Dateline Cuttack

A chronicle and narrative of the millennium city where I have grown up around and worked as a journalist for over three decades, mostly as a Correspondent for The Statesman, The Telegraph and The Times of India. - LALMOHAN PATNAIK

[lalmohanpatnaik]

From Temples to Puja Mandaps to Chandi Medha

Growing up in a Cuttack locality has so many fond childhood memories. One of them is the Bengali style Bhoger Khichudi that we (children of the locality) used to feast on during Durga Puja.

Less than quarter of a km from our residence was located the Binapani Club (Estd 1888) at Badhei Sahi where Bengalis gathered together as Buxi Bazar Durga Puja Samity and organised Sarbojanin or Community Durga Puja in Mrinamayee Murti (clay idol) form. The puja is said to have been organised for the first time by Janaki Nath Bose( father of Subash Chandra Bose), then a flourishing lawyer of Cuttack alongwith some of his friends.

A highlight of Ashtami and Navami was the niramish (without use of onion and garlic) khichudi or khichdi. It had the regular rice and moong dