Indian people however,Gandhiji was an unknown person. MostCongressmen, too, did not know him. Butamong the greater ones who knew him and hiswork in South Africa, he appeared as a manwith a future role. "He is without doubt madeof the stuff of which heroes and martyrs aremade", described Gopal Krishna Gokhle aboutGandhiji in December 1912. He even wentfurther and said, "Nay more. He has in him themarvellous power to turn ordinary men aroundhim into heroes and martyrs."

Thus Gandhiji had brought with him highcredibility from South Africa. He was fearless,devotional minded and a champion of the weak.He taught his followers to shed fear, resist eviland suffer the consequences cheerfully. By now,Gandhiji had also already discovered the

weapon of non-violent passive resistancewhich could be handled by men and women,the rich and the poor, the learned and theignorant.

However, Gandhi was in no hurry tojump into the fray. When he consulted GopalKrishna Gokhle whom he regarded as hispolitical Guru, regarding his future work, thelatter advised Gandhiji not to speak on Indianquestions, as India was a 'foreign land' to himdue to his long stay abroad. Gokhle furtheradvised Gandhi that he should keep quiet for awhole year and first study the situation in theland after which he could decide on his futurecourse of action. The latter took this adviceand decided to first see Mother India as apilgrim before taking a leap into the stage ofpolitics.

It so happened that this year of enforcedsilence ended early 1916 at the time of foundingof Benaras Hindu University. Pandit MadanMohan Malavya, the founder of the universityhad arranged a series of lectures to bedelivered by eminent persons who had comefor the occasion after the foundation-stone hadbeen laid by the then Viceroy, Lord Hardinge.

It was Mahatma Gandhi's turn oneevening, which was the first time that he spokein public since his arrival in the country a yearago. Big leaders, English Officers, Rajas and

Emergence of Gandhiji - NationalPolitics and Its Aftermath

Dr. Lingaraj Rath

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Maharajas were present. Wearing a turban, thefuture Mahatma was looking like a peasant. Ashe started to speak, it appeared, as if MotherIndia was beginning to unfold her longsuppressed tales of woe. Asserting that the poorof India were being exploited, he explainedhow the money for the jewels worn by Rajasand Maharajas was earned by them by suckingthe blood of the poor. Ridiculing them for theirwomen-like jest for ornaments, he advised themto sell their jewels and utilize the proceedsfor the well-being of the poor. He made similarobservations about the capitalists. At last heopened a scathing attack on the English ashaving started the exploitation of the poor. Assome among the audience shouted, "Gandhiji,go on, Gandhiji, go on", the Englishmen, theRajas and the Maharajas, the Rai Bahadurs andthe Khan Bahadurs, all vacated their chairs andwalked away. But Gandhiji went on. At lastthe Maharaja of Darbhanga, a pillar of theBritish Empire, who was presiding, also left.As the chairs became empty, Gandhiji a firmbeliever in discipline, despite the request ofsome of the audience to continue, concludedhis speech. It acted, however, as an indicationof what was to come.

Lucknow Congress (1916) paves the way :

Later in 1916, Mahatma Gandhi attendedthe Annual Session of the Congress held atLucknow. This session, presided over byAmbika Charan Majumdar, was unique in manyrespects. It saw the re-uniting of the extremistand moderate groups. It also brought about anunderstanding between the Muslim League andCongress for joint fight and drew up aConstitution for the Congress which had beenwithout any during the last 30 years of itsexistence.

However, by this time Ganjhiji had beenable to enter into many hearts and reserve a

special place for himself there. He had alsobecome able to earn the title 'Mahatma'. Allround the pandal where the Subjects Committeemeeting of the Congress was being held, therewas constant shouting of "Mahatma Gandhi kiJai".

In this Congress Session, some personsfrom Bihar met Gandhiji and spoke to him aboutthe hardships the workers were suffering at thehands of British indigo planters.

First Political Acts of Gandhiji (1917) :

Gandhiji's first venture in the politicalfield was undertaken for the immediateabolition of the evil indenture system ofrecruiting labourers for the British colonies.Public agitation and fear of Satyagraha finallypersuaded the Victory to order abolition of thesystem from April 12, 1917 and thus Gandhijiscored his first victory.

He then turned his attention to thegrievances of the cultivators oppressed by theindigo planters in Bihar. But the DistrictMagistrate served on him an order to leave thedistrict immediately. Gandhiji refused to obeythe order and was tried for defiance. Hepleaded guilty of disobeying the order, but hejustified his action on the ground that humanauthority must yield before the higher authorityof conscience. It was a new plea in a court oflaw. But not altogether so, for in the history,men like Socrates and religious saints andmartyrs had taken this line to justify their actionin the past. But for the British Magistrate whowas utterly unused to such a procedure, the pleawas staggering. The Government of Bihar,however, came to his rescue and Gandhiji wasallowed to carry on his investigations.Ultimately, the Government recognized theenormity of the indigo planter's oppression andthe Champaran Agrarian Bill of 1917 proposedthe abolition of the system.

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Gandhiji was still at work in Bihar whenhe received requests to help and guide thepeasants of Kheda who were facing difficultiesin paying rents owing to failure of crops.However before going to Kheda, he proceededto Ahmedabad on an urgent call to intervene inthe labour trouble there. Applying his twocardinal principles "truth" and "non-violence",he ultimately succeeded in making asatisfactory settlement to both the parties-workers and the mill owners. Then he plungedinto the Kheda struggle, which too ended in acompromise.

"These incidents" as Tara Chand aptlyputs it, "were like the flapping of wings beforethe start of flight into high empyrean".However, Gandhiji was yet to be fullydisillusioned (with the British) which hebecame after the betrayal of the British aftertheir victory in the First World War.

When first World War broke out, and theBritish Government sought the help of Indians,Lokamanya Tilak wanted to help the British intheir war efforts on the condition that HomeRule was first granted or atleast promised.Leaders like Annie Besant too led a greatagitation for political reforms, their sloganbeing that "England's difficulty was India'sopportunity". But Gandhiji, so far a believerin the sense of justice of the British did notsubscribe to that slogan. He said that in thishour of their greatest difficulty, Indians shouldhelp them unconditionally and went ahead ontheir own lines, practically endangering theirlives by working very hard to help the Britishto recruit people for the army. Undertaking therecruitment campaign in 1918, he persuadedthe peasants of Kheda District to enrollthemselves as soldiers in the British army andeven appealed the students of BombayUniversity to enroll themselves as volunteers

in the Bombay University Corps of the IndianDefence Force, which was started to givemilitary training to Indian students. By doingso, he hoped to win the confidence of theBritish people and secure the independence ofIndia within the British empire as a result ofBritish confidence in India's loyalty to theempire.

But the sweet dream of Gandhiji wasrudely shattered when at the end of the war,the British came out with the Rowlatt Act fordealing with the freedomloving Indians.

Rowlatt Act :

During the First World War, India's effortfor war was lauded by the British and itappeared as if the status of the country wouldsoon undergo a change. On August 20,1917,Edwin Montagu, the new Secretary of State forIndia made a declaration in the BritishParliament that "the Policy of His Majesty'sGovernment was that of increasing associationof Indians in every branch of administrationand the gradual development of self governinginstitutions with a view to the progressiverealization of responsible Government in Indiaas an integral part of the British Empire". TheGovernment of India Act (1919) based on thispromise, however, caused widespreaddisappointment.

But before the Montagu ChelmsfordReform was enacted, the suspicious and guilty-minded Government began to devise measuresto avert what it believed was coming-agitation,resistance and defiance. It appointed One-manCommission in 1918 under the Chairmanshipof Justice Sir Sidney Rowlatt of England toenquire into seditious activities in India and tosuggest how to combat terrorism and treason.Sir Rowlatt, after making enquiry in Indiasubmitted his Report to the Government

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suggesting steps to suppress political violenceand for giving effect to Justice Rowlatt'srecommendations, the Government announcedits decision to enact two bills for dealing withseditious activities.

As the Defence of India Act was to expiresix months after the war, the Government waseager to rearm the executive with drasticpowers which it had wielded during war. Underthe draconian terms of these bills, which laterbecame Act in March 1919, any police officercould arrest an individual on the meresuspicion of unlawful activity designed againstthe foreign Government "established by law".Thus this Act framed on the lines of Defenceof India Act, curtailed the liberty of theindividual to a great extent. Earlier, the arrestof leaders like Annie Besant who refused tohelp the British during the First World Warbefore the grant of Home Rule to India hadmade Gandhi indignant. The passage of RowlattActs merely added insult to the injury.

Hence Gandhiji who stood for"unconditional co-operation" with the Britishsubjected himself to rethinking and declaredBritish rule in India to be "satanic". This wasthe beginning of his transformation from a loyalcitizen of the empire into an extreme rebelwhose new creed was "The British Empiretoday represents Satanism, and they who loveGod can afford to have no love for Satan." Otherleaders too denounced the Bills in unequivocalterms.

Agitation against the Rowlatt Bills,however, commenced first in the CentralAssembly. All the elected members spokeagainst the Srinivas Sastri showed his brilliantoratory and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviyamade a marathon speech lasting for six hours.Gandhiji and several other leaders like AcharyaJ.B. Kripalani were present in the gallery of

the Assembly. However, inspite of allopposition from the Indians, who termed it asBlack Act and 'Lawless Law', the adamentGovernment, through its official majority,passed the Rowlatt Act in the ImperialLegislative Council in March 1919.

The utter heedlessness to public opinionwas a sure invitation to trouble and India's self-respect demanded a suitable reply to thechallenge of the Government. At this crucialhour, Gandhiji took up the gauntlet and behindhim marched a resolute people to defend theirhonour and to vindicate their natural right tofreedom.

His immediate reaction was to give acall to the nation to take the Satyagraha pledgewhich said, "we solemnly affirm that in theevent of these Bills becoming Laws and untilthey are withdrawn, we shall refuse civilly toobey these laws and such other laws and wefurther affirm that in this struggle, we willfaithfully follow the truth and refrain fromviolence to life, person or property". Gandhiji'slogic was that the ordinary law of the land wasadequate enough to deal with the violence ofthe extremists. Hence to hold the entire nationto task for such activities of a handful few wasa demonstration of brute force. Describing theIndian people as the gentlest on earth", be madea last minute appeal to the Viceroy not to passthe Rowlatt Bills. But the Viceroy decided notto yield.

After the Bill became Act, the pledgewas followed by a call for a 'hartal' on March30,1919 on an all India scale. The date wassubsequently changed to April 6. Writing anarticle in 'Young India' for April, 1919,Gandhiji appealed the people to start 'hartal'on April 6 by observing a fast and offeringprayer. All good things are begun by a fast andsuch other religious observances in this country.

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In this way, Gandhiji invested the 'hartal' witha religious and moral sentiment, whichappealed to everyone's heart. In a letter,Gandhiji wrote to the Viceroy, "The SatyagrahaCampaign constitutes an attempt torevolutionise politics and restore moral forceto its original position."

The response to the call was amazing.Towns and villages in every part of the countryvied with one another to make the hartal asuccess, to demonstrate that a common feelingstirred the heart of all Indians. A newconfidence was born, and it was the beginningof a new era.

However, as the shifting of the date ofhartal or Satyagraha Day could not becommunicated to all parts of the country intime, some places observed it on 30th March(1919) while some others on April,6.

Satyagrah Day in Punjab and JallianwallaBagh Massacre :

While the opposition to the Act wascountrywide, condition in Punjab wasexplosive for many reasons. Pressure had beenmounted to recruit soldiers for war-30,000combatants and 60,000 non-combatants andmany villages were deprived of labouring andearning men. Agrarian distress had led torestlessness and outrages which, had beencrushed with a heavy hand. Many Punjabiemigrants too had returned to their homes withbitter feelings against the Government whichused the provisions of the ingress ordinance toprosecute them.

Thus the province was writhing under asense of deep frustration and Gandhiji's callhad just an electrifying effect on the people. InAmritsar (Punjab), protest meetings had startedsince February (1919). On March 23, a meetingwas held in support of the Satyagraha

movement followed by another six days toannounce and explain the hartal on 30th.

The immediate reaction of the authoritieswas to prohibit one of the leaders, Dr. SatyaPal, from speaking in public. This did notfrighten the citizens and on the 30th March, ahartal was observed and a meeting held inJallianwalla Bagh. On April 4, another leaderDr. Saifuddin Kitchlew was served with asimilar notice and a number of others wererestrained. On 6th April, a complete hartal wasobserved, but peace was maintained. On 9thApril, there was a Hindu festival and largeprocession of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhspassed through the streets.

At this juncture, Gandhiji was invited tocome to Punjab. But while he was travellingto the Punjab, he was stopped at Palwal andprohibited from entering the province.

The next morning (April 10), Dr.Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal were deported fromAmritsar. These two incidents infuriated andprovoked the people. A number of peoplegathered to see the Deputy Commissioner (i.e.Present day Collector) and urged him to cancelthe orders. The military pickets, however, triedto stop them from moving towards DeputyCommissioner's residence. The mountedsoldiers then fired on the people causing somedeaths and wounding many others. The peoplebecame more infuriated and there was a melee.While firing took place from one side, stone-throwing started from the other. More and morepeople gathered and were hurled with bullets.Then the maddened mob broke all bounds andbrutal acts of destruction and arson, plunderand murder followed. In the telling words ofTara Chand, "O' Dwyer (the then Governor ofPunjab) by depriving Amritsar of its leaderspledged the massacre of innocents."

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Amritsar was handed over to the militaryauthorities on the 11th and General ReginaldDyer took charge the same night. Proclamationswere issued on April 12 and 13 giving warningof dire consequences if meetings were held orprocessions taken out and violence indulgedin.

The reaction of the people was to makea protest against these threats. A meeting wassummoned at the spacious ground ofJallianwalla Bagh on the afternoon of April13, the Hindu New Year's day.

The Jallianwalla Bagh was an openenclosure surrounded by buildings with onlyone narrow entrance through which even anarmored car could not pass. There were threeor four small openings on the other side. Inthis enclosure, according to various estimates,fifteen to twenty five thousand people hadgathered on that fateful day (April, 13).

Dyer regarded the gathering as a threatto his authority and decided to disperse it byforce. A few minutes were left to sun set. Asthe people were peacefully listening to thespeeches of the leaders, suddenly thereappeared at the gate of the Bagh General Dyerwith Force of 90 soldiers and two armouredcars equipped with machineguns to teach thedisobedient people a lesson and through themto the people of whole India what disloyaltymeant.

Due to the narrowness passage leadingto the Bagh, he left the armoured cars outside.Then he positioned his troops on a raisedground fully commanding the small park andwithout issuing any warning ordered hissoldiers to open fire on this large, innocentmass. As there was no other gate to escape,men fell dead in hundreds and many werecrushed in the blind stampede that ensued. And

they did not stop till the entire ammunition(1650 rounds) was exhausted and there wasno more shots to fire. In moments, in the twilightof the evening, the Jallianwalla Bagh turnedinto a valley of death. The ghastly sight,however, failed to move the callous heart ofDyer who deliberately took no steps to providemedical aid to the wounded. He then movedaway from the slaughter house proudlysurveying his handiwork, unconcerned aboutthe dead and the wounded. While theGovernment claimed the number of dead andwounded as 379 and 1000 respectively theunofficial figure was three times the officialfigures.

Punjab Wrongs:

But Dyer was not content with the blood-bath and resorted to even more cruel measuresas the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was not anisolated incident,. It was only one among thelarge number of instances of the general policyof terrorizing the people in Punjab. In Amritsar,the massacre was followed by clamping downcurfew, which remained in force for twomonths. What was worse, water and electricitysupply was cut off. Flogging and whipping werecommon and an order was issued that anyonepassing through the lane in which an Englishwoman, Miss Sherwood had been assaulted,should crawl through it on his belly. Againunder the Martial Law proclaimed on April13, numerous people were tried and out of them,a large number were sentenced -many to death,others to transportation for life or to variousterms of imprisonment.

Repercussions:

As the news of this national tragedygradually spread, the entire India wasconvulsed. There was an outburst ofcondemnation from every side. As a mark of

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protest, Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagorereturned the Knighthood conferred upon himby the British Government. Gandhiji toorenounced all the decorations and recognitionshe had received from the Government for hisservices during the First World War, anddescribed the Government, as "Unmixed evil".Demands too were made for the recall of O'Dwyer, Lt. Governor of Punjab and LordChelmsford, the Viceroy. Indemnity for theprisoners were pressed and enquiry into thePunjab happenings urged, both in England andIndia.

In England, on behalf of the Home RuleLeague and the Liberal Federation, deputationsof eminent Indians were at work, givingevidence before the Joint ParliamentaryCommittee. Among them were Vithalbhai Patel,Bal Gangadhar Tilak Bipin Chandra Pal,Annie Besant, Surendranath Banarjee, TejBahadur Sapru, Srinivas Sastri and others. Theyimpressed upon the Secretary of State theurgency of an enquiry into the recent events inorder to pacify public opinion.

Enquiry into the incident:

Lord Montagu knew that the policy ofruling India by sword alone was impossible.Finally he made up his mind and during theBudget Debate on May 22, promised to holdan enquiry. He wrote to Lord Chelmsford that"this method of Government (D'Dwyerism)always brings sooner or later its reward". OnJuly 17, he wrote to the Viceroy about GeneralDyer. He said, "It was the savage andinappropriate folly of the order which rousesmy anger. I cannot admit that any service thatDyer has rendered anywhere can atone foraction of this kind, and I am very much worriedthat he should have escaped punishment for anorder the results of which are likely to bepermanent". On August 6,1919, the Under

Secretary of State for India speaking in theHouse of Lords, also repeated Lord Montagu'spromise of May 22.

The Government of India, however,stiffly opposed the proposal for an enquiry. Butas the Secretary of State had already committedhimself, the Viceroy had no alternative but toyield. On October 14, 1919, he announced theappointment of a Committee with Mr. Hunteras Chairman, four Englishmen and threeIndians-Setalvad, Sahibzada Sultan AhmedKhan and Lala Jagat Narain as members. Butthe Committee was boycotted by the Congress.

The Committee finally gave its Report,which was not unanimous. While the Europeanmembers who were in a majority signed oneReport, the three Indian members prepared aseparate report. The findings of the majorityreport were:-

1. That the disturbances were of the natureof a rebellion, which might have developedinto a revolution:

2. That the outbreaks were the result of thework of a definite organization and were allconnected;

3. That the proclamation of martial law inthe circumstances was wholly justified and thatfiring was necessary to put down the mobexcesses;

4. That the Government of India wasblameless;

5. That Dyer's action was open to criticismfor firing without warning and continuing thefire too long and excessively; that Dyer's objectof producing a sufficient moral effect was amistaken conception of duty.

The Minority Report prepared by theIndian members of the Hunter Committeedisagreed with the first two findings and agreed

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that firing was justified, but punishments likecrawling, confiscation of property, flogging,salaaming, etc. were intended to terrorize andhumiliate Indians.

On Dyer's conduct, the Indian memberscommented more harshly than the Europeans.They compared his acts with the acts offrightfulness committed by the Germans inBelgium and France in 1914. They wrote, "wefeel that Dyer, by adopting an inhuman and un-British method of dealing with the subject ofHis Majesty the King Emperor, has done greatdis-service to the interest of British rule inIndia."

The Congress, which had boycotted theHunter Committee, also had appointed its ownCommittee of Enquiry .The members wereMotilal Nehru (who resigned on having beenelected President of Amritsar Congress of1919), Fazlul Haq (who could not attend owingto important business), M.R. Jaykar (in placeof Fazlul), C.R.Das, Abbas Tyabji, andMahatma Gandhi. They signed their report on20th February 1920.

The Committee squarely charged O'Dwyer, "who almost invariably appealed topassion and ignorance rather than to reason",and showed how, "serious a responsibility heincurred in misleading both the people and hissuperiors". They accused him of usingoppressive methods in recruiting soldiers forthe war, thereby creating the spirit of resistanceand disaffection, which culminated in thedisturbances of April, 1919. The Report wenton to observe, "we feel tempted to say that he(O' Dwyer) invited violence from the people,so that he could crush them. The evidenceshows that he subjected the Punjabis to thegravest provocation under which theymomentarily lost self-control".

About Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy, theyexpressed the opinion, "whilst, therefore, wedo not think His Excellency was willinglyneglectful of the interest of those who wereentrusted to his charge by His Majesty, weregret to say that His Excellency LordChelmsford proved himself incapable ofholding the high office to which he was calledand we are of opinion that His Excellencyshould be recalled. "

After carefully scruting of all theevidences they came to the conclusions:

1. There was no conspiracy to overthrowthe Government in the Punjab.

2. No reasonable cause has been shown tojustify the introduction of martial law.

3. The Jallianwalla Bagh massacre was acalculated piece of inhumanity towards utterlyinnocent and unarmed men including children,and unparalleled for its ferocity in the historyof modem British administration. "

The Government of India considered theHunter Committee Report and came to theconclusion that Dyer's action at JallianwalaBagh was indefensible, that he went beyondany reasonable requirement of the case and thathe misconceived his duty. It was thereforeconsidered unwise to allow him to continue tohold his position. He was consequently retiredfrom service on March 23, 1920.

Thus in the dark tragedy of JallianwallaBagh, there dawned a new era of revolutionfor the liberation of India and Gandhiji emergedfor his predestined role.

Dr. Lingaraj Rath is working as Private Secretary toMinister, ST & SC Development (S.C.Dev.),Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare & Excise.Orissa, Bhubaneswar.

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Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bosewere two legendary personalities, gigantic intheir political moral and ethical stature. Bothof them were two worthy sons of Mother India.In 1915, soon after his return from South AfricaGandhiji became the unquestioned leader ofIndia's freedom movement and Indian NationalCongress. He transformed'an unarmed, politically-subjugated, dumb andilliterate mass of humanityinto a fearless, non-violent,politically awakened,resurgent militia. Verily outof dust, he made Indiansinto men'. Subhas ChandraBose, 'the stormy petrel ofIndian Renaissance'younger to Gandhi by 28years who had resigned hisbrilliant career in the muchcoveted heaven-born Indian Civil Service withthe resolute aim and determination to devotehimself entirely to the fight for India's freedom.

The saga of relationship between Subhasand Gandhi starts with Subhas meeting Gandhion the very day (on 16th July, 1921) of hislanding at Bombay. Their first meeting set thecontours of the relationship over the coming

quarter of a century between these two foremostleaders of India's freedom struggle.

To Subhas Bose, Gandhi alwaysremained 'India's greatest man'. Hisappreciation of the unique contribution ofGandhi was unequivocal. He recognised andadmitted Gandhi as the undisputable, unrivalled

leader of the masses.Subhas had all praise forGandhi's unflinchingpatriotism, firmness incharacter, love for truth etc.Infact, Bose bowed beforeGandhi's 'single hearteddevotion, his relentlesswill, and his indefatigablelabour'. To Gandhi, Bosewas like a son whose 'selfsacrifice and suffering,drive, integrity and

commitment to the national cause and thecapacity to bind all Indians into one peoplewere unsurpassed.'

Both Gandhi and Bose were totallyhonest men. They were internationalists andhumanists. They were secular in approach andanti-racial in outlook. In whatever situationsthey were and whatever they were doing, theirminds were always diverted towards the

Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose

Siddhartha Dash

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liberation of their motherland. The whole lifeof both the leaders was an epic struggle forIndia's independence. In fact, the life long"Tapasya" of both, ended with the ultimatesacrifice of their very lives.

Inspite of all these, there were glaringdifferences between Gandhi and Subhas andin political life both were posed against eachother. Young Netaji was a firebrand nationalistwho believed in the tradition of Tilak andAurobindo. Gandhiji, on the contrary, was areluctant nationalist who belonged to thetradition of his mentor Gokhale and Tagore.Bose's strong revolutionary urge for theemancipation of his motherland made himcritical of many of Gandhiji's techniques.

In 1920, at the age of 23, Subhas joinedthe Non-cooperation Movement which wasgoing on with all its fury in Bengal under theleadership of Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das.He took prominent part in the agitation againstthe Prince of Wales's visit. In protest againstthe decision of Gandhi in calling off the Non-cooperation Movement as a sequence to theChauri Chaura incident in 1922, Bose felthighly dejected. In 1927, Subhas was electedas one of the General Secretaries of the IndianNational Congress. A British ParliamentaryCommission, known as Simon Commissionwas appointed, to fix up the exact status ofIndia's Constitutional development. Indianleaders had long been thinking in terms of earlyDominion Status. For Subhas, the demand ofDominion Status appeared to be too short ofhis dream of full freedom. To the utterastonishment of everybody he roared beforethe Commission. 'India shall be free, the onlyquestion is when'? For this bold statement heincurred the displeasure of the Mahatma whorebuked Bose in the sharpest language such of

which was never before heard in the publicfrom Gandhiji.

The year 1927 brought Subhas closer toJawaharlal Nehru at the annual session of theIndian National Congress, which was held atMadras. They formed the Independence ofIndian League and under their joint effort,resolution for 'Complete Independence' waspassed. In the next year due to the oppositionof Gandhi the resolution to reiterate the demandfor Complete Independence could not beapproved. Thus Bose's proposal was defeated.In 1929 to separate Nehru from Subhas,Gandhiji nominated Jawahar as the Presidentof Indian National Congress. The Mahatma washappy as he thought that Bose would beineffective without support from Jawaharlal.But Subhas a different stuff altogether, despiteopposition both from Nehru and Gandhideclared 1929 to be the year of preparationfor a massive civil disobedience movement.

In the subsequent events that immediatelyfollowed the same sort of ambivalence in therelationship between these two leaders areclearly discernible. Subhas praised Gandhijifor Dandi March and Salt Satyagraha (1930).He wrote nostalgically 'The march of Dandi -an event of historical importance which willrank on the same level with Napoleon's marchto Paris'. He particularly admired Gandhijisuccess in involving women into the freedommovement. At the same time Subhas severelycriticized Gandhiji's participation in the SecondRound Table Conference in London. Bose wasmuch perturbed by the way Gandhiji playedhis cards at the Round Table Conference.Gandhiji should have spoken, he felt, at theRound Table Conference, with a firm voice.In his treatise 'The Indian Struggle' which waspublished in November 1934 Subhas wrote,

13


'If the Mahatma had spoken in the language ofdictator Stalin, Duce Mussolini or FuhrerHitler, John Bull would have understood andbowed his head in respect'.

In 1937, Gandhiji felt that Bose was aforce to be reckoned with and hence he shouldno longer be neglected. He was furtherconvinced that Subhas alone could be aninstrument in the split of the Congress. Hencehe decided to elect Subhas as the president ofthe Indian National Congress even whenSubhas was not a member of that party. In the51st session of the Congress held at Haripurain 1938, Subhas was unanimously elected asthe President. Unfortunately both for theCongress and the country, the alliance betweenBose and Gandhi remained precarious. Subhasnot only condemned Gandhi's favouriteCharakha but gave a call to modernise India.He called upon the people to get united for anarmed struggle against the Britishers.

At the presidential election in January1939, Subhas was vigorously opposed both byGandhi and Nehru. Nevertheless, he hasachieved a decisive victory over his opponentDr. Pattabhi Sittaramayya, Gandhi's nomineeby 1580 to1375 votes. Gandhiji openlydeclared that Sitaramayya's defeat was hisdefeat. He said that Subhas's references to hiscolleagues were unjustified and unworthy. Heremarked that since Subhas had criticized hiscolleagues as 'rightists', it would be mostappropriate on his part to choose ahomogeneous cabinet and enforce his action.At the Tripuri Congress, Bose as the presidentmade a clear proposal that the Indian NationalCongress should immediately send anultimatum to the British Governmentdemanding independence within six months. Itwas opposed by the Gandhian wing and Nehru.

In the midst of the hostile situation Subhasresigned the Presidentship of the Congress on29th April, 1939, and immediately proceededto form a radical party bringing the entire leftwing under one banner. In this connection, itwould be most appropriate to mention that -Bose's innate devotion and respect for Gandhijiremained as firm even though his path wasdiverging. He clearly stated 'it will always bemy aim and object to try and win his confidencefor the simple reason that it will be tragic forme if I succeed in winning the confidence ofother people but fail to win the confidence ofIndia's greatest man'.

Subhas had his 'last long and hearty talkwith the Mahatma on 20th June, 1940.' He hadpressed Gandhi to launch the struggle takingadvantage of the critical position of the Britishin the Second World War. He told that it wasthe most opportune time and it was impossibleto think of any other situation in which Indiacould start the struggle. Mahatma replied, 'whydo you think that we cannot get betteropportunities later on ? I am sure we will havemany such opportunities. Whether Englandwins or loses the war, she will be weakenedby it; she will have no strength to shoulder theresponsibilities of administering the country,and with slight effort on our part she will haveno alternative but recognise India'sindependence'.

The whole nation was aroused whenSubhas Bose made his spectacular escape on17th January, 1941 (it was the day fixed forhis trial for sedition) while under housedetention at Calcutta and finally reachedGermany in order to lead struggle for freedomfrom outside. Gandhi, on his part, could neverendorse Subhas Bose joining with the Axispowers. Even outside India, Bose remained

14


unshaken in his deep allegiance to Gandhiji.His praise and devotion for Gandhi were againobvious in his broadcast on Gandhiji's birthdayon 2nd October, 1943. 'The service whichMahatma Gandhi has rendered to India is sounique and unparalleled that his name will bewritten in letters of gold in our national historyfor all time'.

Even Gandhiji, while differing from theextreme methods of Subhas Bose, had utmostadmiration for his unique effort for India'sfreedom. On one occasion Gandhiji wrote toSubhas, 'regarding your love for the countryand determination to achieve freedom, you aresecond to none. Your sincerity is transparent.Your spirit of selfsacrifice and suffering cannot be surpassed by anybody'. On anotheroccasion in a conversation with an Americanjournalist, on the eve of launching the Quit IndiaMovement, Gandhiji defended Bose as 'apatriot of patriots'. Netaji's last broadcast on6th July, 1944 addressed to Gandhiji throughAzad Hind Radio, was like a brilliant reportin which he described how 'the high esteem inwhich you are held by patriotic Indians outsideIndia and by foreign friends of India's freedom,was increased a hundred fold when youbravely sponsored the Quit India Movementin August 1942'. Concluding his speech hefervently sought the blessings of Gandhi,

'Father of our Nation, in this holy war of India'sliberation we ask you for your blessings andgood wishes.'

During 1945 and 1946, Gandhiji cameto know a lot about the exploits of Subhas andhis Indian National Army. While addressingthe INA prisoners he paid unreserved tributesin hailing Bose as 'Netaji'. He also paidunqualified tribute to the INA. 'The greatestamong its achievements was to gather together,under one banner, men from all religions andraces of India, and to infuse in them the spiritof solidarity and oneness, to the utter exclusionof all communal and parochial sentiments. Itis an example which we should all emulate.'

It is thus clear from the above that bothGandhiji and Subhas discussed all theproblems that confronted them, honestlyrealised their differences. Their relationshipwas based on truthfulness, transparency,sacrifice and suffering. No wonder, they hadthe deepest concern for each other till the end.

Siddhartha Dash is a Gold Medalist, Post Graduatein Political Science, also having an M.phil degreeand he lives at Govt. Qrs. -3R-9/2, Unit- 9 Flats,Bhubaneswar -751 022

Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaikreceiving a Bank Draft of Rs 1crore 34 Lakh

from Director, Arati Steel, Mr Rajeev Mittal fordevelopment of Khuntuni-Ghantikhal Road at

Secretariat on 14-12-2004.

15


In the regime of revolutionary saga of theIndian Freedom movement the contribution ofNetaji was indeed remarkable. He enrichedhimself immensely being inspired by the livesof the Great Aurobindo Ghosh, C.R. Das, Lenin,Mustapha Kemalpasha and Garibaldi. He wasa terror to the Britishers whounlike Gandhiji wanted to putpressure on the BritishGovernment in the light of theItalian struggle for liberation andunification, Irish struggle forfreedom. He was a luminary whodreamed of a free and resurgentIndia by organising a NationalArmy namely Azad Hind Fauz,later on renamed as IndianNational Army (INA). Theseofficers and Army forming partof the INA were deployed in the north easternfront to give a valiant fight to the British Army.

He was born to Srimati Pravabati Devi,his mother and Janikainath Bose his father aprominent Advocate of Cuttack who later onbecame a member of the Bengal LegislativeCouncil and later on was awarded the title ofRai Bahadur. On account of the anti-Indianpolicies pursued by the Britishers he returnedthe title of Rai Bahadur and simultaneouslyresigned from the post of Public Prosecutor.

Netaji - The Great Nationalist

Satyanarayan Mohapatra

This no doubt created an impact on youngSubhas. Netaji's ancestral home in Oriya Bazarhas now been declared as a national monumentand a small photo gallery containing his lifehas been established there to enable the visitorsto pay homage to this great national Hero. After

his matriculation, which hecompleted in the RavenshawCollegiate School he wasadmitted to the PresidencyCollege, Calcutta. During hiscollege days young Subhas couldnot tolerate the abusive langaugeof Professor Oaten against Indiaand the Indians. As a result of hisdifferences with the professorwho brought false and frivolouscharges he was expelled from thecollege and rusticated from the

Calcutta University in 1916. Finally with theintervention of Sir Ashutosh Mukerjee, youngSubhas got admission in the Scottish ChurchCollege, Calcutta where from he graduatedwith a first class in Philosophy. Subsequentlyhe went to England and obtained CambridgeTripos in Moral Science. He was extremelybrilliant from his childhood, which he hadexhibited during his school days in theEuropean School at Cuttack managed by theBaptist Mission. In England he passed the ICS

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Examination securing fourth position in orderof merit. Subhas, who was a fire-brandnationalist in the true sense of term refused tocontinue in ICS by tendering his resignation.

On his return to India from Englandduring 1921 he met the Great Mahatma and onhis instructions met Deshbandhu Chittaranjanwho was his political Guru until his death in1925. When C.R. Das was the Mayor inCalcutta and Subhas as Chief Executive Officerhe was arrested on a vague charge and deportedto Mandalay in Burma. He was released in May1927. He played his pivotal part in the NationalMovement during 1929 when he was electedas President of All India Trade Union Congressand in 1930 he was elected as Mayor ofCalcutta. Subhas as a true disciple of Bapujeealso took active part in the Salt Satyagrahawhen he was arrested. He publicly denouncedthe Gandhi-Irwin Pact and was again arrestedand lodged in prison, which was curtailed onhealth ground. Later he went to Europe for histreatment where he got immense opportunitiesto contact various European nations with a viewto elicit sympathy on Indian Freedom struggle.Netaji returned to India defying Governmentorders prohibiting his entry to India and wasarrested. He was released on account of theoverwhelming victory of the Congress in the1937 General Election. In 1938 at HaripuraCongress Session he was elected as Presidentof the Indian National Congress and electedagain in 1939 defeating Dr. PattabhiSitaramayya who was the Congress nominee.Subhas who was a volcanic personality haddifferences with the Congress leaders on thequestion of delivering an ultimatum to theBritish Government to handover India to theIndians within a period of six months andfinally resigned his Presidentship in 1939. Heformed the Forward Block thereafter within

the Congress and during the Ramgarh Sessionit passed a resolution for the establishment ofa provisional National Government in India.He was however arrested in Calcutta and lateron released.

The escape of Netaji Subhas ChandraBose from his house in the Elgin Road, Calcuttathen under the close vigil of the C.I.D. surprisedeverybody. According to Dr. R.C. Majumdar,an eminent historian "Bose's Journey formCalcutta to Berlin full of thrilling details wasa historic one and its nearest parallel is theescape of Shivaji from the clutches ofAurangjeb". From here Netaji cherished abrilliant idea to seek cooperation of Nazi andFascist powers in order to enlist their supportfor India's freedom movement and having thisin view he planned his historic escape reachingGermany where he was received byRibbentrop Hitler's right hand man.

In Germany he raised free Indian unitsfrom among the Indian POW's in Germany,which later on formed the nucleus of AzadHind Fauz. At the time of proclamation of theprovincial Government of Azad Hind Fauz, hetook the oath -"In the name of God, I take thissacred oath to liberate India and the thirty eightcrores of my country men. I Subhas ChandraBose, will continue the sacred war of freedomtill the last breath of my life." On taking overcommand of the INA he again reiterated that "Ipray that God may give me necessary strengthto fulfill my duty to the Indians under allcircumstances how difficult and trying they maybe."

The Axis power and Japan in particularexpressed its eagerness to see India free. InJapan he was received by his uncle RasbihariBose who set upon the task of organising anArmy for the Indians, which was founded on

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1st September 1942. Netaji took a long andperilous journey in a German U-Boat and latersin a Japanese submarine finally reaching Tokyoin June 1943. From Tokyo, he proclaimed overa Radio speech to launch an armed fight againstthe British from the India's eastern border. Hereached Singapore on 2nd July 1943 andassumed the command of the Azad Hind Fauz.

Thus under his esteemed command theAzad Hind Fauz launched its gallant fight inthe thick jungles of Malyasia and Burma andlater on crossed the Burma-India border. Itreached Indian soil on 21st May 1944 andhoisted the Indian Tricolour Flag in the city ofImphal. It could not make much headway andfinally had to withdraw to the east Bank ofChindwan. Its progress was adversely affectedon account of the surrender of Japan during the2nd World War, which resulted in generalwithdrawal.

It is reported that during his journey formSingapore to Tokyo he was killed in an aircrash at Taihoku Air port, Formosa on the 18thAugust 1945. Controversy lingers about hisdeath, which the people of India hardlybelieved. Hugh Toye author of the 'Springing

Tiger - A Study of Subhas Chandra Bose' hasput it thus: -

"Every where Indians mourned for a time halfbelieving that some miracle would cause himto reappear when least expected and this wassome new strategy of disappearance, and evennow as the years pass some still look for himor see momentarily disguised as a Sanyasiroaming through the hills and villages of freeIndia."

Netaji, no doubt left an indelible markin the history of Indian Freedom movement.He had all the faith of a prophet and the courageof a crusader. His credentials as a Patriot andtrue National Hero burnt into the very soul ofthose followers and members of the Azad HindFauz the so called INA through his speechesand writings forms an asset of the IndianFreedom Struggle. Above all other persons helaid the moral foundations for the cause he stoodfor.

Satyanarayan Mohapatra lives at L/3-78, Acharya Vihar,Bhubaneswar-751013.

Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik inaugurating the Enterprise-2004organized by CII at Exhibition Ground, Unit-3, Bhubaneswar on 22-12-2004.

Shri Biswabhusan Harichandan, Minister, Rural Development, Industries and Law isalso present.

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Thakur Shree Abhiram Paramahansa Dev wasnot only a well known religious teacher andfamous social reformer but also a great freedomfighter. He was the only Oriya saint whostruggled for independence of motherland. Hisheroic role during the period of great Nationalmovement recognized him apartiot and true lover ofmother India. Achievements ofSri Abhiram Paramahansa Devin freedom movement isremarkable. His contribution inthe field of literature, religion,peace, love and brotherhoodwas incomparable. He was agreat spiritual leader whocreated numbers of disciplesand followers. He had starteda religious and culturalmovement in Orissa to createrenaissance among the people.He was a great lover of truth and peace. Thelife history of this notable saint is veryinteresting. He took birth on 18th January 1904in a small village of Puri district. Aftercompleting his primary education he became aschool teacher. After some days he left theteachership and started meditation in"Khandaba bana" near Brahmagiri at the ageof eleven. There he also worshipped goddess

Vanadurga (Purnamasi). By the grace ofVanadurga he became a great Sadhu. Hebecame very popular and with many disciples,sanyasis and devotees everywhere he startedspiritual renaissance. His followers with lovecalled him Shree Thakur. Shree Thakur moved

from village to village inCuttack district for peaching hisideology, divine thought andspiritual values among thepeople. Shree Thakur hadwritten a famous book named"Kali Bhagabata". Somepatriotic elements are availablein this great book. When ShreeThakur was at Ichhapur villageof Cuttack district he wrote thefirst six chapters of the historicbook Kali Bhagabata. Thisbook admired the greatness ofShree Thakur in the freedom

struggle of India. The book Kali Bhagabatacomposed by Shree Thakur, criticised theharmful activities of the mighty Britishers. Firstsix chapters of this book were published fromBerhampur. Publisher Sashibhusan Rath hadprinted it in his Assha Press. In the criticalperiod of the national movement this book hadmuch impact on the people. AbhiramParamahansa Dev had written in such way that

Freedom FighterShree Abhiram Paramahansa Dev

Pabitra Mohan Barik

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many chapter has two different meanings. Thesurface meaning differs from its inner meaning.Especially the chapters 4 and 22 have twodifferent meanings. In Kali Bhagabata ShreeThakur described about the future politicalsituation of India. The words Mahatma, BritishEmperor of that time George-V, Congress,Satyagrahis are found in the book KaliBhagabata. Thakur Abhiram greatlyappreciated the non-violent method adopted byMahatma Gandhi against British emperialism.In Kali Bhagabata Abhiram Paramahansa Devclearly praised Gandhiji as "Mahamanab" witha great soul. Shree Thakur was a greatsupporter of non-violence and Satyagrahawhich was adopted by Gandhiji in the freedomstruggle. Shree Thakur also condemned thearbitrary ruling of the Britishers and advisedthe people to join as freedom fighters underthe leadership of M.K. Gandhi to achievefreedom. Shree Thakur spoke about the QuitIndia movement of 1942 much before thehistoric incident happened. He also advisedpeople not to co-operate with Britishadministration. Shree Abhiram raised his voiceagainst oppressive ruling of Emperor George-V. He also encouraged the Satyagrahis for theirselfless struggle for Mother India. The bookKali Bhagabata earned popularity and widelycirculated all over Orissa. Due to anti Britishfeeling the book provided fuel to young massof Orissa to oppose foreigners in any case.Shree Thakur is the only one saint of Orissawho actively and bravely participated in theIndian National Movement. A group of antisocial people who were the great supporter ofBritisher complained against Shree Thakur inMahanga Police Station for his anti-British tonein Kali Bhagabata.

Sub-Inspector of Mahanga Police StationDurgananda Mishra managed to get a copy of

Kali Bhagabata but being unable to understandthe real meaning of sentences, sent aconfidential report to Orissa Police Headquarter at Cuttack on 2.2.1934. The reportforwarded by the S.P. C.I.D (Special Branch)to A.P. Buckley, the S.P. (II) (Special Branch)of Madras for detailed examination andnecessary action. The Chief Secretary ofMadras Govt. Mr. G.T.H. Bracken ordered tofile a case against the author, publisher andprinter of the book Kali Bhagabata. The casewas filed on 20.9.1934 under CRP Rules - 195Section 124/A. The offence of Thakuraccording to the British Government has beenquoted in the book "So Say Abhiram" pagebearing No.18 - 4th paragraph "The saidpublication contained several passages andseditious matters intended to bring into hatredand contempt of His Majesty, the King -Emperor and the Government established bylaw in British vide India". Government orderwas issued No.437 public (general) dt.30.4.1934 of Indian Press Act (EmergencyPower) under Section 19, published in MadrasGovt. Gazette, to seize all copies of the bookKali Bhagabata and orders were passed thatthe State Govts. should notify in their Gazettesthat "any person who will be found readingKali Bhagabata will be liable for imprisonmentfor one month or a five rupees fine." ShreeThakur was arrested on 26.9.1934 at KaramalaAshram and was confined in Chhatrapur Jail.Sri Thakur was presented to the DistrictMagistrate Mr. A.F.W. Dixon's Court atChhatrapur on 28.9.1934. The trial started from29.9.1934 and ended on 13.12.1934.

At that period Shree Thakur was thirtyyears of age. At last the Judgement came in on31.12.34 that Abhiram Paramahansa beingfounded guilty, was given punishment ofrigorous imprisonment for one year. Shree

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Thakur was taken to Berhampur District Jailon 13.12.1934 and there after to RajahmahendriJail on 10.1.1935 to avoid public agitation.Sashi Bhusan Rath the publisher of that bookwas also awarded same punishment. Manyprominent persons were presented during thetrial. Among them Nilakantha Das viewed hisfeeling about Shree Thakur in his book "GeetaPrabesh". Sri Raman Murty well knownadvocate was arguing this case on behalf ofShree Thakur and Lingaraj Panigrahi was thelawyer of Sashibhusan Rath. The sentence toThakur was relaxed for 41 days and he wasreleased on 1.11.1935.

Shree Abhiram Paramahansa Dev aprominent religious teacher of Orissasacrificed his life for the sake of Mother India.

His life long performance is remarkable. Heis highly respected by the people of Orissa dueto his outstanding contribution in the freedomstruggle, social reform and religious teaching.His thought is implanted in the minds and heartsof the people of Orissa. Abhiram ParamahansaDev occupied a high position in the religiousworld. His outstanding contribution towardssecularism, mankind, social reform would beremembered for ever. Shree Thakur occupieda great place in the heart of the common people.

Pabitra Mohan Barik is a Lecturer in History inS.H. Mahavidyalaya, Madanpur, Khurda - 752054.

A delegation of the tribals of Kalahandi District handing over a memorandumto Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik in his Assembly Chamber for

rapid execution of Aluminium Project at Lanjigarh on 28.12.2004. ShriBalabhadra Majhi, Minister, Scheduled Tribes & Scheduled Castes

Development (Scheduled Tribes Development) is also present.

21


Orissa was conquered by the British on the4th October 1803. This conquest was followedby the Paik Rebellion due to the economicreasons and the faulty revenue policy of theBritishers. The Paiks were not only deprivedof their ancestral landed property but weresubjected to extreme oppression and tyranny,as a result of which the Daleis, Dalbeherasand Khandayats rose against the British.

Though Buxi Jagabandhu had surrendedon the 25th of May, 1825 in response to theunconditional pardon of the CompanyGovernment, the valiant Paiks of Tapanga hadfought against the Britishers in 1827 under theable stewardship of Shri Madhab ChandraRoutray, the Dalbehera of Tapang. After eightyears of Tapang Rebellion, the people ofBanapur rose against the British rule and haddeclared themselves independent and free in1836. The person responsible for the massupsurge of such magnitude was none other thanShri Krutibas Patasani, the brave son of ShyamSundar Patasani, and the Dalbehera of Arang.

It was the auspicious day of 1st June,1836. A meeting had been convened by ShriKrutibas Patasani in Arang, which wasattended by Sardar Panchanan Nayak, SardarLochan Bisoi of Rodang, Shri Siba Bisoi, ShriSadhu Jani, Shri Dina Jani and many others. Inthis meeting it was resolved and decided thatBanapur must be freed and declaredindependent of British rule. But as customs andtraditions demand a king must declare the

independence and therefore this meetingelected Sardar Panchanan Nayak as their leaderand he was named as Raja Saran Singh. Afterthis election, the meeting changed into a Durbarand Raja Saran Singh nominated DalbeheraKrutibas Patasani, as his minister and general.The Raja declared the independence ofBanapur at this assembly of Paik leaders andit was also decided and resolved to launchattack on different police-stations andGovernment officials to defy the laws of theBritish rule. According to this decision, on 4thJune 1836, General Krutibas Patasani andSardar Lochan Bisoi started their warexpedition and advanced from the hilly tracttowards the plain land of Banapur. TheDalbeheras and Paiks of Biribadi, SanaSarapur, Betuli, Balei, Burigan, Gutaspur,Balidihi, Bhusmkpada and Bheteswar joinedwith them being armed with swords, country-made guns, bow and arrows. The Police got toknow the news of the advancement of the Paikrebels and issued orders to the Daleis andDalbeheras of different Garhs to send theirPaik troops but the orders were not dulyhonoured.

The police force of Banapur had modernarms, ammunitions and explosives at theirdisposal and to help them in resistance eighteenmore Sepoys from Khurda rushed to Banapur.The Police force with their superior arms andexplosives resisted vigorously against the attackof the rebels and the rebels had to retreat. But

Sahid Krutibas Patasani : The Crusader ofBanapur Rebellion of 1836

Braja Paikaray

22


at last the police had to faced defeat and fledaway for life. The rebels set fire to the Banapurpolice station and burnt it. They also lootedthe houses of the rich merchants who werehelping the Britishers.

On 5th June, 1836 the rebels assembledat Bheteswar Ghati which became their maincentre of activities. From this place Raja SaranSingh issued orders and summoned the Daleisand Dalbeheras of different villages to sendtheir Paik troops. To meet the war expenditure,Magan (donation) was collected from thepeople. Huge preparations were made forlaunching attack rebels at Barkul on 6th Junemorning. Raja Saran Singh marched forwardby palanquin and General Krutibas on hishorse. The Paiks of Kantabal also joined therebels and the troops arrived at Barkul in theevening. The police and the Governmentofficials had already fled away before thearrival of the rebels. The rebels stayed in thenight in the nearby villages of Barkul andChilka and returned to Bheteswar Ghati on 7thJune 1836.

The rich persons and the businesscommunity became panic-stricken by thedeclaration of independence by the rebels inapprehension of danger to their lives andproperties. Therefore they conspired amongthemselves and planned to make this rebelliona failure.

According to their plan and tactics theycame with a proposal to Raja Saran Singh andGeneral Krutibas Patasani for the attack ofTangi police-station and assured their fullsupport to the rebels in case of attack. Theyalso invited the relel leaders and their followersto a grand feast to be given in their honour.The revel leaders with their followers attendedthe feast at Bhimpur given by the conspiratorswithout knowing their ill designs. The rebelshad kept and heaped all their arms and weapons

in one place while enjoying the feast. Availingthis opportunity, the traitors took away all thearms and weapons of the rebels with the helpof their people and arrested the Paiks in adefenceless condition.

Raja Saran Singh, General KrutibasPatasani and Sardar Lochan Bisoi managed toescape and fled from the clutches of the Britishpolice officers and the traitors, creating muchpanic in their hearts and minds. The rebelleaders went to Nayagarh and stayed there incognito, but were soon captured by the king ofNayagarh and were handed over to the Britishofficials. General Krutibas, Sardar Panchananalias Raja Saran Singh were awarded deathpunishment. A Government order was issuedto the effect that no member of Krutibas's familywould be entitled to use the designation of"Dalbehera". The Jagir lands of KrutibasPatsani were made "Khas" and was withdrawnby the Britishers. The inhabitants of NiladriPrasad, Berhampur, Jirapada and Nuagan wereordered to vacate their native places. Therebellion was crushed and suppressed andpeace was restored in Banapur.

Krutibas Patsani was a great patriot, anable general, a powerful organiser and a manof determination. Though he was well awareof the fate of Buxi Jagabandhu and the PaikRebellion of 1817, his brave heart and freedomloving spirit impelled him not to submit beforethe British but to wage war against theirinjustice and tyranny. He was the crusader ofBanapur Rebellion of 1836 who could ventureto fight against the mighty British rulers againstheavy odds.

Braja Paikray is the Addl. Govt. Pleader, Bhubaneswarand lives at Plot No.342/B, Jagamara (Barabati),Bhubaneswar-30.

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Upliftment of Harijans in Sambalpur(During British Rule)

Antaryami Behera

Harijan means 'a Man of God'. God is a friendof the friendless, help of the helpless, saviourof the doomed and strength of the despised.Truly, this has been the perception of the vastmultitude of the 'untouchables' whom Gandhijistarted calling as Harijans out of sympathy fortheir poor lot. Earlier, these people wereidentified as Antyajas, Panchmas, depressedclasses and exterior castes. They were keptoutside the pale of the Hindu social order forthousands of years and were, therefore,considered outcastes. Presently, they are 74types in Sambalpur recognized as ScheduledCastes.1

The phenomenon of untouchability in theprimitive and ancient society fades intoinsignificance before this phenomenon ofhereditary untouchability for so many millionsof people, which we find in India.Untouchability among Hindus is thus a uniquephenomenon unknown to humanity in other partsof the world.2 Nothing like it is to be found inany other society primitive, ancient or modern.

It is being increasingly believed thateducation can be a powerful means toameliorate the suffering Harijans and for overcoming the social, psychological and economicbarriers under which they have been reelingsince long. The consciousness for upliftment

through educating Harijans emerged during thenineteenth century and is still on. The ideaoriginated with the coming of Missionaries withthe East India Company. The Missionariesconsidered the British conquest of India as adivine dispensation, a punishment for the sinsof the people for abysmal depths of IndianPaganism and as a promise of redemption fromthe most deprived and cruel system ofsuperstition, which ever enclaved a people.Consequently, the British system of schoolsemerged as the focal point of the Missionaryactivities. When some people startedembracing Christianity, a few Harijans alsostepped in. In fact, they had nothing to loose inthe battle of religious wits. Rather, they foundthat it saved them from the age-old sub-humantreatment.3

The Woods Despatch of 1854 was thefirst official attempt to draw the attention ofthe Government to the neglected problem oftransmitting useful but practical knowledge tothe great mass of our people. On theirrecommendations, the provincial educationdepartments came under administrativesupervision of the British officers who by theirnature were averse to discriminations basedon caste system and sympathetic to the Harijancommunities.4

24


A contemporary event of the period wasthe legislation of Caste Disabilities RemovalAct of 1872. The British Government, byintroducing a uniform system of law in thecountry, dealt a severe blow to the social andlegal inequalities. The Act granted equality oftreatment to all irrespective of their castes. Thisforfeited the legal status of caste institution. Incomparison, fresh job avenues, which had noroots in the old caste-based occupationalhierarchy, came up. The doorway to getting jobsin the new system was through education underthe emerging British systems.5

Spread of education proved to be themost powerful tool for bringing about the muchimmediate social change among the depressedclass people. Gandhiji's continuouspropaganda against untouchability was muchmore impressive and effective in this direction.These factors not only helped a great deal ingenerating social consciousness among thelow-caste people but also led to a considerableimprovement in their social status. The HarijanMovement launched by Mahatma Gandhi forthe welfare of Harijans achieved a greatsuccess in Sambalpur.

The year 1928 was a remarkable yearfor the people of Sambalpur, when Gandhijihad arrived first time at Sambalpur on 23rdDecember. He stayed with Chandra SekharBehera and was pleased with the behaviour ofthe people of Sambalpur.

In Maneswar (8 K.M. to the east ofSambalpur town) Lower Primary School in1930, Mr.N.M.Senapati, Deputy Commissionerof Sambalpur found a Ganda (by caste) boysitting in the open outside a room where a classwas going on. The teacher feared that if theuntouchable boy would be allowed to sit inthe class room, the other boys would be

withdrawn from the school." The DeputyCommissioner took the boy by hand and seatedhim in the class. He ordered that even if all theother boys were withdrawn, the school wouldgo on with only one Ganda boy. Actuallynothing happened. The school went on as usual.It is not that untouchability was abolished, butno parent dared to defy the DeputyCommissioner's decision.6 It was the firstattempt in the district against the practice ofuntouchability.

Gandhiji's decision to began his fast on20th September 1932 had its markedrepercussions all over Orissa.7 At Sambalpur,people of all walks of life and even oldmenand children thought of allowing theuntouchables to enter the temple and use thewells. In this way they presumed that the lifeof Gandhiji might be saved. On 27th September,prominent high caste Hindus met in theresidence of Chandra Sekhar Behera andformed a Committee to hold regular meetingsin order to educate the public for the removalof untouchability.

The Anti-untouchability Movement underthe leadership of Chandra Sekhar Behera,Laxminarayan Mishra and Nrusingha Guruassumed a new dimension in 1932. A "DistrictAnti-untouchability Committee" was formed ina public meeting on 26th November 1932 atthe Fraser Club, Sambalpur.8 The districtcommittee was to consist of twenty-onemembers. A Sadar Committee of theorganisation was also formed with fifteenpersons as its members. An Anti-untouchabilitymeeting was also held in the town ofSambalpur on 4th December, 1932 under thePresidentship of Chandra Sekhar Behera.9 AWorking Committee consisting of six memberswas formed in the said meeting. In 1932 (18th

25


December), a resolution was passed to admitthe untouchables into the temples of Sambalpurdistrict.1 0

Gandhiji did not plead only for politicalprivileges of the Harijans. He aimed at a socialand spiritual reawakening of the caste Hindusto eradicate untouchability. Morerepresentation of the Harijans in the legislaturewould not solve the problem. All caste Hindus,Gandhiji wanted had the duty to remove it.11

Gandhiji had to pay a short visit toOrissa and it was his second tour to Sambalpuron 5 May, 1934 in connection with HarijanMovement.12 In the beginning, Sambalpur andAngul had been excluded from the tourprogramme but the strong argument ofNrusingha Guru convinced A.V.Thakkar toinclude Sambalpur in the tour programme ofGandhiji.1 3

The visit of Gandhiji to Sambalpur forHarijan welfare had a tremendous impact onnational life. Despite the formidable resistanceof the Sanatanists the pilgrimage of Gandhijigave momentum to the programmes like RuralReconstruction, Harijan Welfare andPromotion of Khadi throughout Sambalpur andheralded a new era of social emancipation.Most of the socio-religious activists whobecame constructive workers, devotedthemselves whole-heartedly for the socio-economic upliftment of the people ofSambalpur.

Many Congressmen, of course werecritical of Gandhiji for his new emphasis onHarijan Welfare but eventually his missionproved to be a remarkable success in creatinga new identity of the Harijans vis-a-vis theNational Congress. The nationalist struggleagainst the alien government became morevigorous and purposeful here after.

During the year 1938-39, the number ofschools specially meant for depressed classcommunity reduced in all Orissa level from442 to 295 due to classification of such schoolsinto Depressed Class and Tribal separately.But in the district of Sambalpur in particularthe number of such schools rose from 9 to 12.The district had received various grants fromGovernment for the development of depressedclass pupils of Sambalpur.14 Subsequently, fromthe academic session 1939-40, there was arapid decline in the number of depressed classinstitutions all over Orissa due to theamalgamation of the depressed class withhigher class. But its result was negative in caseof Sambalpur district. The number of Schoolsrose from 16 in 1939-40 to 18 in 1940-41.15

The Government pleased to the performanceof depressed class students of the district andawarded scholarship to two Lower PrimarySchool students of Sambalpur district at thestate level.1 6

As a result, the Government took somesteps for the upliftment of Harijans. In 1946,the Temple Entry Authorisation Act was passedby the Government of Orissa for the upliftmentof Harijans.17 In the same year, the Governmentalso passed the Orissa Removal of CivilDisabilities Act, 1946 for the untouchabilitiesand it was appended to the constitution of Indialater on.

References

1. Orissa District Gazetteers,. Sambalpur, 1971,p.110.

2. B.R.Ambedkar, The Untouchables, Shravasti,1969, p.27.

3. B.R.Goyal, Educating Harijans, Gurgaon, 1981,pp.24-27.

4. 1bid.

5. 1bid.

26


6. The Paurusha (Oriya Monthly), October, 1968,p.22.

7. N.Guru, "Sambalpur Zillare SwadhinataAndolana " (Oriya), Saptarshi, SambalpurUniversity, 1972, p.60.

8. S.P.Padhi, Akshya Taraka Chandra Sekhar(Oriya), Sambalpur, 1973, pp.120-61.

9. 1bid.

10. Ibid.

11. Utkala Dipika (Oriya Weekly), lst October,1932.

12. Orissa District Gazetteers; Sambalpur, 1971,p.81.

13. B.B.Mishra, Short History of South Kosala(Oriya), Sambalpur, 2003, pp.132-33.

14. Report on the Progress of Education in Orissa,1938-39, p.45.

15. 1bid, 1940-41, pp.64-65.

16. 1bid.

17. S.N. Rath, The Development of the WelfareState in Orissa : 1950- 60, New Delhi, 1977,p.286.

Antaryami Behera is the Headmaster of MaltiGunderpur High School, Malti Gunderpur in the districtof Sambalpur.

Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik reviewing Health SectorDevelopment Project & AIDs Control Programme at Secretariat on 24.12.2004.Shri Bijayashree Routray, Minister, Health & Family Welfare and other officers

are also present.

27


A teacher-scholar and a literary critic, Prof.Prafulla Kumar Mohanty, has won theprestigious Central Sahitya Akademi Award of2004 from Orissa, for his book 'BharatiyaSamskruti O' Bhagabat Gita' (Indian Cultureand Bhagabat Geeta). Last yearthe same award also went toanother Oriya literary criticProf. J.M. Mohanty. Really astrange similarity that both areretired English Professors. Bothof them use to write in Oriya andEnglish languages. Besides,there is another critic with thesame name. He is Dr. PrafullaKumar Mohanty. Despite strongresemblance in the name, titleand literary achievements, thereare also some differences. Prof.Mohanty was an English teacher in governmentcolleges but the other was an Oriya teacher inprivately managed colleges who got his Ph.Don Fakir Mohan Senapati. But I know both ofthem as literary critics.

In retrospect, I remind my associationwith the celebrity around twenty four yearsback. Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award,Dr. Prafulla Kumar Mohanty's literarypersonality really impressed me. At that time Iwas a member of the working committee of

the Sarala Sahitya Samsad, a leading literaryorganisation of Orissa, named after the famousSarala Das the father of Oriya literature. Wemembers were contemplating that SaralaMahabharat's interesting stories should be

retold by the famous authors andpublished. Accordingly wecompiled the stories in Oriyawhich was edited by Prof.Pathani Pattnaik, the formerPresident of Orissa SahityaAkademi. But most of themembers again decided to go forthe English translation, which Ithought was stupendous. Hardlythere was four months time. Eachmembers felt that poet SaralaDas's work should be circulatedwidely and they insisted on me

as well as on Samsad's Secretary, Er.Prabhakar Swain to materalise the task oftranslation. Subsequently, we tried a lot withsome well-known translators. But theydeclined. So both of us came down toBhubaneswar and requested Prof. PrafullaKumar Mohanty for translating Sarala storiesinto English within a month or so. By that time,he was the Vice-chairman of Higher SecondaryCouncil (also known as Plus two Council) Atfirst he was reluctant. But when he heard of

A Literary Critic WinsSahitya Akademi Award, 2004

(Prof. Prafulla Kumar Mohanty)

Gurukalyan Mahapatra

28


the sacred purpose of popularising Oriyaliterature abroad, he accepted it. We both wereextremely happy that after a month of hardwork, our plan finally worked. Subsequently,Vikash, a well known publishing house in NewDelhi, published the stories from SaralaMahabharat in time which was released in ourannual function.

Prof. Mohantyhas got atleastfourteen books to hiscredit. When askedabout his reactions tothis award, he said,'I am neither happynor unhappy, youknow me well.' Hehas written threeOriya books whichcontain literarycriticism, out ofwhich the BharatiyaSamskruti O'Bhagabat Geeta(Indian Culture andBhagabat Geeta)won the SahityaAkademi Awardrecently. The othertwo books are 'Biraha O' Anya Bibhaba Mane'and Kichhi Akas Kichhi Mati.

Prof. Mohanty of course has writtenpoems, stories and plays in Oriya, but is knownas a critic in our literary circle. His literarycriticism is unique and distinguishable fromothers. His style and critical analysis todayattract the readers. You can find and appreciatesome of his critical writings in which presentderives its meaning from its relationship withthe past. In the present life process and livingamidst clash between the past and present

situations are also reflected in his writings. Soalso, the interaction of the tradition, culture orthe social change captures his imagination,which is conspicuous in his criticisms. In oneof his essays (Gandhi's Bharat) Prof. Mohantyconcludes that Gandhiji seems more relevanttoday. In his another critical essays on Oriyaperiodicals, he narrates the problems and

remedies.

Prof. Mohanty,h o w e v e r ,voluntarily retiredfrom the post ofProfessorship inEnglish inRavenshaw Collegein 1997 to join theprofession ofjournalism. Hewould have retiredin 1998, but heretired one yearearlier. Both of usworked together in anews paper. He didedit the weekly oneand I was lookingafter the news in the

daily. I was contributing articles and newsstories for the weekly whenever he told. Irequested him for articles to be published inthe daily. Both of us left the newspaperestablishment for personal reasons. But wehave been writing for our language andliterature. He devoted most of his time inreading and writing. The critical appreciationand analytical pursuit made him a powerfulwriter both in Oriya and English.

He is a good translator. His assiduoustranslation works have been praised. Well

About the Award Winning Book

Satabdira Shesha Ankare Bharatiya Samskruti & BhagabatGeeta (Indian Culture in the last part of the century &Bhagabat Geeta) which owned Sahitya Akademi Awardrecently is a unique creation. Here he compares witherudition the cultural and spiritual ethos of East and Westand subsequently justifies East's significance. The authorpromises of the eternal life not in heaven but in earth itselfin the new millennium like an eternal optimist. So at theoutset he boasts of being an Indian who stands firmly onhis mother land's cultural and spiritual tradition to presenthis ideas blissfully. Both his erudition and bizzareexperience is found in his philosophical essay book of233 pages. The well known artist and the writer Dr.Dinanath Pathy's cover page art and Gyanajugapublication's production, no doubt has made this bookattractive, but this book is adjudged as one of theprogenitors of modernity in Oriya language and literatureof the new generation. This book first appeared in the newyear of 2000 A.D. The Bhagabat Geeta, the holy scriptureof Hindus have been interpreted differently, really a meatybook of this century.

29


known play wright Manoranjan Das's famousplay 'Katha Ghoda' has been translated by himinto English as the 'Wooden Horse.' He has alsotranslated from English to Oriya, 'The Historyof Kannada Literature' which has beenpublished by the Central Sahitya Akademi.

Prof. Mohanty is also a creative writer.He has a short story collection, titled, ShesaApekhya (The Final Waiting). Besides, histhree plays are Kala Janha (The Block Moon),Mala Akash (the Dead Sky) and the SaragaSanyasi (Affectionate Saint).

His English books include, (1) Religion,Democracy and Other Reflections (ReflectiveEssays), (2) The Joys of Poetry (Criticism)and Quite Flows the Mahanadi (translationof award winning Oriya short stories, publishedby Orissa Sahitya Akademi). He is also writerof two educational essay books i.e. Festivalsof Orissa and the Communication Skill.

Prof. Mohanty has also translated thefamous Oriya classic of Gangadhar Meher'spoetry 'Kichaka Badha' as 'End of Kichak'which has been published by SambalpurUniversity.

Prof. Mohanty's latest publication is acriticism i.e. Nidaghare Kabi (Sun-baked Poet)is equally a powerful book which reflects thepost-modern era in a different way. Its firstchapter deals with the unique language of thepost-independence Oriya poetry. Its lastchapter is also interesting. A full-fledgedcriticism of Gopinath Mohanty's popular novel'Laya Bilaya' justifies that even this vernacularnovel excels the world famous novels MobyDick and The Old Man and the Sea in manyways.

Guru Kalyan Mohapatra is a Freelance Journalist andlives at D-10/5, Unit-8, Bhubaneswar-12.

Managing Director, Orissa Power Generation Corporation handing over adividend cheque of Rs 31 Crore 25 Lakh to Hon'ble Chief MinisterShri Naveen Patnaik at Secretariat as share of State Government

on 29-12-2004.

30


Today Computer has revolutionizedthoughts and actions in every sphere of life. Itis used as rapid problem solving equipment inthe field of science and technology, commerceand industry, medicine and agriculture,education and research, administration andplanning etc. Computers are said to be statussymbol for advanced management. As theytransmit and transform calculations atmarvellous speed they are known as 'GiantBrains'. The Computer is basically a piece ofelectronic equipment, which is fast, accurateand versatile. It touches almost every sphereof activity. It makes possible what a man couldnot do earlier in the conventional way.

A Computer is an electroniccomputational device having internal storage,a stored program of instructions, and thecapability of modifications of the set ofinstructions during execution of program.

In any organization computerizationshould be done in four phases. In first phase,computer is used only for transactionsprocessing, wherever such a need exists, likestock records, personnel records for pay andwage bills, and sale records. In second phase,the traditional operating systems are improvedso as to take advantage of first phase. Suchareas are cost accounting, budgetary control,

inventory management and sales forecasting.In third phase, systems are designed with thecomputer, which will affect the decision-making styles of the managers. The areas ofapplication in third phases are: Projectplanning through PERT, product mix decisions,cost benefit analysis, operation research. In thefourth and last phase, advance areas areapplied, like policy and strategy decisions withManagement Information System (MIS),corporate models with simulation, cybernetics.

In India, first phase is most commonspecially in small organizations, whereas inmost Government departments, and in mediumprivate and public sector second phase ofapplication is generally used. A majority oflarger industrial organizations, both in privateand public sectors, are adopting and improvingthird phase applications with the aid ofOperation Research techniques. A feworganizations have evolved efficient andeffective M.I.S with a promise of sophisticationof the fourth phase applications.

Computers are used for helpingmodernization in industrial undertakings,whether it is manufacturing and processingindustry, power distribution system, airlinesbooking, railway booking, banking system andso on. Modelling and simulation also uses

Computerisation and Performance Evaluation

Er. Ashis Kumar Mahapatra

Suresh Chandra Sarangi

31


computers. Computers have greatly acceleratedresearch work, may it be medicine, engineering,physical or social sciences, meteorology orastronomy, in space or in defence fields.

Business organizations use computers tostore and maintain voluminous records for useas and when required. These areas areinventory control, market research, salesanalysis, pay roll, accounting, resourcescheduling and managerial control etc.

Computers are also used for datacollection and statistical works in employmentexchanges, documentation centers, policedepartments, hospitals, libraries and taxationdepartments etc.

It must be noted that computer can notdo any thing of its own, as these are machinescreated and managed by men, and has no brainof its own, and can do only on the instructionsof its operator. It is an obedient slave, whichcarries out master's orders as long as it can beunderstood by him.

Modern Computers possess followingimportant characteristics and abilities:

• Can perform complex and repetitivecalculations rapidly with accuracy.

• Stores large amount of data andinformation for subsequentmanipulations.

• Helps in making decisions.

• Provides information to the user.

• Automatically correct or modify certainparameters of a system(by providingsignals).

• Draw and print graphs.

• Converse with users through terminals.

Management Planning for Computerisation

The assumption that the computer beinga sophisticated machine will be able to carryout the work of the management and relievethe management of their functions is erroneous.Intricate and detailed planning is all the morenecessary for successful implementation of thecomputer based systems. The fruits ofcomputerisation accrue in terms of higherproductivity for the organization.

Introduction of computer in theorganization is a major investment decision. Itrequires the maintenance of infrastructurefacilities and an organization of highly qualifiedpeople to develop software, operate, andmaintain the systems. It is an important tool todecision making in all the functional areas.Computer applications cut across departmentboundaries of all levels. Computer can delivergoods just on the press of button is only amisconception. It requires very intricate anddetailed planning. The management planningfor computerization can be broadly classifiedinto six distinct stages:

• The feasibility study

• Computer selection

• Resource preparation

• System design and programming

• Installation

• Operation, maintenance, evolution andreview.

1. Feasibility Study :

This is a techno-economic analysis todetermine the technical viability and economicjustification for the application of computer.The study can be conducted either to install anew computer or hire computer from another

32


organization or upgradation of an old computeron the basis of a number of proposedapplications. The feasibility study focuses atdetermining the total cost, one time andrecurring, for each application and justifyingit against the expected benefits in terms oftimeliness, accuracy and quality of information,direct reduction of cost on reduced manpowerrequirement, space and furniture for theemployees, stationery etc. avoiding duplicationof effect.

2. Computer Selection :

Next step is the selection of computermodel and appropriate configuration out of thelarge variety available in the market, rangingfrom personal computers to micro-computers,mini-computers and main-frames. Choice ofComputer model and the configuration dependsupon the need of the organization. Help ofcomputer manufacturers can also be taken tofind out about various models, hardwarefacilities and software support available. Ifenough expertise is not available within theorganization, help of expertise's can be taken.

3. Resource Preparation :

The delivery period of the computershould be utilized for resource preparation,system design and programming. Important partof resource preparation is the recruitment andtraining of personnel for operation,maintenance etc. The other aspects are roompreparation, air-conditioning, purchase of filemedia, stationery etc.

4. System design and programming :

It is desirable that the system design andprogramming for all the applications shouldbe completed before the installation of thecomputer so that the computer can beadequately utilized from the very beginning.

However, this is very difficult in reality due toresource constraints and lack of experience.In actual practice the use of computer increaseswith time as and when new applications areinstalled. System design is carried out by a teamconsisting of one or more system analysts andrepresentatives from the user's department foreach application.

The complete systems design should thenbe discussed with the programmers, so thatsystem of test data and test results can besupervised by the system analyst.

5. Installation :

After the system is fully programmed andtested, it is ready for installation. Change overto the new system is generally preceded by apilot run and a parallel run. Computer basedsystems are very sensitive to human errors andexpect a high level of discipline from thepeople involved in the operation of the system.The format of new forms and codedictionaries should be distributed well inadvance and staff trained to use them. Aconstant dialogue of the systems team and thetrainers should be maintained with theoperational staff during the pilot run and theparallel run.

6. Operation, maintenance, evolution andreview :

Operation, maintenance, evolution andreview is a continuous process after the systemhas been installed. Smooth operation is highlydependent on the proper documentation anddetailed operational instructions in the formof a system manual.

Computer Based Information System

Computer based information systemshould provide -

33


• Planning

• Control information

Which has to be processed and analysedin a way that supports the management decisionprocess.

1. Management Planning Information

Information are required for followingtype plannings :

• Strategic Planning (long-term planning) :Determining long-range objective, settinggoals and formulating policies to achievethe objectives.

• Technical Planning : Planning for obtainingresources and the effective utilization ofthese resources.

• Operational Planning(short-term planning) :Planning for specific tasks. For planning,following three types of basic informationsare generally required :

1. Environmental Information : Theeconomic, political and socialenvironment in which the organizationoperates.

2. Competitive Information : The nature ofcompetitive organisatons, their pastperformance, current activities andprojected actions.

3. Internal Information : Characteristics,resources and other important aspectsof the organization.

2. Management Control Information

An effective management control systemhas two elements ;

1. Plan, objective or standards : Theseindicate as to what is expected of thecompany or unit. Deviation requiresexplanation or corrective action.

2. Processing System for measuring andreporting actual performance againstthe plan. The data processing systemprovides performance reports atperiodic intervals(say weekly ormonthly).

Fig: Management Planning Information

There should be procedure for issue ofspecial 'warning' notices to alert themanagement if there is a condition needingimmediate attention.

Conversion of Manual to Computer basedM.I.S.

The steps involved in the conversion ofM.I.S.(Management Information System) frommanual to that of computer based system areas follows :• System description• Input documents• Output documents• File design• Programming• System trial• Documentation

1. System Description

System description is prepared afterdefining the problem and carrying outpreliminary investigation. This description is

Planning Informations Plans

EnvironmentalInformation

CompetitiveInformation

InternalInformation

Planning

Strategic Plan

Tactical Plan

OperationalPlan

� �

�

�

34


basically a statement of the major inputs,outputs, processing operations and filerequirements.

2. Input Documents

In next step, it is necessary to specifyhow the information will be put in computeracceptable format. Input format is selectedconsidering the volume of information, itsfrequency and accuracy of requirements. Thecomputer stores this information in the memoryfor future processing. Input document mustprovide all the relevant information containedin the system description.

3. Output Documents

These are subject to more or less sameconsiderations as input documents. Since thisrepresents the purpose or objective of the entireoperation, this is given more care. Asmanagement is concerned with this outputdocument; more care should be taken in itsdesign.

4. File Design

System and file designs are closelyassociated and therefore, those should beconsidered in conjunction with considerationsof the types of computer, storage capacity, inputand output media and formats.

5. Programming

Programming is done in two steps, in firststep documenting of programme logic is donethrough the use of flow charts. After theprogrammer has decided the exact flow of theprogramme, he explains the logic used incomputer language. Flow charts can also bewritten in the sequence of instructions. Thissequence of instructions that works together toperform a task is called a programme. Thisprogramme is stored in the memory, and theprocessor has access to these instructions, asand when required.

6. System Trial

After the program is written and run, it isplaced in memory. Then the computer is runon trial for verification, by executing theinstructions of the programme in sequence. Theerrors, if any are corrected.

7. Documentation

Following types of documentations are needed:

• For those providing input, a cleardescription of exactly what input isexpected and what input is notacceptable.

• For those running and maintaining thesystem, all the technical documentationgenerally are done during thedevelopment process.

• For those using the output, a cleardescription of what the output means, andnote about its limitations.

Information Storage and Retrievals - DataBank

An individual's personal knowledge canonly be acquired and stored in his memory andthen retrieved and manipulated and whenrequired. The capacity of memory can beaugmented with other storage media, i.e, books,magazines, forms, records, files etc. However,more and more organizations are adoptingcomputers for storing, processing, andretrieving information. Information andknowledge relating to the organisation'smanagement and operations can be stored inmemory of the computer, and is known as databank.

Today's managers are more involved inpaper work and they have no time for planningand evaluation. They spend more time insearching and handling information.Information is voluminous and scattered, andoften difficult to obtain.

35


Duplications of records in manydepartments, and similar information indifferent departments are common. Oneinformation is required in different files,depending upon the nature of the firm, type oforganization and type of information, evenwhen they are not aware of other departmentsand their problems.

Therefore, the need is for properdesigning and implementation of a M.I.S.Sometimes it is difficult to handle suchvoluminous information through manual system.Therefore computer based M.I.S. is necessarywith a central information system, and aframework to facilitate mechanization.

The data bank overcomes theseproblems of manual system like accumulationof information in an information center where'one set of record' is maintained which avoidsthe maintenance of separate record files, andalso tends to integrate different functions anddepartments of the company.

The data bank, which is also called ascentral database is constructed to store andretrieve the information used in common byvarious sub-systems of the company. Moderninformation processing technology allows ahigh speed, random access and mass storagedevice to store large volumes of dataconcerning various aspects of the firm. Allrelevant information about the company'soperation is contained in one readilyaccessible file, arranged in such a manner thatduplication is avoided.

Er. Ashis Kumar Mahapatra is working as a Scientistat National Informatics Centre (N.I.C), Orissa StateUnit, Bhubaneswar, (Ministry of Communication &Information Technology, Government of India).

Suresh Chandra Sarangi is working as Data EntryOperator, Public Enterprises Department, Governmentof Orissa, Bhubaneswar.

Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik discussing with Ms ConstanceBernard, Sector Director, Agriculture and Rural Development,

South East-Asian Region of World Bank at Secretariat on 13.12.2004.

36


History is not only the compendium of thebiographies of great men, it is also embodiedin a man like Rabi Singh Majhi, who took anhumble origin from a Gond community andwhose ancestors were the natural inhabitantsof a small tribal village called Batibedha ofUmarkot in undivided Koraput district. Hiscontribution to India's freedom struggle musthave been well compared with the smallsquirrel of the Ramayan fame, who, with anintense desire to participate in the war ofliberation waged against Ravana for releasingSita, carried little amount of sand on hisshoulder to unload at the spot wheresetubandha (a bridge) would be constructed.His tribal origin made him to know about theuntold sufferings of his community. His intensezeal, undaunted spirit and unmolesteddetermination intermingled with the spirit ofself-sacrifice, self-confidence and self-reliance made him to tolerate all the atrocities,punishments and wrath of the governmentservants of the British India.

Born in a Gond tribal family ofBatibedha village on 12th October 1922 toPatu Majhi and Dukhi Majhi, Rabi Singh Majhiwas nicknamed as Buti by his grandfather GhatiMajhi who grew up with filial love of thenature and with the tyranny and exploitation of

Ribini (Revenue Officer), Garadu (ForestGuards) and Jaman (Police Constable).His childhood witnessed an unethical exactionsof all the resources that a tribe had in hispossession, i.e., rice, unhusked rice,blackgram, gram, horsegram, cattle-wealth,pumpkin gourd, sweet potato, oatmeal, barley,chicken, swan, pigeon etc. A tribe enjoyed allhis possessions so long as he was not targetedby any government agent. The tribes of 1922of Batibedha had learnt only to speak, "Oh!Lord; we are your shoes. You are our fatherand mother."

According to the Government of IndiaAct of 1919, Jeypore Zamindari was declaredas a backward region as a result of whichadministration was entrusted to local chief whofurther appointed a number of sub-ordinateofficials to carry out administration on hisbehalf in the remote tribal region. Thosesubordinate officials with a competitive spiritof making a good fortune for themselves leftno stone unturned in misappropriating tribalwealth in the name of administration, revenuecollection and safeguarding of the forest wealth.They were diplomatic and tactful enough toadopt a policy of 'divide and rule' for ensuringtheir self-interest. They implemented it onvillage people by making a promise that for

An Untold Story of Rabisingh MajhiDr. Binodini Das

37


rendering best services to the sub-ordinateofficials they would be rewarded withprestigious positions of village administrationlike gauntia, nayak, ganda, chalan, pujari,mustadar, muthadar, bhuktahera etc. Thislucrative offer made the leaders of the tribethe henchmen of the government officials as aresult of which the former became a helpingtool to the latter in their exploitative activities.

The system was so developed that atribal man called bethia had to render hisworthy and useful services to a governmentofficial without any opposition, grumble andresistance, bearing all sorts of humiliations andwithout any wages. Violation of work led tobeating in black and blue. The group of tribalvillage authorities like nayak, ganda, andchalanas were called as ganjaita, whocollected revenues from the village people bygiving them receipts or sometimes confiscatedthe arable lands in favour of others. For thesetwo activities, they were also called as rasidaand jamichhada. Among other systems meantfor rendering essential services for officials,mention may be made on kathakaudi (to collectthe fuel in form of woods, from the village forthe officers), ghara chhapara (to cover theroofs of the houses of the officers by providingstraw, bamboo and salia rope from royt's ownaccount before rainy season), saplai (the wordis derived from the English word 'supply'. Itmeans the village people would have toprovide unhusked grain, gram, vegetables,chicken, ram, goat, oil and ghee when theofficer would make a tour to that village),gadam (it is one of the most heinous practicesin which the tribal people were driven out byvillage gauntia from their agriculturalproduces in whole not for paying the interestof the loans which was five times higher than

the original loan they had taken from thegauntia, who, on the other hand, did it at theinstructions of the officers.) Dolibuha was themost hated and humiliated service that the tribeswere compelled to render scornfully. Doli isindicated to a container which is made up ofbamboo sticks and used in the bullock cart.As there was no vehicle for moving from onevillage to another, officials preferred to becarried on by sitting on a doli, which was tobe carried by four to five tribal people on theirshoulders. Once, Ramakrishna Pattanaik Rao,a Circle Inspector of Umarkot police station,who was carried on a doli shouldered by PatuMajhi, father of Rabi Singh Majhi, urinated inthe doli which flowed on the body of dolibearers. Besides, their labours were exploitedand utilised in the construction of roads and inluggage bearings.

Amidst all such adversities, Ghati Majhi,a man of dynamic outlook took the initiative toeducate his grandson Rabi Singh Majhi andbecame a source of inspiration to him. Due tohis efforts Rabi Singh received an elementaryeducation of learning the alphabets from ateacher Narayan Majhi, who was popularlycalled as Kalanaga teacher in Banuaguda,which is situated 12 kms away from Batibedhavillage on Umarkot-Chandahandi road ofpresent Umarkot Tahasil. He was much moreinfluenced by his teacher's unblemishedcharacter, determination, truthfulness,politeness and affection. Then at the age often, i.e., in 1932, he was sent to a schoolsituated in the Bhamini village where he foundDinabandhu Majhi, a man of Pujariguda withfifth class qualification and Binayak Mohantyof Nawarangpur.

It took five years to Rabi Singh Majhi tobe promoted to class three in 1937. In the same

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year, he got initiated into Gandhian concept bya man called Sunadhar Nayak, the gauntia ofBhamini village, who became a member of theIndian National Congress by paying four annas.Gauntia means a person who was selected bya king as village chief or nayak, whose mainduty was to collect sista (revenues) from thevillage people thrice in a year, i.e., in summer,in rain and in winter, and to deposit it in theroyal treasury. Baring a few the gauntias weremostly influential persons with a cruel andheinous character. But Sunadhar Nayak, a manof sober character whom Rabi Singhconsidered as his spiritual preceptorrevolutionised his mind and heart. Heexplained to Rabi Singh about non-violence, acardinal principle of Gandhiji to be followedin course of freedom struggle and how to carryout non-cooperation in which sista and gadamwere not to be paid. He organised meetings indifferent villages popularising Gandhian ideasand ideologies and also tried to influence twopersons to be the members of CongressWorking Committee. In the month of January1938 a meeting was organised on the perch ofthe house of Rabi Singh in Batibedha village.In January, 1938 Laxmi Chandra Das,Muhammed Baji, Annaji Rao, JagannathTripathy and other Congress workers alsoorganised a meeting in Batibedha villageexplaining the village people about Gandhianideology and also initiating the people into theart of developing self-confidence, self-determination, self-reliance and self-sacrificeto fighting against the British Raj. Ghati Singhspared his favourite grandson Buti (Rabi Singh)for the cause of the nation. Since then RabiSingh became an active member of the IndianNational Congress and visited from village tovillage alongwith Sunadhar Nayak forawakening the people from their deep slumber

and creating a sense of national consciousnessin the minds of the people. He persuaded thepeople to refuse to pay gadam and alsoinfluenced the people of Batibedha to take anoath in the name of Gandhiji not to be addictedto alcoholic drinks and not to pay sista(revenue) to Sukchand Panka. Rabi Singhgradually won the support of the villagepeople. He took the leadership and destroyedthe brewery centres in different placesalongwith other Congress members. For thisact he became an object of vengeance ofSukchand Panka, who was in charge ofcollecting sista on behalf of the government.Sukchand Panka, a man of mean and cruelcharacter being advised by Baga Pujari chalkedout a plan to outcast him. So he was beaten onthe way while returning from the school.

Patu Majhi, father of Rabi Singhmaintained silence when he was called on byKasi Biswanath Sahu, the then Tahasildar ofNawrangpur Taluk. He was told that all theacts of Rabi Singh was illegal and treacherous.So the act of Sukchand Panka was appreciated.The Tahasildar gave a serious threat to PatuMajhi, telling him that if Rabi Singh wouldcontinue with this sort of activities and provokethe village people not to pay sista or gadam,it was obvious that their properties includingtheir plough-share and oxen would beconfiscated.

The villagers people of Batibedhavillage were so determined that they decidedin a meeting to get their autonomy by boycottingall sorts of relation with Bhamini village.Henceforth, they should be included in aseparate mutha; one ganda should be electedfrom among the village people, who couldcollect the sista; a chalan for givinginformation to the government, and above all,

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one pujari (priest) for worshipping MotherEarth and another one for the worship of Godwould be selected. Accordingly, Naharu andPatu Majhi were selected as pujari (priest) ofGod and Mother-Earth respectively. Thedemand of the village people reached to theDiwan of Jeypore through BenudharGadanayak, the Circle Inspector of Police.Batibedha was ceded from the Bhamini villageand a ganda was entrusted to collect therevenue. It is a great landmark in the historyof freedom struggle of India that a tribal villageset an example how to get freedom in the faceof stiff resistance and corruption, suppressionand extractions. This incident provided furtherimpetus to Rabi Singh to fight boldly againstcorruption.

With the declaration of Second WorldWar, India was declared as a belligerent countrywithout the consultation of Indian leaders bythe British government. This was a greatbetrayal to Indian people and Gandhijiprotested vehemently against this despoticmove and gave a clarion call for practisingindividual satyagraha. This message spreadlike wild fire and the people of Batibedhavillage were charismatised with Gandhianmantra not to pay a single pie for the sake ofwar and to be imprisoned voluntarily bypractising individual satyagraha. Creditshould go to Rabi Singh, Ghasiram Panka,Yugadhar Majhi, and Sanu Majhi, who took aresolution to make an experience whatsatyagraha was?

In 1939, Rabi Singh, accompanied bySunadhar Nayak and Jayaram Basudev educatedthe people of Raighar, Jharigan, Podagad andSingapari villages with Gandhian message.His sincere determination, devotion, effort andlabour dedicated to the cause India's freedom

struggle drew the attention of eminent leadersof Koraput like Sadasiv Tripathy and LaxmiChandra Das. Out of a number of trainingcentres to train the freedom fighters, mentionmay be made of Taragaon village nearNawarangpur which was directly supervisedby Sadasiv Tripathy and Laxmi Chandra Das.The trainees were taught how to create publicrelation so that the Congress ideology couldbe popularised. Besides, they were trained ingeneral prayer, spinning the cotton in spinningwheel(charkha), weaving the clothes andservice to Harijans. Rabi Singh alongwithother associates joined in this training centreas a trainee.

Returning from Taragaon, Rabi Singhcultivated a friendly relationship with all theCongress workers of all the villages ofNawarangpur area. He taught to his villagepeople how to cultivate cotton and to spin thethread in the spinning wheel. It was due to hispersuasion, the Gond people of Umarkot leftthe habit of keeping long hair, and doing a knotpushing kakei (a wooden wedge) on it. Soalso he popularised khadada and gotaccustomed to it. Once again, Rabi Singhentered into Nuaput training centre. There hegot the opportunity to come in direct contactwith Biswanath Das, Acharya Harihara,Gopabandhu Choudhury, and GodavarishMisra. There he was initiated into a sense ofstrict discipline and Gandhian principles, i.e.,faith in non-violence, truth, prohibition,boldness, boycotting foreign goods,renunciation of worldly desires, and above all,to be free from untouchable concept. Hetranslated his training centre experiences andknowledge into letter and spirit by awakeningthe people to know about their rights and whatrights they were deprived of. So also hecreated consciousness among the people to

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know about those, who were responsible fortheir miseries. He became so popular by 1939that when a Congress Working Committee wasestablished at Umarkot, Laxmi Chandra Dasnominated him first. Balaram Kalar, SarabuGanda and Gunu Ganda became the membersof Congress Working Committee. He becamea target of government officials.

He was not given a chance to be arrestedas the first satyagrahi of Umarkot in the year1940 as he was below 18 years of age. But hewas selected to join in the individualsatyagraha which was recommended byMahadev Desai in 1940. In the month ofDecember 1940, he sent an information inwriting, following the instruction of CongressWorking Committee to the District Collectorand Superintendent of Police of Koraput tocarry out satyagraha. Though police was notwell aware of the nature of satyagraha, still itbecame vigilant and sent information to gandas,chalans and nayaks of the villages to keep awatch on all Congress workers.

On 8th January 1941 it was decided tolaunch an individual satyagraha in the nextmorning. All the Congress workers shouldgather at Batibedha village and would start aprocession from there. So, on the early morningof 9th January 1941, Batibedha village wascrowded with men, women, dhangada (youngboys), dhangadi (young girls) and Congressworkers from a number of villages. Rabi Singhstarted his procession moving towards Hirapurwith the slogan, "Bharat ma ki jaya". ReachingHirapur, he addressed a huge gathering ofpeople saying, "Brothers, listen to Gandhiji'smessage. The Gora Sarkar is destroying ournation. The agent of the British governmentare taking away our clothes, rice, blackgramand Bengal gram. Now war is going on. We

are asked to pay for war. Gandhi Mahaprutells us not to pay a single paisa as sista,gadam, etc. We are fighting for the truth. Weshould die but not fear. We are practising non-cooperation. Have patience, Swaraj willcome. Jaya Bharata mata." This fiery speechmesmerised the crowd. The entire atmospherewas filled with the slogans against British rule.Suddenly four to five police men and ten totwelve forest guards crept into the meetingground and arrested Rabi Singh without facingany resistance. He walked alongwith the policeforce to reach Umarkot police station. Thenin the next morning, he was sent toNawarangpur. On 11th January 1941 he waspresented before the magistrate who on thebasis of police report, description of eyewitnesses and above all, Rabi Singh's bold andbrave declaration admitting to carry outsatyagraha issued his judgement that"according to case No.5/41 of Umarkot policestation, culprit 913, Rabi Singh Majhi, son ofPatu Majhi of village Batibedha, P.S. Umarkot,District: Koraput for creating disaffectionagainst the British India government, is herebydeclared to be imprisoned for six months andcharged with a fine of Rs.30.00, failing which,another two months imprisonment accordingto Penal Code of 38(5), and 34(b) ofGovernment of British India." Immediately inthe next morning he was sent to Koraput jail.

The jail was considered as the cradlebed of inhumanity, cruelty and oppression. RabiSingh got the opportunity to meet Laxman Naikand his associate Narasingha Chalan of Matili.Other satyagrahis like Sadasiv Behera andDambaru Talia of Jeypore, Gopinath Pujari ofSanagumma, Kaliajani of Papadahandi,Sadasiv Rana of Tentulikhunti, Mancha,Khagapati Pujari of Boriguma Palasara, Hari

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Amanatya of Bamanikata of Nawarangpur, etc.were also in the same jail. All of them made aresolution to bear whatever sufferings wouldcome, but let not allow the enemies to torturethe common villagers. He was much influencedby Laxman Naik's sacrifice who being the sonof a Muthadar of Matili forsake all hispleasures for the sake of the nation. Rabi Singhwas released from the jail on 23rd June 1941.

Returning home he was shocked to knowabout premature death of his first child. Asdirected by the President of Umarkot CongressWorking Committee, he gave a notice to startsatyagraha from the Bhamini village, thecradle bed of corruption and oppression. InJuly 1941 without caring for heavy shower ofrain, he travelled from village to villagespreading the message of the Congress. Hewas arrested on 8th August 1941 whileaddressing a meeting at Bhamini village alongwith Muhammad Baji. On 13th August 1942he was once again imprisoned for two monthswith a fine of Rs.50.00 and was sent to Koraputjail. Once again he met Laxman Naik,Gangadhara Jola and Thakur Das in the jail.To protest against the inhuman treatment andunwholesome food given in the jail, whichbecame a great cause for taking a number ofprisoners' lives, Gangadhara Jola ofNandapura and Thakur Das of Patangiprotested vehemently, as a result of which bothof them were beaten severely in front of otherfreedom fighters and Jail Superintendent. SanuMajhi suffered from torture when he protestedagainst this barbarous act. So all the freedomfighters under the leadership of Laxmi ChandraDas took a vow to raise protest movementagainst this inhuman and barbarous treatment.It was decided that following Gandhianprinciples of peace and non-violence, a protestmovement should be carried out by observing

fasting as long as no redressal measure wouldbe taken to replace the unwholesome food. Thejail authority was also informed about thismove. The threat of beating, punishment andfear did not deter them from the vow that theyhad taken it as a protest against the jailauthority. When the freedom fighters observedit sincerely, the government authorities triedto make a compromise and the bread preparedout of mandia was substituted by rice in thenight. It was a great victory for the freedomfighters.

Rabi Singh's family suffered from untoldmiseries as Sukchand Panka created heinousplots to harass and humiliate the familymembers. Sukchand Panka made a false appealto the government that Patu Majhi had stolenaway all the amount on the way while he wasreturning after collecting sista. So Patu Majhiwas imprisoned for two years. Rabi Singh gotreleased from jail on 13th October 1941.

Gandhiji evolved a new technique, i.e.,'do or die' as an accelerative measure of "QuitIndia Movement", which was to be launchedthroughout the country on 9th August 1942.Gandhiji was arrested on the early morning of9th August. Biswas Ray was arrested inbetween Salur and Patangi while carrying outthe programme of Quit India Movement. Butbefore his arrest he instructed other fellowfreedom fighters to distribute pamphletscontaining Gandhiji's speeches on Quit IndiaMovement. Rabi Singh volunteered todistribute the pamphlets in rural areas on whichit was written that, "British Government QuitIndia; Gandhiji told us to fight for Swaraj andbe a leader of yourself. There is nobody to beconsidered as government. Work with non-violence. Please do not give tax, panu andgadam ." He was assisted in his work by

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Balaram Kalar and Saradhu Gauda. Visitingfrom place to place with his co-workers, heinspired the people of villages of Jharigaon,Raighar and Umarkot area.

An information highlighting the dynamicmove of the Nawarangpur Congress WorkingCommittee, i.e., "all the Congress workers ofUmarkot and its surrounding areas decided togherao the Umarkot police station followingthe principle of non-violence. Slogans shouldbe given according to Congress instructions.And you as a leader of Congress will representthe area under your jurisdiction," reached tohim while he was carrying out the campaignexplaining the nature and character of Quit IndiaMovement. So he reached Banuaguda in thenight of 14th August 1942 to preach hismessage. He proceeded to Badabharandivillage on 15th August 1942 and conducted ameeting there in the night in Baga Pujari'sresidence. It was unanimously resolved thatpolice station of Umarkot would be gheraoedon 24th August 1942 for which all the Congressworkers would assemble at Mahishmandavillage on the very day. Then distributingresponsibility among themselves, they gotdispersed. Bali Pujari, son of Baga Pujari wasassigned with the duty of keeping relation withthe freedom fighters of Umarkot, whileSudarsan Pargania and Rabi Singh were placedin charge of Podagad and Raighar respectively.

As per the scheduled programme, theCongress workers from Podagad, Singadhari,Karamari, Bakadabedha, Chataguda, Pulla,Bijapur, Batibedha, Hirapur, Khanda,Sunabedha, Anchala, Raighar, Ekamba,Melabedha, Badabasini, Sindhiguda, BakadaKhadaka and Murttrumaru gathered atMahishmanda village on 24th August 1942.Led by Rabi Singh, they proceeded towards

Badabharandi singing Ramdhun on the way andholding shovel, axe, hatchet, cudgel and flag.They reached at Badabharandi at 10 O' Clockand got the blessings of Baga Pujari. Fromthere, they proceeded to Dangarguda and tookrest there for some time. When Rabi Singhdiscovered these warring instruments, he maderequest to leave those by telling Gandhiji'sprinciple of non-violence. So all the workersleft their weapons and crossing Kusumgudareached a market place called Badahata atHatapada of Umarkot. Rabi Singh alsoaddressed the crowd of the hata explaining theGandhian ideology. Some police constablesusing their cudgels tried to disperse the crowd.Circle Inspector Benudhar Gadanayak's politeappeal to the freedom fighters suggesting notto create any disturbance did not have anyimpact on the people. But with the slogans ofBande Mataram, 'Bharat Chhada', BharatMataki Jay, 'Mahatma Gandhi ki Jay', etc.,the freedom fighters provoked the police. Thepolice and forest guards took an attempt to pushthem into a barricade. One of the freedomfighters fell on the ground with slogans in hislips when he was hit by a policeman's gun.Some of the workers who witnessed this eventgot infuriated and at the spur of the moment hiton the police with cudgel. So Sub-InspectorTrilochan Misra ordered for a blank firing.Rabi Singh was obstructed by Mangalu Pujariof Saraguda when he came forward to protestagainst the atrocities of the police. Rabi Singhwas forcibly sent back. To make the situationworse, an elephant was left there. Police alsoused cudgels mercilessly on the freedomfighters.

The freedom fighters lost their couragedue to absence of Rabi Singh. So the irritatedworkers gave the slogan, 'arrest us and put us

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in prison'. To get the information on Rabi Singh,a number of freedom fighters like GhasiramPanka of Butisargi village, who was popularlyknown as Dandakatia, Balchand Nayak andLaikhan Jani of Anchala, Sukhananda Pujariof Badabharandi, Sanu Bhatra of Dhadra-karamari, Masuram Ganda of Banaguda andBalaram Sethi of Panas were arrested. A blankfire was made when people protested againstthis illegal arrest. People got terrorised andleft that place.

On that very night a warrant was issuedby the police for Rabi Singh's arrest on chargeof spreading discontentment against the Britishrule, destroying government property, andresponsible for beating and scolding the police.Rabi Singh managed to escape and reachedBadabharandi via Sankumari village. Therehe learnt about the extreme inhuman atrocitiesof the police. But Rabi Singh inspired all ofthem and Bali Pujari and others took an oath tocontinue freedom struggle amidst all restraintsand obstacles. He spent that night there.Apprehending police interference, Rabi Singhescaped to another village without notice.

Baga Pujari of Badabharandi sufferedfrom police atrocities. A cash award of onethousand was declared by the government onRabi Singh, Harischandra Gauntia, Siva Majhi,Balaram Sethia, Buti, Ghasiram Panka andSanu Majhi. So the gandas, nayaks andchalans, who worked for the police came intoaction and set a programme how to capturethose freedom fighters. Mention may be madeon Matili Firing of 21st August 1942 in whichLinga Bhumia and Nakula Madakamisacrificed their lives and a number of deathsoccurred at Papadahandi also on 24th August1942 due to police firing. These two ingloriousactivities of the police had cast a deep

influence on Rabi Singh. He was reallyshocked to listen the news and decided toemerge from his hidden place in order toconsole the Papadahandi people. As it wasdifficult to escape the notice of police, hepreferred to go there in the guise of a woman.So, finally he and Pasur Nayak dressed as wifeand husband started from Saraguda to visitPapadahandi. Crossing Baunsabedha,Dumarda, Karagaon, and spending the night inSiva Majhi's house at Jamguda, they proceededtowards Papadahandi. He returned back toPilbasini village listening the news that insearch of him police was encamped inSunadhar Nayak's residence at Karaki. He wasrefused asylum by Bata Pujari of Pilbasinivillage, who was also a Congress worker.Then he proceeded to Panjiaguda where heorganized a meeting in the house of chalanPanja Mudi. He was advised by Panjia Mudinot to proceed to Papadahandi. So he returnedback from Panjiaguda and reached Saragudaescaping tactfully the vigilant eyes of the police.

Here he got the information how police,with the help of Sukchand Panka and JagaPujari had tortured his family members andforcibly took away all sorts of agricultural andpastoral wealth from his house. After two orthree days, i.e., on 12th September 1942 hereturned back to his own village, where hisfather suggested him to migrate to some otherplace leaving the ancestral abode. Rabi Singhconsoled his father and other members of thevillage not to take such steps.

Rabi Singh decided to inform the CircleInspector Benudhar Gadanayak, a man of rareliberal and considerate character about theheinous activities of Sub-Inspector TrilochanMisra. Benudhar Gadanayak advised him tosubmit a report under the signature of his

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grandfather, which should be attested bywitnesses. The extreme poverty of his familycompelled him to work as a labourer inBombay-Nagpur railway line. Simultaneously,he worked for the Congress. Once again, hewas caught by Sukchand Panka while drivinghis cart and was brought to Bhamini villagewhere he was tortured severely. Next day hewas brought to Umarkot for trial. A trial wasmade for him and Baga Pujari in which both ofthem admitted their involvement in Congressactivities and organization of meetings in theirhouses. So he was imprisoned. But after twomonths he was released.

It was on 15th August 1947, Rabi Singhhoisted the national flag of free India atUmarkot with an eloquent speech addressing ahuge gathering that, "Brothers ! We got thefreedom amidst extreme sufferings andsacrifices. Man like Baga Pujari and LaxmanNaik are no more with us to enjoy this golden

moment. Hatapahari, bethi and gadam arenow abolished. We are for the nation and thenation is for us. Brothers ! We should take anoath that we must speak the truth, we shouldnot be jealous of others; we should be braveand bold and live without fear; we mustendeavour to maintain the prestige of ournation. We, all are the children of this nation.Bharat Mata ki Jay."

History of India's freedom struggle owesa lot to Rabi Singh. He is the inspiring zealand a rare example of how the strongdetermination and self-confidence imbued withunselfish attitude could overcome all sorts ofadversities that come on his progressive asobstacles.

Dr. Binodini Das is a Senior Faculty Member in theP.G. Department of History, Ravenshaw AutonomousCollege, Cuttack.

HELP LINE IN SPECIAL RELIEF COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

Help Line has been set up in the office of the Special Relief Commissioner at RedBuilding of Orissa Secretariat, Bhubaneswar in order to facilitate in providing informationregarding the missing persons in the wake of earthquake in the sea-bed (Tsunami) occurredon 26.12.04 in different part of the country. The Help Line is functioning from 9 A.M. to9 P.M. Persons those who are seeking information about the missing persons may contact(0674) 2400161, 2322977 & 2404320 giving all details.

The Special Relief Organisation, Orissa will take efforts to contact the StateGovernments concerned and obtain possible information. The information seeker shouldprovide their contact telephone number and address so that the information if available canbe passed on. In case of any information being obtained due to their own effort or onreceiving information from missing persons, the information seekers may inform the HelpLine in order to avoid repetition of effort.

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In ancient times, Orissa known as Kalinga hadbrisk overseas contact with different parts ofthe world. She had her glorious days when herbrave and adventurous sailors made daringvoyages to different far-off lands. Thesevoyages were followed by peacefulcommercial intercourse which contributed notonly to the material prosperity of Kalinga butalso to the dissemination of her religion andculture in the foreign soils resulting in thedevelopment of mutual close relationship. Thespread of Kalinga's religion and culture wasfurther accelerated by the growth of politicalpower. Hence, the Oriya culture, customs,beliefs, ideas, language, script and mannerswere popularised in those lands wheresettlements were established by Oriyamerchants, missionaries and politicaladventurers. Kalinga had maritime contact withthe Roman Empire, Africa, Persian coast andArabian countries in the west and China, Japan,Siam, Champa, Burma, Ceylon etc. in the east.Besides, the countries with whom the peopleof Kalinga maintained enduring commercialand cultural relationship were the islands ofJava, Sumatra, Bali and Borneo, collectivelyknown (classically) as Suvarnadvipa or themodern Indonesia. The link between Kalingaand other countries was prolific. The maritimetrade of Kalinga brought in vast amount ofwealth and glory and the prosperity of Kalinga

beyond doubt was largely due to her overseastrade with distant lands. The people of Kalinga,infact, played a leading role in the Indianoverseas activities. Referring to the discoveryof a Babylonian ivory seal from the precinctsof Barunighat temple at Baripada (a newspublished in English daily Hindustan Standarddated 13th October, 1953, Calcutta withcaption, "Babylonian seal unearthed")J.P.Singh Deo1 assume that there was trade andcommercial link between Baripada area(Mayurbhanj) and Babylonia. This supposition,however, has to be confirmed with morearchaeological data.

Contact With Rome and the Western World

In the early centuries of the Christian EraOrissa had active trade contact with the westernworld, especially with the Roman Empire. Thewestern trade flourished because of the demandfor luxury articles of Kalinga in the RomanEmpire. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea2

(Ist century AD) of an unknown author besidesmentioning the Kalingan port of Dosarene, hasreferred to the trade relation between Kalingaand the Roman world. He mentions Dosareneas producing the best type of ivory known asDosarenic. Ptolemy,3 the Greek geographerduring the second century A.D. has referred toanother famous port of Kalinga named Palurfrom where ships disembarked directly across

Maritime Contact of Ancient Orissa with theWestern World

Dr. Benudhar Patra

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the Bay of Bengal to the South-East Asiancountries. The discovery of rouletted ware fromSisupalgarh4 near Bhubaneswar and Tamluk inthe Midnapore district of modern West Bengalis very significant in this regard. The roulettedware was first identified and dated by Wheeler5

at Arikamedu. These were probably broughtinto Orissa by the Roman merchants. It may bementioned that Roman bullas have beendiscovered at Sisupalgarh6 and Roman coinsat Biratgarh and Bamanghati7 in the Mayurbhanjdistrict, which suggests trade link of Kalingawith the Roman empire. Besides, a gold coinbearing Graeco-Roman motif together withpottery fragments and terracotta figures of theRoman origin have been also discovered fromTamluk8 (the site of ancient Orissan Tamraliptiport). A terracotta Greek tablet containing thethanks-giving of an unknown Greek sailor tothe East wind has been discovered at Tilda,situated between Tamluk and Bamanghati.9 Thepoet Dandi in his Dasakumara Charita10 hasreferred to the coming of the Greeks to the portof Tamralipti. Apart from this, the recentarchaeological excavations at Manikpatna inthe northern tip of the Chilka lake which hasbrought to light the Roman rouletted potteryand fragments of an amphora substantiate theclue of Orissa's contact with the far off RomanEmpire. Further, to corroborate Orissa'scontact with the western world, anothervaluable archaeological evidence has beenreported from the Khalkatapatana portexcavation. The discovery of a thin egg-whiteglazed chocolate pottery and thick chocolateglazed pottery of the Arabian origin are worthmentioning. The former has mainly bowls andthe latter are the fragments of storage jars.These were first noticed in the excavations atKhalkatapatana.

It is difficult to determine the volume oftrade between Kalinga and the Roman Empire.But it is certain that much of the gold of the

Roman Empire had been drained-out to Indiaby the third century of the Christian era.11 Theacute shortage of gold coins led to thecirculation of copper coins in the RomanEmpire during the early centuries of theChristian era. It is said that the financialinstability resulting mainly from the adversetrade relations with India must have become apotent factor for the fall of Roman Empire.1 2

The merchants of Kalinga in a sense wereinstrumental in bringing economic ruin to theRoman Empire and consequent economicprosperity to the Indian sub-continent.

Pearls and diamonds probablyconstituted two principal articles of export ofKalinga to the Western World. The manufactureof best type of diamonds in ancient Orissa havebeen referred to by the classical writers. TheHirakud region of Sambalpur on the banks ofthe river Mahanadi was famous for theproduction of diamond.13 The diamond of thisregion was sold as an attractive item in themarkets of Rome, Persia, Egypt and Greece.14

Gibbon in his 'Decline and Fall of the RomanEmpire'15 has said that the diamond ofSambalpur was much prized in Rome and wassold at a high price in the Roman markets.

Pepper was another important item ofexport to Greece and Rome. Its export was insuch abundant quantity that it was calledYavanapriya in the Indian literature. Plinyrefers to the pepper and ginger of India andtheir great demand in Rome where they weresold by weight like gold and silver. Besides,Indian spices like cinnamon, malabathrum,perfumes, precious stones, pearls, silk, muslinsand cotton were in great demand in the Graeco-Roman world. Silk, muslin and cotton weresold at fabulously high prices in Rome.1 6

Medicinal herbs and ivory were also exportedto the western countries from India. Kalingaseems to have supplied all the above articles

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in considerable quantities. In turn among thearticles of import from the western worldmention may be made of gold, aromatic, ware,glass etc. B.S. Das17 says that commoditieswere exported from Orissa to earn the Romangold. He also says that with the shrinkage ingold supply from the Roman markets duringthe post-Kushana period the Orissan merchantslooked towards the Far East.18

Kalinga also had overseas trade linkswith Africa. The representation of a giraffe,purely an African animal, not seen anywhereelse, in the sculpture of Konark only provesthat Kalinga had commercial relations withAfrica. The depiction of a giraffe in the Konarktemple suggests that in ancient days either somepeople of Kalinga might have gone to Africaand seen the giraffe or one live giraffe musthave been brought to Orissa by some merchantsenabling many to see it. However, the sculptureof giraffe on the wall of the Sun temple is soaccurate that the sculptor must have actuallyseen a live giraffe. It is hardly likely that thesculptor would have travelled to Africa. So agiraffe was actually brought alive by sea fromEast Africa to Orissa.19 Probably the Gangaemperor Narasimhadeva-I (A.D. 1238-1264)heard of the existence of this strange animalfrom Arab traders who carried on most of thetrade with Africa and commissioned them tofetch him a specimen.20 In fact, the sculpturedpanel of the Konark temple depicts the Gangaemperor being presented with the Africananimal. The problem of bringing a live giraffe(which normally lives on the green leaves oftrees) on such a long sea-voyage in a smallboat must have been considerable, butevidently they succeeded in their mission. AChinese Admiral named Cheng Ho21 whovisited East Africa in the fifteenth century A.D.is known to have brought back a live giraffe tothe Ming Court in China. Therefore, we cansee no reason why a giraffe could not have

been actually brought as a curiosity to EasternIndia in the 13th century A.D.

Besides, some of the art specimens alsotestify to the relation of Kalinga with thewestern world. A study of the art of theKhandagiri-Udayagiri caves (gumphas)reveals the use of West Asian decorativeelements. They are honeysuckle, acanthus,stepped merlons, winged animals etc. Someof the pilasters facing the doorways of theAnanta-gumpha have ghata bases, ornamentedin the Hellenistic fashion. A Yavana (Graeco-Roman) guard is shown on the left pilaster ofthe cave in the upper-storey of the Ranigumpha.The kilted foreigner is in boots and wears afillet on the forehead, while a sheathed swordhangs from the left side.22 Even the huge BellCapital from Bhubaneswar imitated fromAsokan columns, also shows West Asian motifsin its ornamentation.23 However, K.S. Behera24

from an analysis of the source materials says,"coastal Orissa was somewhat indirectlyconnected with the early trade between Indiaand the western world". He also mentions thatgoods from Orissa could have reached thesouthern and western India through coastalvoyages taking advantage of the changing cycleof monsoon and ultimately despatched to theRoman world with which Kalinga had no directmaritime connection.25 Nevertheless, from thegeographical narration of the author of thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea and Ptolemy andon the basis of the discovery of Roman objectsfrom various sites of Orissa such asSisupalgarh, Tamluk, Bamanghati etc. it can bepositively assumed that Kalinga had closemaritime contact with the western world,especially with the Roman empire.

The people of Kalinga had also contactwith the distant lands of Peru and Mexico. R.D.Banerjee26 observed that the people of Kalinga,who have been proved to be the pioneer

48


colonists of India, Indonesia and Oceania, areprobably the very same people whom themodern barbarians of the Pacific and IndianOceans regard with awe and wonder as peoplefrom the sky who civilized them and taught themthe rudiments of culture". According to D.R.Bhandarkar, 27 the people of Kalingamonopolised trade on the Arabian Sea.Crossing the Arabian Sea, the Kalingans hadtrade relations with the East Coast of Africaand with the far off island of Madagaskar.2 8

Scholars also believe that the Maya civilizationof America was a result of commercialenterprise of Kalinga or of India with thatcontinent.29 It is, thus, gleaned from the aboveanalysis that ancient Orissa had close maritimecontact with the countries of the western world.

References1. J.P.Singh Deo; Orissa's contact with first

civilization of the world' in: A.N. Tiwari etal,(ed.)Reference Orissa, (2nd ed.), Bhubaneswar, 2000,pp. 673-674.

2. J.W. Mc Crindle, The Commerce and Navigationof the Erythraean Sea, Amsterdem, 1973, pp.140-149; W.H. Schoff, The Periplus of the ErythraeanSea, New Delhi, 1974, pp. 46-49.

3. G.E.Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy's Geographyof Eastern Asia, New Delhi, 1974, p.47.

4. B.B. Lal, "Sisupalgarh-An Early Historical Fort inEastern India" (Bulletin of the ArchaeologicalSurvey of India), Ancient India, No.5, New Delhi,1949, pp.62-105.

5. R.E.M. Wheeler etal, Ancient India, No.3, NewDelhi, 1949, pp.17-24.

6. B.B. Lal, op.cit, pp.101-102.7. P.Acharya, Studies in Orissan History, Archaeology

and Archives, Cuttack, 1969, p.533; P.K. Mishra,Archaeology of Mayurbhanj, New Delhi, 1997,pp.4 & 95.

8. R.C.Majumdar(ed.) The Struggle for Empire,Bombay, 1966, p.658.

9. N.K.Sahu, History of Orissa, Vol.1, Bhubaneswar,1964, p.458.

10.Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britainand Ireland, London, 1904, p.619.

11. B.Das, 'Kalinga and Outside World' Journal ofHistorical Research, Vol. XXVI, No.1, 1983, p.25.

12. Proceedings of Indian History Congress, Vol. XIX,pp.89-90.

13. A Das, 'The Diamonds of Sambalpur', in N.K. Sahu(ed.), New Aspects of History of Orissa, Vol.1,Sambalpur, 1971, pp.1-8.

14. K.A.N. Sastri (ed.), A Comprehensive HistoryIndia, Vol. II (The Mauryas and Satavahanas) (325BC-300AD) New Delhi, 1987, p.436.

15. Quoted by A.C. Das, "Kalinga, the AncientMaritime Power", Orissa Historical ResearchJournal, Vol. XVI, No.4 to Vol. XVII, No.1, (1975),p.10.

16. R.K.Mookerji, Indian Shipping, Allahabad, 1962,p.85.

17. B.S. Das, Studies in the Economic History Orissa,Calcutta, 1978, p.19.

18. Ibid, p.3519. K.S. Behera, 'Maritime Trade in Ancient Orissa',

in M.N. Das (ed.), Sidelights on the History andCulture of Orissa, Cuttack, 1977, p.117.

20. Ibid, pp.117-118.

21. Ibid, p.120.

22. Debala Mitra, Udayagiri and Khandagiri, NewDelhi, 1992, p.30.

23. K.S.Behera, "Maritime Contacts of Orissa: Literaryand Archaeological Evidence" Utkal HistoricalResearch Journal, Vol.V, p.62.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. R.D. Banerjee, History of Orissa, Vol.1, Varanasi,1980, p.108.

27. D.R. Bhandarkar, Charmichael Lectures,Vol-I, ch.1.

28. A.C.Das, op. cit, p.1029. S.P. Das, Glories of Ancient Orissa, Sambalpur,

1965, pp.83-84.

Dr. Benudhar Patra is a Lecturer in the Department ofHistory, Government College (GCM), Sector 11,Chandigarh (U.T.)-160011, India.

49


Shifting cultivation, a primitive system ofagriculture, the first step in transition from foodgathering and hunting to food production isnearly 9000 years old agricultural practice andbelieved to have started during Neolithicperiod. It is prevalent not only in India but inother countries of Asia, Africa, South Americaand Australia. This is extensively practised bythe tribals throughout the tropical andsubtropical region. In India, about 5.0 milliontribal families are practising this system on 4.37million hectare of land covering 11 states(table-1).

TABLE-1SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN DIFFERENT

STATES OF INDIA

State Tribal Families Total Area(Million) (Million

hectare)

Andhra Pradesh 0.11 0.15Arunachal Pradesh 0.43 0.21Assam 0.31 0.31Bihar 0.23 0.19Madhya Pradesh 0.19 0.38Manipur 0.36 0.26Meghalaya 0.61 0.47Mizoram 0.40 0.19Nagaland 0.19 0.12Orissa 2.00 1.60Tripura 0.19 0.49Total 5.02 4.37

Source : Shifting cultivation in India, ICAR

It is evident from the table that, Orissais a major state adopting this practice. Thedistribution of area under different districts ofthe state is as under.

TABLE-2SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN DIFFERENT

DISTRICTS OF ORISSA.

District (Undivided) Area (ha) Estimated byland Sat.1.

Mayurbhanj 7303.40Keonjhar 40638.20Sundargarh 8190.74Sambalpur 41781.00Bolangir 1795.40Dhenkanal 5121.20Koraput 30651.16Phulbani 20995.66Kalahandi 5861.40Ganjam 21680.30

Total 184018.46

Source : "Agriculture in Orissa" by D.Lenka.

It has got different names by different hilltribes such as Biringi or Danger in Phulbani,Dhenkanal and Bolangir, Dahi or Koman inKeonjhar and Sundargarh; Jhum by Kharias ofMayurbhanj and Kudki or Kuduchas inKalahandi. But the term Poduchasa is widelyused. This practice is followed by 20 types oftribal communities including Bhuiyan, Juanga,

Sustainable Soil and Land Management UnderShifting Cultivation in Orissa

S.K. SahuR.K. NayakD. Sarangi

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Kandha, Erengakola, Kutiya, Buniya, Saura,Jatapa, Paraja, Gadaba, Kamar and Koya. Theland and soil characteristics under thiscultivation are given in the table (3).

TABLE-3CHARACTERISTICS OF LAND AND SOIL

UNDER SHIFTING CULTIVATION

Land

Climate : Tropical, subtropical

Slope : Steeply sloping

Drainage : Excessive

Surface Stoniness : Moderate to strong

Relief : Undulating

Soil

Depth Class : Shallow

Parent Material : Colluvium of laterites,Khondalite, Granite,Kniss

Mineralogy : Ferratic Silicaceous

Particle size : Sandy Skeletal

Temp-regime : Iso hyper thermic

Soil reaction (pH) : Acidic

Ground water : >5m

Surface texture : Sandy

Erosion : Very severe

Water holdingcapacity : Low

Class of soil : Typical Haphustalfs,Rhodustalfs, Kandic &Rhodic paleustalfs,Aeric Haphustalfs.

Source : "Soils of Orissa for optimizing land use" byNBSS & LUP (ICAR) Nagpur.

The soils are poor, infertile with lowwater holding capacity situated on sloppy land.This system involves the cultivation of cropson a patch of cleaned forest area vicinity totheir settlement. Trees and bushes are cut duringNovember-January, allowed to dry and burntby fire. Before the onset of monsoon seeds aresown or dibbled. Different crops grown aremillets, cereals, pulses and oilseeds mixed orrarely separated. In one patch, this processcontinues for 2-3 years till the fertility runsdown. Then, the patch is abandoned and a newsite is selected for the purpose. The abandonedpatch regenerates, become fertile but theoriginal forest flora, fauna and ecology arenever restored. The tribals came back to thispatch after 20-30 years. This period is calleda podu cycle. Due to demographic pressure thisperiod has come down to 3-4 years in Orissa.The fertility status never build up during theshort period. Due to cutting and burning of treesand bushed properties of soil change as givenin Table-4.

TABLE-4CHANGE OF SOIL PROPERTIES DUE TO

SHIFTING CULTIVATIONSoil Beofre After End ofcharacteristics burning burning crop cycle

pH(1:2) 5.1 5.5 4.2

OC(%) 0.13 0.25 0.05

Available P 3.3 5.5 1.2

Available K 210 570 40.0

ExchangeableCa (mc/100g.) 7.15 9.46 2.82

Source : "Waste land management" by V.V.Dhrubanarayan (ICAR).

It is evident from table-4 that at the initialstage of shifting cultivation the fertility statusof soil increases with hike in soil pH towards

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neutrality facilitating availability of plantnutrients. The combined effect helps bettercrop production only for 3-4 years. Then thefertility status declined making it unsuitable forraising crops, the land almost converted tobarren.

Effects of Shifting Cultivation

Shifting cultivation causes loss of floraand fauna which includes precious species oftree plants, shrubs, medicinal plants and minorforest products. The harmful effects of it is seenextensively in areas of Koraput, Keonjhar,Phulbani and Ganjam districts. After podu noteven a single blade of grass grows. The illeffects can be summarised as follows :

i) It is an easy method of deforestation.

ii) The wild animals loss their shelter.

iii) Springs below the hills dry up.

iv) Causes heavy flood in the rivers below.

v) Increases water / moisture scarcity forplants, animals and human being.

vi) Siltation to the tanks, nallas, river andreservoirs.

vii) Ecology is disturbed and distored whichnever restored.

viii) Soil erosion : The problem of soilerosion due to shifting cultivation is veryserious in Orissa. The quantum of soilerosion varies from 84 to 170 t/ha. yearin bare fallow. The intensity of erosiondepends on slope, soil characteristics,crop coverage, depth of soil and rainfallpattern etc. It has been estimated froman experiment that, in an average 7-10 t/ha. year surface soil is lost along withplant nutrients.

Loss of soil and nutrients due to erosionper year.

Particulars Loss (q/ha) LossRs.(Approx)

Surface soil 70-100 -

O.C. 1.0 1000.00N 0.12 300.00P 0.05 125.00K 0.32 320.00Other nutrient 0.45 500.00

Total 2245.00

Control Measures

The system of shifting cultivation can notbe avoided completely but should bediscouraged. The alternate substitute for thesystem should be advocated among the tribals.Approach for the process can be done infollowing ways.

1.Physical, 2. Agronomic, 3. Socio Economic

Physical :

It deals with the development ofinfrastructure facilities keeping the climatic andphysiographic situation in view. The objectiveis to control soil erosion, development of afertile land with many fold uses andconservation of rain water. It includes

* Contour bonding (30% slope)

* Graded bonding 30-60% slope

* Bench terracing (60-100% slope)

* Contour ditches (71500 mm annual rainfall)

* Grassed water ways-spill ways

* Water harvesting structures, ponds.

Agronomic :

Management of different crops to getgood harvest and fulfil the need of tribals areaimed at. The various steps followed are :

- Contour plowing : Plowing across the slope

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- Selection of crop variety

- Integrated nutrient management includingmore organics and Bio-fertilizers.

- Mixed farming : poultry, dairy, piggery,fishery, goatery, apiary, mushroom andcultivation of medicinal plants.

Socio-economic

The rational behind the persistency ofthis system in the part lay in it's compatibilitywith physio-social environment of sparsepopulation, community land tenure system,undulation, poverty, meagre resources,illiteracy etc. with the tribal people. It may notbe possible to stop shifting cultivation overnightbut the tribals can be persuaded and educated

to adopt modern technologies for theirresources on a sustained basis.

References :

1. D. Lenka (2001). "Agriculture in Orissa"Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi.

2. "Soils of Orissa for Optimising Land Use"1998) NBSS & LUP, ICAR.

3. "Wasteland Management" (1992) by U.U.Dhrubanarayan, ICAR, Public.

4. "Fundamentals of Soils Science (2002) byIndian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi.

Prof. S.K. Sahu, R.K. Nayak and D. Sarangi are workingin the Department of Soil Science and Agril.Chemistry, OUAT, Bhubaneswar.

WIPRO TO COME TO ORISSA IN A BIG WAY

An MoU was signed between WIPRO Ltd. and the IT Department of the Government of Orissaon 21st Dec, 2004 for starting Software Development and BPO Services Centre of WIPRO atInfocity, Bhubaneswar.

WIPRO, one of the largest IT companies of international repute has committed fordevelopment of an integrated centre covering software and IT enabled services in the Infocityover an area of approximately 30 acres. Work on the first phase of this centre, which wouldcomprise atleast one unit with a capacity of 1000 – 1500 people, is expected to start nextyear and would be completed within two years. It is expected that this centre will have worldclass amenities with supporting infrastructures such as auditorium, training facilities, residentialhostels, indoor and outdoor facilities apart from core Information and Communication Technology(ICT) infrastructure required for various services to be offered by this centre.

The State Government has committed to provide necessary infrastructural supportand to facilitate all clearances required for implementation of the project through its singlewindow organization, namely Orissa Computer Application Centre, backed by the Departmentof IT.

Bhubaneswar has already emerged as an important I.T. centre in India over the lastten years. During the current year, the growth in software exports from Orissa is likely toexceed 40% and touch Rs. 500 crore. With the setting up of the WIPRO facilities and arrival offew other IT majors, the Infocity, Bhubaneswar is all set to cross Rs.1000 crore export mark inIT and related services within the next three years.

The MoU for the IT venture of WIPRO was signed by Mr. Tamal Dasgupta, CorporateVice President & Chief Information Officer, on behalf of WIPRO and Shri A.K. Tripathy,Commissioner-cum-Secretary, IT on behalf of the State Government in the presence of ShriNaveen Patnaik, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri Surjya Narayan Patro, Minister, InformationTechnology, Energy & Tourism and Dr. Subas Pani, Chief Secretary, Orissa.

53


Orissa is efflorescent with rich tribal culturalassemblage.Of the sixty-two types of tribalcommunities the Sauras are one of the oldesttribes of India. Out of these, seven tribes havebeautiful mural painting tradition on the wallsof their houses. The Sauras are speciallyfamous for rich variety of their paintings basedon religious and ceremonial themes. Their deityIDITAL commands great religious devotionfrom the tribal people. Each Idital containsvarious symbols and signs and convey specialmeaning for which it is meant. The pictogramsare categorized into different sections as pertheir meaning and purpose. These paintingsconvey great aesthetic sense. Verrier Elwinwas the first scholar to study the Saurapictograms. This form of art is mostly found inRayagada, Gajapati and Koraput districts ofOrissa. A study of their arts and paintingtraditions reveals the rich ancient tribal artidiom, which is still in vogue with popularappeal. Even the painting activities are gettingcommercialised now a days. As a result therole of artist has changed from religious painterto interior decorator. Specially, the LanjiaSauras continue the old artistic diction in itsoriginal form. In this paper an attempt has beenmade to study the various aspects of icons withspecial reference to its iconology, iconographyand painting tradition of the Sauras of Orissa.

The Sauras constitute a very importantand ancient tribe of our country. We findgraphic account of this tribe i.e. Sauras orSavaras in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Thedevotion of Savari to Rama in Ramayana is anepic folk lore of India. In the Mahabharata wefind mention about Jara Savara who piercedan arrow to Krisna and killed him. His bodyflowed into Mahodadhi i.e. sea near Puri inthe form of a wooden log from which thepresent Triad of Jagannath is said to have beenbuilt. Prior to that, tradition says that Savarachief Viswavasu was worshippingNilamadhava Visnu in the unknown blue hillof Orissa i.e. Nilachal. Ekalavya learnt archeryobserving the teaching technique of Guru Dronafrom a distance and excelled Pandavas andKauravas in archery. His devotion to Guru andhis sacrifice for satisfaction of his Guru isunparalleled in mythology and history. Such isthe noble Savara tradition in Mahabharata. Inthe Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela datedto 1st century B.C. Savaras of Orissa werecalled Vidyadhardhivasas. They constitute animportant segment of his turbulent army whichvictoriously marched over South and NorthIndia. Asoka had no control over the Savaraterritory which was called Atavika Kingdomin the 3rd century B.C. Thus the Savara tribesof Orissa have a hoary glorious past.

The Sauras and TheirPanoramic Paintings

Dr. C. B. Patel

Jananglasum Idital

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The Sauras arewidespread inOrissa and arefound in almost allthe districts.However, theirmain concentration,we find in Ganjam,Gajapati andKoraput districts.They are called by

various names like Sabara, Saur, Sora andSaura etc. They have their racial affinity to theProto-Australoid physical features founddominant among the aborigines of central andsouthern India. At present they are found inBihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and West Bengal.In the North-East States like Assam andTripura, they have quite sizable population. Theterm Saura has been derived from two wordsnamely Sagories means the Scythian words foraxe and Saba Raye meaning Sanskrit term forcarrying a dead body. Their language is anuncultivated one without any standardization.It varies between individual to individual andregion to region. In fact it belongs to Austricfamily of languages to which Mundari isassigned. According to Verrier Elwin “theSauras who give the impression of being rathermatter of fact and prosaic are surprisinglypicturesque and metaphorical in their speech.”

The Sauras are a measure tribe of Orissa.Their population in the following census yearare presented below:

1951 - 19,401

1961 - 3,11,614

1971 - 3,42,797

1981 - 3,70,061

These census reports show that the Saurapopulation is increasing. As per the 1981report they constitute 6.26 per cent of the totaltribal population of the state and on the basisof their numerical strength they occupy 3rdposition among the 62 tribes. The sex ratiocomes to 1030 females per 1000 males. Theyare educationally and socially backward. Fromtheir appearance, they resemble the Pre-Dravidian tribes. They have long heads, flatnoses with expanded alae. The brow ridgesare prominent and there is depression at theroot of the nose. Facial prognathism is vivid.Their hair is wavy and curly. Some have plainhair as well. The skin colour is brown to darkbrown but fare complexioned are also not rare.They are not strongly built like the Kondhas.The noteworthy feature is that they are veryefficient in climbing, running and walking onhills. From their appearance they appear Pre-Dravidian.

Their dress consists of loin cloth of about6 feet long and about two inches in breadth. Itis plain and at times we find decorated withred tarsals at the border.

This is tied around the hip which hangsdown into two strips, the one in the rear beinglonger. Often they wear single necklace ofbeads. The Saura women put a waist cloth withgrey borders that reaches up the knees. Theskirt is generally 3 feetlong and about 2 feetbroad. In winter season,she covers the upper partwith another piece ofcloth. The cloth is wovenby the Dombs. At presentmill made and ready madedresses are being used.The women do not put

Jananglasum Idital

Kittung Sum Idital

55


heavy ornamentation. A few necklaces ofbeads, wooden plugs, spiral rings made ofbrass, bell metal or aluminium in the fingersand toes, little ring in the alae of nose and metalanklets are worn by them. These are generallypurchased from the local market.

The Saura villages are mostly situatedin the dense jungle area. Often it is seen hiddenin the forest clad hills making it difficult toapproach. A zigzag steep hill paths approachthe village. In summer, they sleep on theverandah.

The houses are built in the slopes or foothills. They live in small concentration of about200 households. In case of big village we finda series of hamlets scattered here and there.There is nothing like nomadic way of life. Theterraced field exhibiting Saura’s skill in contourbonding, revertment and water management,are located close to the settlements at onecorner. However their villages do not conformto any specific type of settlement pattern.Houses are built in row leaving a street inbetween. In many cases the houses are jumbledup and there are narrow lanes and smallopenings to which the door of the houses arefixed. The houses are rectangular in shape andare fairly high. The plinth is very high inproportion to roof. The walls of the housesare made of stone and mud with a highverandah. In some cases houses are built ofbamboo and wood plastered with mud. Thewalls are coloured red with red earth. Thereis an elevated store to keep household items.The open space is used for husking rice. Thehearth is found near a wall in one side. Thefire goes on burning constantly. Near thekitchen the household utensils are kept. Earthware vessels are used for cooking and storing.They sleep on mats made of palm leaf. Largenumber of baskets of various sizes are alsofound. Well to do men or headmen use cots.

Their economic life rests on shiftingcultivation. Hunting and fishery are some othersources of economy. They are in fact famousfor terraced cultivation. They are also uniquedue to absence of clan or sub-organisation.They are very fond of their children. Theirmarriage is a simple affair. They cremate theirdead and their religion is very enchanting andelaborate. They worship their ancestors forpeace, tranquillity and prosperity.

The Sauras work in the field with a piece ofhoe called Gubla. They generally do not useplough in the Swiddens. The calendar ofagricultural activities are presented below.

Months Nature of work

November and December Forest cleaning

March Firing

April Sowing

July Weeding

August and January Harvesting

The Sauras are best known for their wallpaintings called ‘ikon’ . We find a set ofsketches elaborately drawn on their walls. Theyhave invariably religious association for whichthey are called italons or ikons. It is difficultto define the perfect symbolic meaning of ikonswhich consist of human being, horse, elephant,gun men, aeroplane, cycle, sun, moon, etc. It isgenerally made to appease the Gods andancestors. At frequent intervals, they arereplaced by substitutes on different occasions.

These paintings are conspicuous for theirelegance, charm, aesthetic and ritualisticassociation. In fact these pictograms are theirliterature and philosophy. The clear meaningbecomes apparent when the priests or thepicture men interpret. The paintings of LanjiaSauras of Puttasingha region of Orissa areunique and interesting.

56


Each icon or iditalconveys a separatemessage. The minutedetails of pictogramsreflect real everyday lifepattern of Sauras. Fewexamples of iditals arepresented below:

(1) Jodisum

Jodisum are twowooden poles with

human form installed at the cross road of Sauravillage. It is the village deity. It is drawn toworship Jodisum during the new yearly eatingceremony of redgram. The Sauras do not eatthe newly harvested crop of the year withoutthis ceremony. They first offer these to Godand their forefathers. The study of the pictogramis interesting. On the top, seven lady priests(idaibois) are seen praying to God Jodisum toguard and protect the village from evil spirit.On the left a priest pouring wine and a helpertaking a hen for sacrifice are seen. In the lowerportion we notice five people praying the deityholding bunches of redgram while a priestlySaura bringing a goat for sacrifice. Below this,seven persons are playing trumpets (flute),drums and gongs. Three monkeys adorn eachside of the composition. On the right side twodamsels are seen carrying worship materialsin closed baskets. Below this is a tiger whichis represented as the vehicle of earth deity. Onthe left two male priests (idaimar) are seenalong with a jungle lizard. Elaborate ritualgenerally follows this ceremony.

(2) Jananglasum

It is also worshipped along with villagedeity when first eating ceremony of sweetpotato (jungle roots) is made. The deity is also

prayed to cure diseases and to bestowblessings. The icon or idital made on thisoccasion is a complex one. It is divided into 5divisions with a triangle shaped shrine at thetop being surrounded by many a symbol. Atthe centre of the triangle, a man is being blessedby Jananglasum and a lady priest is seen witha garland standing on the right side. On the rightthree guards with danda are noticed. On theleft we notice three lady worshippers withoblations. In the first row from top, the buya(male priest) is seen offering a pig to the deityvisible as a heap of stone. Behind him we finda number of devotees with various offeringslike fowl, wine, water and goat. The secondpart shows the driving out of the evil spiritamid flute playing and other formalities.

The third row shows hoeing earth byeight persons symbolising fertility cult. In theother scene we notice two ildas (ancestralspirits) riding on horse and elephant andmarching with their retinues and servants. Inthe lowest block garden lizard, crab, scorpion,snail and porcupine, the pets of Goddess earthare painted. Two farmers are seen driving outthe monkeys with their bow and arrows andother weapons from the redgram field. On theright, a couple with their items and three guardsof Jananglasum are seen and a ferocious tigerattacking a man is noticed. On the left twopriests, a couple with oblations and one ilda(benevolent spirit) driving out the malevolentones. This painting programme in fact needsfurther elucidation by the tribes themselves.Like these, there are a series of differentpictograms for different social and religiousoccasions.

Some other important paintings are ofAndumjappur meant for seed sowing ceremony,Sarpalasum, the God of path, Sidangpur for

Sargaisan Abdsur Idital

57


good crop, Gangsum for preventing smallpoxand Isarsum for the departed soul entering theunderworld.

The art heritage of Sauras is dominatedby religious themes. It is observed that cultsand myths have great bearing on artisticcreations of the Sauras. Their wholetheological system is being dramatised in thewall painting traditions. The richness, variety,antiquity and the ritual base offer a conducivefield for further study. In fact an ikon is doneto flatter and propitiate the Gods and ancestorsso that the members of the family are savedfrom evil influence.

The Sauras are a languishing tribe now.Their problems are manifold. They are ignorantabout their environmental conditions. Aboveall they suffer from malnutrition. To add to this,they are consigned to the exploitation ofDombs. However, they are famous among thetribals for their unique and exuberant paintings.It has now become a fashion among the well todo people to paint their houses and offices withSaura paintings.

References:1. Tribes of Orissa : H & T.W. Department,

Government of Orissa.2. Aiyanger, K. : Beginning of South Indian

History, Madras -1918.3. Cunningham : The Ancient Geography of

India, Calcutta -1924.4. Elwin, V. : Tribal Art of Middle India, London

-1951.Religion of an Indian Tribe, Bombay-1955.

5. Fawcett : On the Saoras (or Savaras), anAboriginal Hill People of the Eastern Ghats ofthe Madras Presidency, Journal of theAnthropological Society of Bombay, Vol.1.

6. Mahapatra, S. K. : Tribal Wall paintings ofOrissa, Bhubaneswar -1991.

7. Mallebrein, C. : Constructing a House withinthe House, in Jagannath Revisited, Ed. H.Kulke and Schnepel, Delhi -2001.Tribal art : Continuity and Change, in OrissaRevisited, Bombay, Marg Publication,Vol.52, No.3, 2001.

8. Mc. Chrindel : Ancient India as Described byPtolemy, Calcutta-1927.

9. Pradhan, S. S. : Rock Art in Orissa, Delhi -2001.

10. Pliny : Natural History, London, 1855-56.11. Rajguru, S.N. : Inscription of Orissa, Vol.V,

Bhubaneswar.12. Ramdas, G. : Aboriginal names in the

Ramayana, in Journal of Bihar OrissaResearch Society, Vol. XI, 1925.

13. Ramamurti, G.V. : A Manual of the So : ra(or savara) Language, Madras-1931.

14. Risley, H.H. : The Tribes and Castes ofBengal, Calcutta-1891.

15. Russel & Hira Lal : The Tribes and Castes ofthe Central Provinces of India, London-1916.

16. Sitapati, G.V. : The Soras and their Country,Journal of the Andhra Historical ResearchSociety, Vol. XII-XIV, 1938-43.

17. Stirling, A : An Account, Geographical,Statistical and Historical of Orissa Proper, orCuttack, Asiatic Researches, Vol. XV, 1825.

18. Suk1a, H. L. : Lanka Ki Khoj, (Hindi)Allahabad -1977.

19. Truston, E. : Castes and Tribes of SouthernIndia Madras -1909.

20. Vitebsky, P. : Dialogues with the Dead, Delhi-1993.

21. Yeatts : Census of India, 1931, Vol. XIV,Part-I.

22. Ramayana : Gita Press, Gorakhpur.The Youth World, Saora Painting Special, IssueNo.18, September 2003, Balangir.

23. D. P. Kar & S. N. Agarwal : Saura paintings ofOrissa, Mahalaxmi Publication, Bhubaneswar,2004.

Dr. C.B. Patel is the Superintendent of Orissa StateMuseum, Bhubaneswar.

58


Human Rights and Women : An Introspection

Dr. Jyotirmati Samantaray

Human rights are what each human being isentitled to allow her/his freedom to live adignified and secured life of choice. We canunderstand the importance of human rights onlywhen we are confronted with violations of ourown rights. Human rights include rights relatedto the safety of the person, the right to be freefrom coercion by other individuals, groups orgovernments, the right to social benefits, restand leisure, and the right to a good basiceducation.

Equality is important for effectiveenforcement of human rights. All the citizensshould be treated as equals, that all should getequal protection of law without anydiscrimination of caste and creed and allshould get equal opportunity.

The Universal Declaration of HumanRights was adopted by General AssemblyResolution 217A(III) of 10th December, 1948.On December 10th, 1948, the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations adopted andproclaimed the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights. Ever since, this has become themagna carta of human rights. Besides, the UNOconvened several World Conference in Mexico(19th June - 2nd July 1975), Copenhagen,Denmark (24-30 July 1980), Nairobi

Conference, Keniya (15-26 July, 1985). TheVienna Declaration and programme of Action(1993) called for increased integration ofwomen rights in to the United Nations HumanRights Chapter.

"Women Rights are Human Rights"expressed by the then U.N. High Commissionerfor Human Rights Sergio Vieira de mello,while speaking on International Women's Day,8th March 2003. In many countries, men andwomen are equal and that they enjoy the samerights and freedom. Human rights should applyto all people - men, women and childrenirrespective of caste, creed, religion and region.However, women often denied of their basicrights that form part of everyday life such asfreedom of movement, access to education andparticipation in decision-making process.There are many barriers to equality betweenthe sexes. Important factors include genderstereotyping violence against women, socialand cultural attitudes, and discriminating lawsand practices.

Women throughout the world live inconstant fear and conditions of deprivationvery often for their simple reason that they arewomen. Violations of women's rights aresystematic and condemned. In conflicts such

59


as those in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia,Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal andColombia, Afghanistan, women are attackedand raped by combatants with impunity. Womenaround the world are regularly murdered,assaulted, beaten, stoned, mutilated and haveacid thrown at them all in the name of honour.

In India, there are several socialmovements for improving the condition ofwomen and other oppressed groups. However,the written laws pertaining to such changes aretraceable only from the 19th century onwards.

The Indian government has set up severalspecial institutions under different Acts ofParliament, to give effect to the constitutionalprovisions of human right of all personsincluding those of the disadvantaged andweaker sections of the society. These are theNational Human Rights Commission (NHRC),The National Commission for Women (NCW),The National Commission for BackwardClasses etc.

In India, it was late in 1993, NationalHuman Rights Commission was established.Nearly 16 states have also set up state HumanRights Commission. Till 1970s, there was nocase of human rights violations that have beenlodged. Since 1993, the cases include humanrights violations due to communal violence,caste conflicts, female foeticide, dowry deaths,domestic violence, attacks on media. ThoughNHRC has got only investigating role, but hadno power to punish the culprits.

For Indian women violence takes theform of foeticide, infanticide, dowry relatedmurders, battering among others. Whatescalates violence is the widespread sanction

for violence against women. Through suchsanctions women are controlled andsubjugated.

Institutions are forthcoming to improvethe conditions of women. In the recently heldworkshop on violence against women held on11th October 2004 at New Delhi, Smt. PurnimaAdvani, Chairperson, Women Commission hasstressed the importance of enactment of Billon domestic violence against women, whichwas first tabled in Parliament in 1999. It is theresponsibility of the administration toimplement it. The common people should beaware of their basic Fundamental Rights andto be informed about various laws regardingthese problems. In such times of strife andsocial conflicts, Human Rights professionalsshould emerge as becon of hope to the helplesswomen victims of oppression.

References :

1. Human Rights Questions and Answers by LeahLevin (Published by National Book Trust, NewDelhi).

2. Women in Indian Society by Neera Desai andUsha Thakkar, published by National Book TrustIndia, 2001.

3. Narira Sthiti O' Pragati by Dr. JyotirmatiSamantaray, Image Publications, Bhubaneswar.

4. A look on India in 20th century, edited by N.N.Vora (NBT).

5. Narira Adhikar, published by Orissa SahityaAcademy.

Dr. Jyotirmati Samantaray is presently working asAssistant Information Officer in the State InformationCentre at Jayadev Bhawan, Bhubaneswar.

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In the sacred Shamba Dasami of the year 1827,a male child was born in the famous Hajurifamily of Puri Harachandi Sahi. His father wasRaghunath Khuntia alias Bhimasen Hajuri, aservant of the Lord Jagannath. Since the childwas born while his father was dressing the Lordwith sandle-paste (Chandan), his name wasgiven "Chandan Hajuri". But he is better knownas Chakhi Khuntia. His mother wasKamalabati, a pious lady.

In the childhood Chakhi Khuntia wasvery naughty. He was taught Oriya languageand literature in a Chatasali. He then learntHindi to enable him for communicating with"Yatris" (Pilgrims) of Lord Jagannath. It is toldthat he had great interest in learning Historyand Geography of India, her hoary heritage andheroic tales of her national leaders. He wasinspired by the biographies of the Indianheroes.

Chakhi Khuntia was learning rigorousphysical exercises in the traditional Akhadaor Jaga gharas of Puri. He even learnt wrestlingand indigenous military feats and skills.Although in the childhood he was very weakand lean, through these physical attainments hestrengthened a very well-built and muscularbody.

Afterwards, he taught wrestling andmilitary exercises to the youths of Puri. He usedto teach various indigenous defence and offencemechanism to the young people in many Jaga

gharas or training centres of physical exercises.He was regarded as a master wrestler of thetime.

When he was only 12 years old, he wasmarried with a beautiful girl namedSundarmani. He often accompanied his fatherin his sojourn to various areas in the northernIndia. In fact, he was thus exposed andorientated with their traditional profession ofguiding visitors to Puri and other pilgrimagesin Orissa.

Chakhi Khuntia happened to be the familypriest or religious guide called Panda ofMeropanth, the father of Manubai who wasrenamed as Laxmibai after her marriage toGangadhar Rao, the King of Jhansi. Chakhimaintained relations with Laxmibai ever afterher marriage and used to pay visit to the royalfamily at the time of religious trips.

During that period the British peoplewere trying to establish their empire in Indiathrough hook or crook. The missionaries withtheir support were preaching Christianitythrough various means. Even, they were bitterlycriticising the Gods of Hindus and deprecatingidolatry and other religious practices. ChakhiKhuntia with others strongly opposed to suchdenigration.

Gangadhar Rao, the King of Jhansi dieduntimely. Laxmibai had also lost her only sonearlier. The British people prohibited her

Chakhi Khuntia : A National HeroDuring the British Period

Dr. Jagannath Mohanty

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adopting a son to inherit the throne of Jhansi.Subsequently, the British ruler took away allthe powers themselves and Laxmibai was leftpowerless. But she could not reconcile to sucha situation and revolted against the British rule.She sought the assistance of Chakhi Khuntia ather juncture and Khuntia extended all possiblehelp to her.

Chakhi Khuntia played a very crucialrole by fomenting resentment among the Indiansoldiers called "Sepoys" and organised amutiny which subsequently took a violentshape. Khuntia was well known as the Pandaof Sepoys or Hajuri Panda (religious guide ofIndian soldiers). On account of his involvementin this first freedom struggle, Chakhi Khuntiawas arrested many times and kept behind thebars.

The Magistrate of Puri wrote a letterdated March, 1858 to the Commissioner ofCuttack, "I have received a good though notofficial information that a Pandah of the townby name Chakhi Khuntia, well known as theSepoy Pandah has been executed up-countryunder Act XI of 1857."

The British suppressed this nationalrevolt against the foreign rule with an iron handand hilled a lot of Indian heroes in theencounters. Many were executed without trialand many more were imprisoned. Anatmosphere of terror and massacre prevailedin many places of the northern India.

Whether Chakhi Khuntia was killed ornot his entire property was snatched by theBritish Government. A letter dated 21st April,1858 written by the Magistrate of Puri to theCommissioner of Circuit Cuttack said, "I havethe honour to request your sanction to disposeof a cow and calf which are attached amongthe attached property of Chakhi Khuntia aliasChandan Hazooree Panda as the expense of

their keep will swallow up their value."Subsequently, the cow and calf were disposedafter approval of the Commissioner.

The wild rumour about the death ofChakhi Khuntia however proved false as it wasevident from the registered letter written onEnglish paper bearing a Dragon's head for acrest with the motto "Nil moror Ictus." Perhapsit were as well to enquire to which of theresidents this belongs as their servants musthave supplied him with the paper. It was a greatsuprise to the British Government.

The Magistrate of Puri wrote to theCommissioner on 14th July, 1858, "I have justreceived information that a registered letter hasbeen despatched by Chakhi Khuntia aliasHazooree Panda from Gya (Gaya) to hisbrother Kissen Khuntia here as this individualwas in Lucknow notoriously aiding and abettingthe rebels and mutineers I would suggest thatinformation be sent by "Telegraph" for hisapprehension-post would be useless as by thistime no doubt information has been given himto make himself scarce."

Conveying great anxiety of the Magistratethe letter added, "I have directed the post masterto detain the Regd. letter pending yourinstruction. Perhaps it would be as well to sendfor the address and in his presence open andassure ourselves that the matter there was nottreasonable."

Since the writer of the letter ChakhiKhuntia was taken "a suspected rebel" theCommissioner directed the Post Master tohandover the letter in question to the Magistrateof Puri and as nothing treasonable was foundin the same.

The Commissioner made furtherinvestigations about Chakhi Khuntia and senta letter dated 15th July, 1858 to the Magistrate

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of Gaya" I have the honour to annex for yourinformation copy of a letter No.182 onfourteenth instant from officiating Magistrateand Collector, People regarding the ruffian'spresence in Gaya of one Chakhi Khuntia aliasHazoorie Pandah, a rebel, he was the sepoy'sPandah at Pooree and is reported to have beenengaged against Government at Lucknow". Itwas suggested that the so-called rebel shouldbe " arrested, examined and dealt with as mayappear necessary".

The Magistrate of Gaya actually arrestedthe " Pundah" and examined him as hismovements during the last year ( 1857 ) weredoubtful. He further examined two other menwho were with him and took statements of allthree and also seized papers found in the houseof Chakhi Khuntia. The papers were found tobe small sale deeds given by the inhabitants ofLucknow. The inquiry on the whole, could notprove the charge of rebellion but suspicionabout his conduct was still there.

The Magistrate of Gaya in a subsequentletter to his counterpart at Puri concluded, "Noproof here exists against the man. Kindly letme know what you wish to do with him andwhat you can prove against him. His accountof himself is not satisfactory. He left Allahabadhe says in Baisakha or Jyastha last year andAjodhya in Baisakha this year, having beenthere a month. During the intervening elevenmonths, he does not say where he was, exceptat mathura, where he does not pretend to havebeen so long a time."

Chakhi Khuntia was released from theprison by the order of the Commissioner buthe was not allowed to enter to his native place.He however, defied the British Governmentorder and arrived at Puri. The Magistrate ofPuri reported this matter to the Commissioneron 10th November, 1958, "Chakhi Khuntia has

returned to the district and is now in safecustody. At that time, Queen victoriaproclaimed amnesty to the rebels and ChakhiKhuntia was released soon."

The Commissioner instructed theMagistrate of Puri to inform Chakhi Khuntiathat "to the royal elemency only does he owethe staying of further proceedings against himas previously intended." The sale-proceeds ofhis property were however refunded to ChakhiKhuntia and his conduct was watched carefullyfor a long time.

Chakhi Khuntia spent the last leg of hislife at Puri. He was not allowed to go anywhereelse. He devoted himself to the literary pursuitsand religious rites relating to Lord Jagannath.He has composed a lot of poems, most of whichare devotional songs. Some of his songs areexpressing his great displeasure and deepindignation at the inhuman and suppressivemeasures of the British Government. Many ofhis writings are still unknown and might havebeen lost or damaged in the meantime. It issaid that one of his palm-leaf manuscripts isentitled "Manubai" original name of Laxmibai,queen of Jhansi.

He breathed his last in 1870 at Puri. It isa great pride for us that an Oriya son of the19th century was not only inspired by theheroic deeds of a host of Indians, but also hehimself inspired a large number of soldiers withprofound patriotic fervour who sacrificed theirlives fearlessly at the holy alter of the MotherIndia. He will be ever remembered by us asan immortal poet, a national hero, a great patriotand renowned devotee of Lord Jagannath.

Dr. Jagannath Mohanty lives at 2935, GouriNagar, Manik Biswanath Smruti Sadan, Bhubaneswar.

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In the temple-precint of Dhavalesvara templeat Mohangiri in the Kalahandi district, wherethe flair of steps discend to the pond in thesouthern side, two stone-blocks of the collapsedtemple are kept; one, depicting a lady waist-up, right-hand seen to be in Abhayamudraplaced in between both her breasts and another,that of a seated male in Yogasana withJatabhara on his head and a staff placed in asuspended position in between his hands,which are folded in obeisance. This figure canbe taken as that ofLakulisa, a greatreligious teacher andthe founder of thePasupata sect ofSaivism in the firstquarter of the 2ndcentury A.D. It isbelieved thatLakulisa-Pasupatacult was brought to Kosala and Kalinga in the4th century A.D. in the train of the militarycampaign of the Gupta monarch Samudragupta.Lakulisa images with Lakuta (club) in hand,seated in Yogasana posture and DharmaChakra Pravartana mudra (of Buddha) arefound in the Parasuramesvara and Bharatesvaratemples of Bhubaneswar, which were built inthe 7th century A.D. and the last temple bearing

the Lakulisa image in coastal Orissa is theMuktesvara temple of Bhubanesvara which isbelieved to be architecturally marked byparting of ways between the Bhaumakara andSomavamsi periods. Muktesvara temple isdated to the second half of the 10th centuryA.D.

The Lakulisa motif of Mohangiri can betaken as the earliest of its kind so far found inthe upper Mahanadi valley of Orissa. Another

Lakulisa figure seatedin a Yogic posturecalled Utkutikasanais depicted on one ofthe Jagamohana hallpillars of theKosalesvara temple atPatnagarh in theBalangir district,which from it'sarchitectural style can

be placed in the first half of the 9th centuryA.D.

Lakulisa is depicted on the temple-wallsof the brick temples of the upper Mahanadivalley at Budhi-Komna and Ranipur Jharialalso.

In the Lakulisa panel of Mohangiri,Lakulisa is seated in his usual sitting-posture,

Saivacharya,Sukhabandh

Saivacharyas and FootPrint Worship

Sasanka S. Panda

Foot-print, RanipurJharial

Lakulisa Panel, Mohangiri

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and to his left, seated figure of a bearded Yogiin profile with folded-hands in obeisance toLakulisa as well as the figure of one bird seatedand staring back are carved. This bearded Yogiis none-else but one of the first four disciplesof Lakulisa. Lakulisa had four disciples,namely, Kausika, Gargya, Kaurusa andMaitreya, who popularised the Pasupata sectof Saivism in different parts of India in thefourth centurty A.D. This panel of Lakulisa,his disciple and the bird are carved separatelyin between miniature pilaster designs.

In the brick-built Patalesvara temple atBudhikomna inNuapada district pagadesigns of upper janghahave caitya motifswhich are in the firstbhumi of the gandi. Inthe southern sideLakulisa figure iscarved in such a caityadesign. Similarly theimage of Lakulisa iscarved in the eastKanika niche on thesouth side of theIndralath brick templeat Ranipur Jharial in Balangir district. In boththe cases, Lakulisa is seated with his legscrossed and holds a Lakuta over his leftshoulder.

The water of the streamlet Papaharini isregarded as sacred and at five places ofNarsinghnath it accumulates itself into fivepools, called Kundas. Higher up on the hillnear the first Kunda, figures are hewn on thehuge boulder. These rock-cut sculpturesinclude three male figures seated in Yogasana,holding a staff (danda) in both hands and

putting their chin on the top portion of the staff.They have Jatabhara on their heads. Near theseseated figures, there is a round eight-petalledlotus rosette design. In the extreme left there isa male figure in profile holding a long staff(danda) and standing in dvibhanga with hisleft leg slightly bent, crossing the right leg. Justin front of this figure, a small attendant figurewith both of his hands folded in obeisance iscarved. All the four figures seem to be thoseof Saivacharyas, associated with the Pasupatasect of Saivism and the disciples of Lakulisa,the great teacher.

In the temple precinct of Kedarnathtemple at Ambabhona inBargarh district a longstone-slab, depicting theproper left and centralportions of aDvaralalatavimba isalso lying in front of thetemple, which ismeasuring around 5' inlength and 15" in breadth.In the central portion ofthis Dvaralalatavimba,the figure of Lakulisa, thegreat Guru (propounder)

of the Pasupata Saiva Sect is carved in a niche.He is seen to be seated in Utkutikasana withthe Yogapatta tied around both his thighs. Heholding a Lakuta (staff) by putting it on hisright shoulder. There are two bands of scrollworks to the proper left of this figure. In thelower band there are four flower motifs, thefirst being a flower, followed by the profiledseated figure of a lady with a stem of lotus inher hand and again followed by three flowers,while in the upper band, foliage motifs arecarved in continuation. In the original state thisdoor-lintel might be measuring around 9' in

Saivacharya carved on Siva Linga, Vaidyanath

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length, and fitted to aSiva temple belongingto the Pasupata Sect ofSaivism. In Orissa,Lakulisa imagesappeared on the templewalls from 7th centuryA.D. onwards, as duringthe Sailodbhava rule inKangoda, Lakulisaimages were carved on

the walls of Parsuramesvara and Bharatesvaratemples at Bhubaneswar.1 This trend continuedeven in the later period up to the 13th centuryA.D. In the upper Mahanadi valley Lakulisaimages are found carved on a temple panel ofthe Dhavalesvara temple at Mohangiri (8thcentury A.D.), outer walls of the Indralath bricktemple at Ranipur Jharial (9th century A.D.)and Patalesvara brick temple at Budhikomna(10th century A.D.) as well as among the rock-cut sculptures in the Panca Pandav Ghat atNarsinghnath (11th century A.D).

In the Mohangiri image he is seated inPadmasana, while in the images of RanipurJharial, Budhikomna and Ambabhona his legsare crossed and slightly raised being held inplace by a Yogapatta. According to Donaldsonthe pose of the second category was introducedin the 9th century A.D.2

Saivacharyas were hailed supreme andtreated with utmost reverence, especially bythe Panduvamsi kings of Sirpur, who wereruling Daksina Kosala in around 6th-8th centuryA.D. From the Senakapat Stone Inscription ofthe reigning period of the Panduvamsi kingMahasivagupta Balarjuna it is known that hisvassal ruler (Ranaka) Durgga Rakshitaconstructed a temple for Sambhu (Siva) andthe temple was made over to a Saiva ascetic

named Sadasivacharya. This Saivacharya wasgranted with land, from the income of produceof which he had to arrange sacrificial ceremony(Yaga) as well as for the initiation of peopleinto the Saiva faith (Diksa) for securing ofspiritual emancipation, the exposition of Saivadoctrine (Vyaksa) and the running of a freefeeding establishment (Annasya Satram) everyyear during the full-moon days of the monthsof Asadha, Kartika and Magha.3 It is furtherknown from the Senakapat Stone Inscriptionthat Sadasivacharya was the desciple andspiritual successor of Saiva asceticSadyasivacharya, who was hailing from thepenance grove called Amardaka.

From the Lodhia Plates4 of thePanduvamsi king Mahasivagupta Balarjuna itis known that his guru was Pramathacharya,the disciple of Sri Sulapani, who hailed fromPanchajajna Tapovana of Dvaitavana. ThisPramathacharya was a Saivacharya of thePasupata school of Saivism, whose name isfound in a stone inscription in the temple ofParasuramesvara at Bhubaneswar.5

The name of Gaganasivacharya, anotherSaiva ascetic is known from the stoneinscription on the Dvaralalatavimba of thedoorway to the Garbhagrha of the Somesvaratemple at Ranipur Jharial in the Balangirdistrict of Orissa. In this inscription AcharyaGaganasiva has beenmentioned as aSiddhacharya hailing fromUttara Terambagrha. Thisgreat Saiva asceticGaganasiva is recorded inthis inscription as thebuilder of the Somesvaratemple at Ranipur Jharial.There is another

Gagansivacharya,Ranipur Jharial

Lakulisa, Indralathtemple

66


inscription, inscribed on the top of a rockyelevation called Raksasa sila. This shortinscription in three lines has been decipheredas (line-1) Om Pratisthapyami (line-2) dampa (dyam) Siddha (line-3) charyena vachitam.This inscription is accompanied on the left bya line drawing, representing a pair of humanfoot-prints enclosed within a rayed circle. Themention of the word 'Siddhacharya' issignificant. Learned historian late Kedar NathMahapatra opines, 'It may either refer toGaganasiva, who is called a Siddhacharya inthe Somesvara temple inscription or some otherSaiva ascetic, whosename is not given oryet known from anyother sources.' But itis clearly establishedthat Ranipur Jharialwas a great centre ofSaivism in that age,which was frequentlyvisited bySiddhacharyas.6

In the properleft doorjamb of thedoorway to theGarbhagrha of the Somesvara temple atRanipur Jharial a male figure seated inYogasana and Jatabhara on his head is carvedout. He is wearing a Yajnopavita and both hishands are folded in obeisance (Anjalimudra).A crescent moon symbol is carved in the upperportion of this figure, above his head. Learnedscholar M.P. Mohanty has rightly identified itas the figure of Saivacharya Gaganasiva of theMattamayura sect of Saivism, whoseinscription is carved on the dvaralalatavimbaof the gateway to the Garbhagrha of theSomesvara temple.7 Another Saivacharyafigure is found carved on a rectangular stone-

block, which is at present kept in front of theChhelia temple-ruins at Ranipur Jharial. Foot-print worship was also associated with theSaivacharyas, who were associated with theKapalika sect of Saivism. Such foot-prints arefound carved on monolithic rock in front of theLiyahari temple at Ranipur Jharial and anotheron a huge square stone-slab of the size of fourfeet both the length and breadth now lying inthe back side of the Somesvara temple.

In another place called Ghudar, situatedat a distance of around 5 kms to the south ofTitilagarh, on a rocky mountain two yantra

symbols along-withfoot-prints are carvedon monolithic rockysurface alongwith therock-cut figures ofEkapada Bhairavaand Saptamatrkas.Near the entrance ofthe cave temple on theKumda pahad nearTitilagarh town, to theproper left the figureof a Saivacharya iscarved, who is seated

in yogasana with both his hands folded inobeisance. He is wearing big kundalas in hisears. A pair of foot-prints carved on a stoneslab is found lying in the foot hill, just in frontof this cave temple, enshrining a Sivalinga.Scholar L.K. Panda has rightly observed thatthe representation of a circle enshrining foot-prints of the Siddhacharyas was very commonto the tantric school. Mr. Panda thinks that thecircular temples of sixty-four Yoginis wereundoubtedly the centre of tantric Saivismassociated with the cult of Bhairava.8 Theimage of a Saivacharya sitting in Lalitasana,a circular disc carved with a full-blown lotus

Saivacharya's foot-prints on a Pitha, Maraguda

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and a pair of foot-printsof criss-cross design inthe centre and anotherpair of foot-prints hasbeen carved on arectangular stone pitha.Such foot-prints carvedon a rectangular stonepitha with a passage fordrainage of water isfound to be lying in thePanchapandav ghat on

the hill-top of Gandhamardan mountain in theNarsinghnath temple site. These foot-prints ofSaivacharyas carved on rectangular stonepithas were definitely worshipped by thedisciples of the Saivacharyas.

A pair of foot-prints in the centre of alotus-petalled round design is found carved ona monolithic rock near the rock-cut sculptureof goodess Mendasuni in the outskirt of Mendavillage in Sonepur district. Menda is the samevillage Meranda which has been mentioned inthe Vakratentuli grant of the Somavamsi kingMahabhavagupta Janmejaya I, issued in histhird regnal year (circa 852 A.D.).9 The four-handed Bhairava image which was associatedwith this pair of foot-prints in now kept on aplatform in front of the Menda High School inside the village. Another pair of foot-prints isfound carved on the monolithic rock situatedin the river-bed of river Mahanadi known asLankesvari Pitha surrounded by deep gorge atSonepur. In the Jagamohana hall of the Samleitemple at Sambalpur also we find a pair offoot-print with two eight-petalled lotus rosettemotifs in both sides carved on a stone panel,which is worshipped as goddess Sitalamata.As an image of four-handed Bhairava, locallyknown as Kala Bhairava is enshrined in anindependent shrine near the entrance gate of

Samlei temple precinct, this pair of human foot-prints called Sitalameta might have beenassociated with the esoteric rites related toBhairava worship in the remote past.Therefore, where-ever we find carved motifshaving pairs of foot-prints, there we findBhairava images in the same site or in thenearby locality. As this motif of human foot-print pair is always carved in the centre of anAsthadalapadma motifs it was definitelyassociated with the tantric rites of the Kapalikasect of Saivism during the worship of Bhairava,the Ugra aspect of Lord Siva.

The Saivacharyas of the Kapalika sectwere deeply venerated by all sections of thesociety in the upper Mahanadi valley in around7th-16th century A.D. Therefore, even on theDvaralalatavimba of the entrance door of theJagamohana of the Binjhesvara temple atKunjamara in Sambalpur district, we find aSaivacharya sitting in Yogasana in the centralplace, flanked by eight Grahas, four in bothsides. Such seated figures of Saivacharyas arefound at Chandipali in Bargarh district.Mohangiri in Kalahandi district, Kapilapur inJharsuguda district, Vaidyanath in Sonepurdistrict and Sukhabandh in Sundargarh districtalso.

The figure of the Saivacharya ofChandipali has beard in his chin, sitting inYogasana and both his hands folded in AnjaliMudra. In both sides of the stone-slab havingthis figure of the Saivacharya, smaller figuresof two standing attendants are carved near hisshoulder. The Saivacharya figure of Mohangiriis seated in Yogasana with both his handsfolded in obeisance. At present the head of theSaivacharya is broken and missing. Esoteric-Yantras related to Saivism and a shortinscription recording 'Vyuha Bhairava' arefound on the floor of the Jagamohana of the

Saivacharya,Chandipali

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Dhavalesvara temple at Mohangiri, whichtestified to the fact that the Lakulisa - Pasupataand Kapalika sects of Saivism peacefully co-existed there. The image of the Saivacharyafound inside the Siva temple at Kapilapur isalso found seated in the usual Yogasanaposture. Yajnopavita is around his body andhe is wearing strings of rosary beads as ankletsand armlets. The seated Saivacharya image ofVaidyanath is quite interesting as it is carvedon a Sivalinga. It is found amidst loosesculptures kept in front of the brick-builtJagamohana of the Kosalesvara temple.Similarly the Saivacharya figure ofSukhabandh (Hemgir) is peculiarly carved ina niche design on the western stone wall of abig tank (Baoli), which is cut into a monolithicrocky formation of the size of around 200 feetin length, 100 feet in breadth and 30 feet indepth in front of the Siva temple at Sukhabandh(Hemgir) to its south-east.

The existence of the images of the greatSaivite teacher Lakulisa, the propounder of thePasupata sect of Saivism at five places namelyMohangiri, Ranipur Jharial, Budhikomna,Narsinghnath and Ambabhona and also thefigures of many Saivacharyas along-with mysticyantra diagrams and pairs of foot-prints insideAsthadala Padma motifs testify to the fact thatthe Bhairava cult dominated other religiouscults in the upper Mahanadi valley since the2nd century A.D., as we find the earliestBhairava image at Junagarh in Kalahandi

district, on the pedestal of which a two-linedPali inscription is inscribed in the 2nd centurycharacters. This Bhairava worship ultimatelyamalgamated itself with the worship ofSaptamatrkas, 64 Yoginis and other goddessesof the tantric as well as local tribal origin anddominated the religious ethos of the people ofthe upper Mahanadi valley for a quite longperiod.

References1. A.C. Pradhan, A Study of History of Orissa ,

published by Panchashila, Bhubaneswar, 1984,p.168.

2. Thomas E. Donaldson, Hindu Temple Art ofOrissa, Vol.III, E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1987, p.1095.

3. S.N. Rajaguru, Inscriptions of Orissa , Vol.IV,pp.52-53ff.

4. Epigraphia Indica, Vol.XXVII, pp.319-325 ff.

5. I.O., Vol.IV, pp.86.

6. K.N. Mahapatra, Gaganasivacharya and theDate of the Monuments at Ranipur Jharial,The Orissa Historical Research Journal, Vol.III,September 1954, No.2, pp.65-75ff.

7. M.P. Mohanty, Antiquities of Ranipur Jharial,Proceeding of the Annual Session of the OrissaHistory Congress, 1986, p.23f.

8. Lakshman Kumar Panda, Saivism in Orissa,Sundeep Prakashan Delhi, 1985, p.106.

9. Epigraphia Indica, Vol.XI, pp.93-95ff.

Sasanka S. Panda lives at VR-23, Unit-6, Bhubaneswar.

Lakulisa on Dvaralalatavimba, Ambabhona

69


India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) isthe premier trade-promoting agency in thecountry that organises India International TradeFair every year with the sole aim of giving aboost to Technological and Industrial activitiesin India. IITF-2004 is 24th in the series withtwin themes of Agriculture and InformationTechnology.

Orissa participated in this fair byorganising a grand representative display at theOrissa Pavilion in the Pragati Maidan, NewDelhi. Information and Public RelationsDepartment is the nodal agency of the state toorganise the 'Orissa Show'.

Taking into account this year's twinthemes Agriculture and Information Technology,the Information and P. R.Department in co-ordination with Agriculture and I.T.Departments of Orissa made extensivearrangements to showcase the achievements ofthe State government in various fields with afocus on these two sectors.

The fascia of the pavilion was designedas a replica of 'Dhauli Shanti Stupa, (PeacePagoda) of Bhubaneswar.

Orissa is the state, which has it's rootsentrenched in the essence of Peace and Non-Violence. Buddhism, propagated by GautamBuddha, flourished in Orissa since the time of

Buddha, i.e 6th century B.C. for more than onethousand years. Orissa is the land thattransformed Ashok the warrior king(Chandashok or Ashok the Terrible) into apeace-loving king (Dharmashoka or Ashok theCompassionate) after the great war of Kalinganear Dhauli hill in 261 B.C. This epoch-makingevent changed the socio-political, cultural andreligious map of India and entire Asia. Thistransformation made Ashoka a great king,whose only mission in the rest of his lifebecame the welfare of his subjects andpropagation of the message of Peace and Non-violence through Buddhism.

The Dhauli Peace Pagoda ofBhubaneswar has been built in 1972 with anactive Indo-Japanese collaboration toremember this great transformation and spreadthe message of peace, harmony and universalbrotherhood.

By recreating this monument in the OrissaPavilion, the state of Orissa succeeded insending a clear message.

- that peace is the fundamental basis forany meaningful sustainable development,

- that man should not distance himself fromseeking enlightenment in the language of peaceand love,

Orissa Pavilion inIndia International Trade Fair - 2004

70


- that without peace any kind of materialdevelopment is meaningless.

The artists of Orissa have again reflectedthe taste of their creativity in traditional artand architecture by recreating the DhauliMonument. Scenes from Buddha Jataka stories,a number of beautiful images of Buddha invarious mudras (or forms) were depicted onrelief works and panels around thehemispherical stupa. Five Chhatris(Umbrellas) were placed on it's top, thatrepresented the five important aspects ofBuddhism. Four magnanimous lion imageswere also installed in the front steps as in theoriginal monument.

The state's development aspects invarious fields such as Information Technology,Agriculture, Industry, Cultural Heritage, Art &Craft, Tourist Spots and Wild Life weredepicted in the fascia on synthetic flexmaterials.

The internationally reputed sand Artistfrom Puri (Orissa) Shri Sudarsan Patnaikdisplayed his Sand Art in front of the Pavilion.This unique art form of Orissa became anadmirable feature of Orissan Creativity and acentre of attraction for visitors. This timeSudarshan displayed a replica of a Buddhisttemple, named GOD OF PEACE.

In the ground floor of the pavilion, apartfrom the I.T and Agriculture Departments inthe theme sector, Tourism Department,Information and P.R.Department, IndustriesDepartment and private sector like Tata Steel,and public sector undertaking like NALCOmade extensive display arrangements.

The IT Department in its displayreflected what the State has to offer in IT

Sector. Info city, Fortune Tower, Tower 2000,BPO Complex and STPI Complex are severalIT parks, built in the state capital Bhubaneswar,which offer a spectrum of value propositionsto different IT & lTES companies. The statehas vast pool of quality manpower. Orissaproduces about 12000 Engineering/MCAgraduates every year. Besides, ManagementInstitutes of national repute like XIM, UtkalUniversity, ICFAI are actively involved in thegrooming of quality managers.

The Agriculture Department also madeattractive display arrangement to highlight thestate's achievement in the Agriculture sector.The Horticulture and Soil ConservationDirectorates, TDCC, Central Tuber CropsResearch Institute, Agriculture Promotion andInvestment Company Limited (APICOL) alsoparticipated under the banner of AgricultureDepartment.

Rice, one of the major crops in theworld, has its origin in Orissa. Koraput is the2nd centre of Origin for Rice. Among variouslocal varieties, there are around 60 varietiesof scented rice, which are under cultivation inOrissa. Govt. of Orissa is promotingproduction of various other crops such asMaize, Pulses, Coffee, Cashew, Cotton, Tribalproduces such as Organic Turmeric, Gingerand Citrus Fruits.

On the first floor, weavers and artisans,who produce handloom and handicraft productsopened their display and sales counters topromote and create a market for their products.

Besides, Tosali Resorts International aleading hotelier of Orissa opened a food-parlour in the backside of the pavilion to givethe visitors a taste of Orissan Cuisine.

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Sl. Title of the Article Name of the Author Page No.No

January - 2004

1. Social, Economic and Political Philosophy ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dr. R.C. Roy ... 1

2. Threats to Indian Polity Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan ... 11

3. Reforming the Indian Constitution : Some Suggestions Dr. Surya Narayan Misra ... 15

4. Historical Perspective of Saint Poet Sri Jayadev Ajit Kumar Tripathy ... 19

5. Contribution of Satyabadi School to National Movement Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 24

6. Non-Alignment, the Brain-Child of Pandit Nehru Balabhadra Ghadai ... 29

7. Veer Surendra Sai Dr. Jyotirmati Samantray ... 31

8. Remembering the Great Barabati Fort Dr. Hemanta K. Mohapatra ... 33

9. Bhairava Worship in Upper Mahanadi Valley Sasanka S. Panda ... 37

10. An Evening With Prof. Jatindra Mohan Mohanty,Sahitya Akademi Award Winner for 2003 Dr. Nishamani Kar ... 52

11. Maraguda Valley Excavations : A Study of Socio-Religious Scenario Dr. C.B. Patel ... 57

12. Promoting Tourism : Orissa Tourism Fair Himansu Sekhar Padhi ... 63

13. Kaipadar : The Abode of Lord Satyapira Braja Paikray ... 65

14. Meeting the Network Er. Ashis Kumar MahapatraSuresh Chandra Sarangi ... 66

15. Role of State Government Departments / Agencies inDisaster Management ... 72

16. Mission Shakti : Mission to Create Social Revolution Pravakar Sahoo ... 84

17. Biotechnology and Orissa Gurukalyan Mohapatra ... 86

18. Orissa News ... 88

Index of Orissa Review - 2004

72


February-March-2004

1. Index of Orissa Review

(April 1948 to December 1982) ... 1

2. Saivism in the Upper Mahanadi Valley S.S. Panda ... 74

3. Discovery of Burnt Brick Structures at Devidwara in Jajpur Harihar Routray ... 83

4. Origin of Tourism Dr. Binodini Das ... 85

5. Saivism in Orissa : Its Origin and Development Pradeep Kumar Gan ... 89

6. E-Governance : An Accountable and Transparent Governance Hemanta Kumar Nayak ... 95

7. Utkal Sammilani : Background to the Formation of

Separate State Tarakanta Mohanty ... 98

April-2004

1. Maharaja Krishnachandra Gajapati The Pioneer

of Modern Orissa Kailash Chandra Dash ... 1

2. Origin of Modern Orissa and Its Final Shape Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 12

3. Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Braja Paikray ... 16

4. Two Illustrious Sons of Orissa Jayanti Rath ... 23

5. Illustrious Women of Sonepur Royal Family Jashaswinee Panda ... 27

6. Hindu Method of Assimilation in Marjarakesari Dr. Chitrasen Pasayat ... 30

7. Enduring Appeal of Orissan Folklore - An Ethno - Mimetic Study Prof. Rajkishore Mishra ... 34

8. Antiquities of Upper Tel Valley S.S. Panda ... 39

9. Water Management System in the Early Orissa Dr Baba Mishra ... 47

May-2004

1. Esoteric Buddhism in Orissa Dr. C.B. Patel ... 1

2. Bhima Bhoi, The Saint Poet Er. Nirakar Mahalik ... 5

3. Orissa Through French Eyes : An Account Written

by a French Priest in 1877 Dr. K.J.S. Chatrath ... 10

4. Saint Patriot Abhiram (Birth Centenary Year) Saroj Kumar Panda ... 14

5. A Night in the Life of the Mayor Manoj Das ... 16

73


6. Folklore Research in Orissa Dr. Mahendra K. Mishra ... 22

7. Prophet Achyutananda Indian Nostradamus Sashibhusan Rath ... 30

8. Temples of Nayagarh District : An Overview Pratap Kumar Dash ... 35

9. The Port of Gopalpur Under the Madras Presidency Dr. R.C. Misro(A.D. 1858-1936) : Its Maritimes Importance N.P. Panigrahi ... 40

10. Commerce Education : Need for a Global Module Prafulla Ch. Mohanty ... 52

11. The Great Santh of Sabarmati Satyanarayana Mohapatra ... 56

12. Nilakanthesvara Temple of Papadahandi in Nawarangpur District Sasanka Sekhar Panda ... 58

13. Index of Orissa Review (1983 - 1989) ... 65

June-2004

1. Songs of Salabega Dr. Subas Pani ... 1

2. Car Festival Er. Niranjan Rath ... 4

3. Sri Jagannath Temple (Administration) Act, 1954and Chhatisanijoga Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 5

4. Manai Sahu and Lord Jagannath Durgamadhab Dash ... 9

5. Narendra Tank in Legend and History Santosh Kumar Rath ... 13

6. Narayan Cult in Orissa Priyadarshini BakshiDebendra Nath Bhoi ... 16

7. Kakatpur Mangala and Batamangala of Puri Somanath Jena ... 19

8. Role of the Mathas in the Daily Rituals of Lord Jagannath Bhaskar Mishra ... 21

9. Sri Krishna and Lord Jagannath Somanath Khuntia ... 25

10. Lord Jagannath in Mayapur Prof. Rajkishore Mishra ... 34

11. Jagannath Cult as a Factor Contributing to Oriya Identity Prof. H.S. Patnaik ... 36

12. Management of Sri Jagannath Temple Under Different Regimes Mahimohan Tripathy ... 41

13. Daru Brahma Sri Jagannath Balakrushna Dash ... 43

14. Evolution of Managerial System in the Administrationof Sri Jagannath Temple Pratap Chandra Mahapatra ... 45

15. Srikshetra and Sri Jagannath in Gangadhar Mishra'sKosalananda Kavyam Prof. Pabitra Mohan Nayak ... 49

16. Gloom and Bloom : The Case of Jagannatha Templesin Midnapore District Prof. K.S. Behera ... 61

17. The Pillars of Homage to Lord Jagannatha Prajna Paramita Behera ... 65

18. Worship of Dadhivamana in Bhatli Dr. Chitrasen PasayatSarmistha Barik ... 68

19. Neelamadhab : The Mysterious Thorny Statue Sudarshan Sahoo ... 70

20. Evolution of Jagannath Cult Dr. Atul Chandra Pradhan ... 74

21. The Time Saviour Lord Jagannath Ramakanta Kar ... 78

22. Padma Vesha of Lord Jagannath Pitambar Pradhani ... 80

23. Sri Jagannath, The Lord of The Universe Balabhadra Ghadai ... 82

24. The Legend Behind Mahaprasad and Nirmalya Tarakanta Mohanty ... 84

74


25. Vaisnavism in Upper Mahanadi Valley Sasanka Sekhar Panda ... 87

26. Vaisnavism Under the Rule of the Nalas Dr. C.B. Patel ... 97

27. Nitis (Programmes) of Car Festival-2004 ... 102

July-2004

1. Index (January - 1990 to December - 2003) ... 1

2. Rock Art Research in Orissa Dr. Janmejaya Choudhury ... 81

3. Environmental Protection : Judicial Approach in Orissa Dr. P.C. Pati ... 85

4. Sonepur : A Forgotten Seat of Orissan Culture P.K. Chhotroy ... 87

5. Cassava - A New Food Crop for Rainfed Conditions M. Nedunchezhiyanof Orissa S.K. Naskar ... 91

6. Working of Gram Panchayat in Orissa Some Reflections Aditya Keshari Mishra ... 93

7. Uma-Mahesvara Worship in Western Orissa S.S. Panda ... 98

August-2004

1. Azad Hind Fauj and Provisional Government- A Saga of Netaji Prof. Jagannath Mohanty ... 1

2. Harijan Upliftment Movement in Orissa DuringNational Freedom Struggle Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 4

3. Buxi Jagabandhu : The Chief Architect of KhurdaPaik Rebellion of 1817 Braja Paikaray ... 7

4. Gandhiji's Visit to Indupur - Dhumat Sukadev SahuTr. by Marina P. Mohapatra ... 11

5. Birsa Munda - The Great Hero of the Tribals Satyanarayan Mohapatra ... 14

6. Participation of Oriya Women in the Indian Freedom Movement Balabhadra Ghadai ... 16

7. August Kranti and Jatiya Sarkars in Orissa Dr. Soma Chand ... 18

8. Krutibas Patsani : A Beacon Light of Freedom Pabitra Mohan Barik ... 24

9. Peace, Prosperity and Civilisation O.P. Mohapatra ... 25

10. Transparency and Accountability in Administration A.N. Tiwari ... 27

11. Food Habits of the Tribal People During Scarcity Season Dr. Saswati Parichha ... 32

12. Trends of Population Growth in Orissa S.N. Mahapatra ... 34

13. Rain Water Harvesting - A Ray of Hope Dr. Pranab Kumar Ghosh ... 38

14. Monumental Efflorescence of Ranipur - Jharial Dr. C.B. Patel ... 41

15. Minor Gods in Sculptural Art of West Orissa Sasanka Sekhar Panda ... 45

16. Year of Scientific Awareness - 2004 Dr. Prafulla Ku. Mohanty ... 51

17. A New Era of Progress and Prosperity ... 55

September - 2004

1. Tourism in Kandhamal : Breaking the Inertia Anuja Mohan Pradhan ... 1

2. Heritage Tourism Sunil Kumar Patnaik ... 4

3. Marketing of Tourism Services in India : A StudyWith Special Reference to Orissa Prafulla Chandra Mohanty ... 8

4. Ganapati Cult in Orissa Pradeep Kumar Gan ... 11

75


5. Soil Pollution in Orissa Dr. S.K. Sahu, D. SarangiDr. K.C. Pradhan ... 13

6. Bael (Aegle Marmelos) Nature's Most Natural Medicinal Fruit Dr. Saswati Parichha ... 16

7. Palmgur Industry : Key to Rural Economy Sourajit Das ... 18

8. Socio-Political Structure of Kandara Caste in Puri District Ramesh Chandra Mallik ... 21

9. Ancient Coins of Orissa Bharati Pal ... 23

10. Tribal Education in Rayagada : A Review of Language, Akshaya K. KanungoTextbook and Medium of Instruction Hrushikesh Mahapatra ... 29

11. Combating Hunger With AAAY - An Assessment inGanjam District Prasant Sarangi ... 35

12. Maritime Trade of Ancient Orissa Er. Nirakar Mahalik ... 39

13. Banapur as a Tourist Attraction Priyadarshini BakshiDebendra Nath Bhoi ... 46

14. Growth and Development of Press in Orissa Dr. R.K. Mahapatra ... 51

15. Sakti Cult in Upper Mahanadi Valley S. S. Panda ... 61

16. Schemes of Orissa State Social Welfare Board Sumati Behera ... 70

October-2004

1. God as Divine Mother Durga Madhab Dash ... 1

2. Origin of Tantricism and Sixty-Four Yogini Cult in Orissa Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 7

3. Samalei to Sambaleswari - Ashapuri to Samalei Dr. Chitrasen Pasayat ... 10

4. Shakti Cult in Orissa Balabhadra Ghadai ... 19

5. The Lion : Mount of Goddess Durga Pradeep Kumar Gan ... 22

6. Shakta Pitha Bhattarika Pabitra Mohan Barik ... 25

7. Goddess Kali in Orissan Art : With Special Referenceto Shyamakali at Puri Santosh Kumar Rath ... 27

8. Lajja-Gouri : The Nude Goddess or Shameless Woman Pradeep Mohanty- Orissan Examples J.P. Singh Deo ... 32

9. A Peep into the Candi Text Rajkishore Mishra ... 34

10. Sakti Worship in Orissan Inscriptions Bharati Pal ... 37

11. Reminiscence of Gandhiji's Visits to Puri Dr. Binodini Das ... 39

12. Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture Dr. B.B. MishraDr. K.C. Nayak ... 42

13. Women and Mental-Health : A Rural Scenario Dr. Alhadini Dhir ... 46

14. Krishi Vigyan Kendra : The Light House for Rural People Dr. Ashish Kumar DashDr. Monoranjan Mishra ... 52

15. Sarala Dasa, The Originator of the Oriya Literature Debendra Nath BhoiPriyadarshini Bakshi ... 57

16. Palmleaf Manuscript Legacy of Orissa and NationalMission for Manuscripts Dr. C.B. Patel ... 60

17. Durga Worship in Upper Mahanadi Valley Sasanka S. Panda ... 66

76


November-2004

1. Dimensions of Orissa Population Scenario Prafulla Kumar Das ... 1

2. Orissa's Urban Population : An Overview Sidhartha Patnaik ... 3

3. Kalinga in South East Asia Benudhar Patra ... 9

4. Power Scenario in Orissa - An Overview Dr. G.B. Rout ... 17

5. Waterfalls in Orissa C.R. Balabantaroy ... 20

6. Chilika Sadhana Mishra ... 22

7. Danda Jatra and Danda Nata : A Display of Pain andPleasure of Oriya Devotees Pratap Kumar Dash ... 26

8. Role of Dream in Kui-Culture Anuja Mohan Pradhan ... 29

9. Kartikeya Gitarani Praharaj ... 31

10. Tantra Manuscripts in the Collection of State Museum Dr. C.B. Patel ... 34

11. Antiquities of Shri Jagannath : Amazing Findings Sasanka Sekhar Panda ... 40

12. Orissa : A Place for Aesthetic Experience ... 47

13. E-Governance ... 51

14. Raghurajpur : the Crafts Village ... 52

15. Metal Craft of Orissa ... 54

December-2004

1. Address at the Inaugural function of 24th IndiaInternational Trade Fair-2004 by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,Hon'ble President of India on 14.11.2004 at New Delhi ... 1

2. Bio-Data of Shri Rameshwar Thakur, His Excellencythe Governor of Orissa ... 5

3. Hundred Years of Co-operative Movement : EmergingIssues and Challenges Dr. P.C. Samantaray ... 7

4. Cuttack Credit Ltd : A Success Story ... 13

5. Institute of Co-operative Management, Bhubaneswar ... 17

6. Short Term Co-operative Credit Structure in Orissa Rabindra Narayan Dash ... 19

7. Revamping Co-operative Sector in Orissa N.K. Dash ... 25

8. Challenges Before the Co-operative Sudarsan Nayak ... 34

9. Great Heritage of Orissa Dr. Hemanta Kr. Mohapatra ... 37

10. Bondage Gopinath Mohanty ... 49

11. Mycorrhiza and Its Significance in Sustainable Dr. B.B. MishraForest Development Dr. S.N. Mishra ... 52

12. Women Empowerment in India Siddhartha Dash ... 56

13. Tutelary Goddess of Chauhan Dynasty Dr. C.B. Patel ... 58

14. Orissa News ... 62

ORISSA REVIEW VOL. LXI NO. 6 JANUARY 2005

DIGAMBAR MOHANTY, I.A.S.Commissioner-cum-Secretary

BAISHNAB PRASAD MOHANTYDirector-cum-Joint Secretary

SASANKA SEKHAR PANDAJoint Director-cum-Deputy Secretary

Editor

BIBEKANANDA BISWALAssociate Editor

Debasis PattnaikSadhana Mishra

Editorial Assistance

Manas R. NayakCover Design & Illustration

Hemanta Kumar SahooManoj Kumar Patro

D.T.P. & Design

The Orissa Review aims at disseminating knowledge and information concerningOrissa’s socio-economic development, art and culture. Views, records, statisticsand information published in the Orissa Review are not necessarily those of theGovernment of Orissa.

Published by Information & Public Relations Department, Government ofOrissa, Bhubaneswar - 751001 and Printed at Orissa Government Press,Cuttack - 753010.

For subscription and trade inquiry, please contact : Manager, Publications,Information & Public Relations Department, Loksampark Bhawan,Bhubaneswar - 751001.

Five Rupees / CopyFifty Rupees / Yearly

Messages

Editorial

The Utkal Sabha and Indian National Congress Dr. Janmejay Choudhury ... 1

Emergence of Gandhiji - National Politics and ItsAftermath Dr. Lingaraj Rath ... 3

Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose Siddhartha Dash ... 11

Netaji - The Great Nationalist Satyanarayan Mohapatra ... 15

Freedom Fighter Shree Abhiram Paramahansa Dev Pabitra Mohan Barik ... 18

Sahid Krutibas Patasani : The Crusader of BanapurRebellion of 1836 Braja Paikray ... 21

Upliftment of Harijans in Sambalpur (During BritishRule) Antaryami Behera ... 23

A Literary Critic Wins Sahitya Akademi Award, 2004(Prof. Prafulla Kumar Mohanty) Gurukalyan Mahapatra ... 27

Computerisation and Performance Evaluation Er. Ashis Kumar MahapatraSuresh Chandra Sarangi ... 30

An Untold Story of Rabisingh Majhi Dr. Binodini Das ... 36

Maritime Contact of Ancient Orissa with theWestern World Dr. Benudhar Patra ... 45

Sustainable Soil and Land Management UnderShifting Cultivation in Orissa S.K. Sahu, R.K. Nayak,

D. Sarangi ... 49

The Sauras and Their Panoramic Paintings Dr. C.B. Patel ... 53

Human Rights and Women : An Introspection Dr. Jyotirmati Samantray ... 58

Chakhi Khuntia : A National Hero of the British Period Dr. Jagannath Mohanty ... 60

Saivacharyas and Foot Print Worship Sasanka S. Panda ... 63

Orissa Pavillion in India InternationalTrade Fair - 2004 ... 69

Index of Orissa Review - 2004 ... 71

CONTENTS

On the auspicious occasion of the Republic Day, I extend my heartiest greetings and felicitations tothe people of Orissa.

2. As you know the peaceful struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi for independence of our country is aglorious chapter in the history of mankind. We salute those fearless freedom fighters from Orissa and thecountry who made supreme sacrifices for the freedom of our country. We are also grateful to our bravesoldiers who have laid down their lives in combating cross border terrorism and external aggression.

3. The Tsunami of 26th December, 2004 has left behind a trail of destruction and devastation affectingthe lives of innumerable people. The tragedy is most saddening. We offer our deep condolences to thebereaved families. I appeal to the people of my State to contribute generously to help the Tsunami victims.

4. The observance of Republic Day reminds us of the great contributions made by the foundingfathers of our constitution which has made Indian democracy a model for others to emulate. We areconstantly endeavouring to realise social, economic and political justice and the finer concepts of liberty,equality and fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution.

5. Orissa has a glorious past. The Kalinga war, paved the way for compassion, peace and co-existence.Further history has chronicled the expertise of the Kalingas in maritime trade which brought prosperity tothe ancient Orissa. The Orissan navigators travelled far and wide to far off South-East Asian countries andestablished trade links with them. Even today we find the vestiges of Orissan culture in those countries.Orissa's sculptors and architects have created wonders in their temples and monuments. The famoustemples of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar and other places in Orissa bear testimony to their architecturalmarvels. The handlooms and handicrafts of the Orissan weavers and artisans are enchanting and captivating.The silver filigree work of Cuttack, the stone carving work of Puri, the horn work of Paralakhemundi, theapplique work of Pipili, the handloom fabrics of Western Orissa, the tasar sarees of Berhampur can enticeanyone with a penchant for art and craft.

6. Orissa is veritably a treasure trove for the tourists. The fascinating art and craft, colourful andvibrant cultural festivals, hospitality of its people can provide any tourist a unique experience. Orissa'sbeauty compels visitors to have an interface with its monuments, green forests, wild-life sanctuaries, lakeand lagoons and beautiful tribal people with their varied cultural traditions. There is also great potential foreco-tourism. Government is laying stress on development of tourist spots and improvement of connectivityso that tourism sector can generate substantial employment.

7. Orissa is the home land of as many as 62 tribal groups comprising 23 percent of its total population.To improve the socio-economic condition of the tribals, Government is attaching top priority to tribal

MESSAGE OF

SHRI RAMESHWAR THAKURHIS EXCELLENCY

THE GOVERNOR OF ORISSAON THE OCCASION OF

THE REPUBLIC DAY - 2005

development programmes. Similarly sincere efforts have been made to provide social security cover to thedisadvantaged, the disabled, the destitute and the poor. Development of backward areas and KBK districtscontinues to receive attention of the State Government as well as the Central Government.

8. Agriculture is the mainstay of our people. It employs directly and indirectly over 70 percent of ourworkforce and contributes significantly to the State's gross domestic product. To make agriculture a profitableproposition, farmers have been motivated to raise cash crops. Utmost importance is being laid on thedevelopment of horticulture and floriculture. Orissa is home to nearly 250 varieties of rare medicinal plants.Cultivation of these will not only benefit the farmers, but in the long run result in extensive research in thefield and industries allied to this will also flourish.

9. Nature has bestowed its bounties on Orissa. The abundant mineral resources like iron ore, manganese,chromite, bauxite, lime stone, dolomite and coal can transform Orissa to one of the most prosperous Statesof our country. Several industrial houses have evinced interest to set up mega projects in steel and aluminiumsectors in our State and a number of MoUs have been signed. These projects will generate direct andindirect employment for our youth and resources for the State.

10. IT is another key sector of development. Bhubaneswar is slowly emerging as a major IT centre inIndia. During current year the growth of software exports from Orissa is likely to exceed 40% to touchRs.500 crores. With the arrival of IT majors like TCS and WIPRO, Bhubaneswar is expected to crossRs.1000 crores export mark during the next 3-4 years.

11. Government is vigorously pursuing innovative schemes like Pani Panchayats, Biju Krushak VikashYojana and Watershed Mission to help the farmers. We have Mission Shakti and Infant Mortality ReductionMission to ensure economic empowerment of women and reduction of Infant Mortality. These missionsare doing excellent work and have started showing desired results. The Government has a clear vision andconcrete programmes for reduction of poverty and increase of per capita income to improve the quality oflife of our people.

12. Thanks to the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India has made rapid strides in Science, Technologyand important core sector infrastructure development. Several Technical institutions of international repute,scientific laboratories, irrigation projects, steel plants etc. have been established in the country. Some ofthem we can see in Orissa like Hirakud Dam, Rourkela Steel Plant and Paradeep Port.

13. Orissa has enormous natural resources, plenty of water, vast forest resources, long coastline andmost importantly, sincere, hard working and intelligent human resource.

14. Our Prime Minister is very sympathetic and concerned about the all round development of Orissa.Recently, Union Agriculture Minister mentioned about the National Horticulture Mission in which there isenormous scope for development, investment and employment. With the initiative of the State Government,positive response of Central Government and active involvement of people, development of the state andwelfare of the people can be accelerated. One thing we have to take care of is to guard against complacency.We must show a sense of urgency in carrying out our assigned duties. I have always been an optimist andfirmly believe that the people of Orissa will rise to the occasion and meet the challenges of changing times.

15. On this auspicious occasion, I call upon the people to come forward and join hands to build aprosperous and vibrant Orissa.

JAI HIND

I extend my good wishes and greetings to my dear sisters and brothers of the State on the

auspicious occasion of the Republic Day. The Republic Day is an important day for all of us. The

Constitution of our country became operative on this day. Those great sons who framed the

Constitution are not among us today. I pay my tribute to them. Many have sacrificed their lives for

freedom of our country. I also offer my sincere tribute to them.

You all know that many people have lost their lives in Tsunami. I offer my condolences to

bereaved families and appeal you to come forward for helping them out at this critical hour.

My Government is working for the development of Orissa with your co-operation for the

last five years. We are giving priority to the development in Agriculture, Industry, Irrigation,

Education and Health sectors as well as progress in the rural area. Special programmes have

been undertaken for the welfare of the farmers, labourers, tribals, Harijans and poor people. The

tribals are comprising 23% of the population of our State. Barring their uplift, the development of

the State is impossible. Programmes are being implemented for the socio-economic development

of the tribals. To increase their income we have taken steps to empower them with their rights on

water, forest and land. Small cases against the tribals have been withdrawn. To increase their

income Minor Forest Produces Policy has been implemented and the price of Kendu leaves have

been increased. Efforts are on to give them rights on forest land.

My Government has laid special emphasis on the development of women. 'Mission Shakti'

programme is operating in full swing. This programme has become a mass movement. The income

of women has gone up by this programme. We have decided to sale gas and kerosene through the

Message ofSHRI NAVEEN PATNAIK

HON'BLE CHIEF MINISTER, ORISSAON THE OCCASION OF


women Self-Help Groups. Through this exercise the income of women will increase and people

will get these essential commodities easily. To facilitate justice for the women, women desks are

also going to be established in all police stations.

My Government has always put due emphasis on agriculture and the welfare of the farmers.

The Biju Krushak Vikash Yojana and Pani Panchayat programmes have become popular among

the farmers. To make agriculture profitable, we have laid emphasis on the development of

Horticulture. By growing vegetables, fruits and floriculture, our farmers will be immensely

benefited and their economic condition will improve.

To provide employment opportunity to youths of our State, Employment Mission is being

launched. By the development in Industry, Information Technology and Tourism sectors more

employment will be generated. Therefore, we have put special emphasis on these sectors. Interests

have been evinced for setting up of industries in Steel and Aluminium sectors. Many big industries

will be set up and by this there will be economic progress in the State. Likewise the development

of the I.T. sector will increase export and generate employment. We have also undertaken special

programme for the development of tourism.

The development of Orissa is the target of all of us. For this, cooperation of everybody is

required. To-day on the occasion of Republic Day, I would like to request you all to come

forward and join hands to make Orissa a prosperous State.

JAI HIND

I extend my heartiest greetings and good wishes to sisters and brothers of the State on the

auspicious occasion of 56th Republic Day.

26th January has an historic significance for the people of our country. Fiftyfive years ago

on this day in 1950 by proclaiming India a Sovereign Democratic Republic, we drafted a Constitution

for ourselves. We have committed ourselves to ensure social and economic justice for all sections

of the society. Let us pay our humble tribute to those great personalities who sacrificed themselves

for the freedom of our country. Let us rededicate ourselves to serve the nation with all sincerity

and devotion.

Fiftyfive years have passed away in the mean time. We are consistently endeavouring to

materialise the dreams of our great leaders and freedom fighters. Trespassing all the hurdles, we

have made perceptible progress in every field. There is no iota of doubt in this, but we have to

strive hard to go a long way.

Orissa is nature's bounty. Our State has been endowed with abundant natural and mineral

resources. Oriyas have great traditions of strength, capability and perfection in art and artefacts.

But owing to lack of opportunity and subjugation by foreigners for many years these abilities have

become insipid. If we harness our natural as well as mineral and human resources appropriately,

our State would become an advanced one. We have multifarious problems. The only way to

Message ofSHRI DEBASIS NAYAK

HON'BLE MINISTERINFORMATION & PUBLIC RELATIONS,

SPORTS & YOUTH SERVICESON THE OCCASION OF


mitigate our poverty and backwardness is to spread village and mega industries. There is ample

scope for industrial development in our State. Sincere and determined efforts have been made in

this direction. Similarly, concrete steps are being taken for development in Agriculture, Health,

Energy, Education, Communication, Science and Technology and Sports sectors alongwith welfare

activities for the disadvantaged and weaker section of the society.

With strong determination and commitment let us face boldly all the challenges coming in

the path of progress and rededicate ourselves for making a vibrant and developed State so that

Orissa will get its proper place among all States of the country.

I wish the happiness and prosperity of all people of our State.

JAI HIND

EDITORIAL Orissa Review

Republic Day of India – A Celebration of Sovereignty is one of the most importantdays in Indian history as it was on this day the Constitution of India came intoforce and India became a sovereign country. On this day, 26th January 1950,India became a Sovereign Democratic Republic. The country materialised thedreams of Mahatma Gandhi and innumerable freedom fighters who fought andsacrificed their lives for the Independence of their mother land. Therefore, the26th of January was declared a national holiday and has been recognized andcelebrated as the Republic Day of India, ever since.

Today, the Republic Day is celebrated with much enthusiasm all over thecountry. The beginning of the occasion is always a solemn reminder of thesacrifice of the martyrs who died for Mother India during the freedom movementand the succeeding wars for the defense of sovereignty of their country. Then,the medals of bravery are awarded to personnel from the armed forces for theirexceptional courage in the battle field and also the civilians, who havedistinguished themselves by their acts of valour in different situations.

To mark the importance of this occasion, every year a grand parade isheld in the national capital from the Rajghat, along the Vijayapath. The differentregiments of the Ground Forces, the Navy and the Air Force march past in alltheir finery and official decorations. Even the horses of the cavalry are attractivelycaprisoned to suit the occasion. The cream of N.C.C cadets, selected from allover the country consider it an honour to participate in this event, as do theschool children from various schools in the national capital. They spend manydays preparing for the event and no expense is spared to see that every detail

is taken care of, from their practice for the drills, the essential props and theiruniforms.

The parade is followed by a pageant of spectacular displays from differentStates of the country. The moving exhibits depict scenes of activities of peoplein various states and the music and songs of that particular State accompanyeach display. Each display brings out the diversity and richness of the cultureof India and the whole show lends a festive look to the occasion. The parade andthe ensuing pageantry is telecast by the National Television and is watched bymillions of viewers in every nook and corner of the country. The patriotic fervorof the people on this day brings the whole country together even in her essentialdiversity. Every part of the country is represented on this occasion, which makesthe Republic Day the most popular of all the national holidays of India.

January issue of Orissa Review features the spirit of the Republic Daywhile paying tributes to Tsunami victims who lost their lives in the unprecedentedhuman tragedy of gigantic nature.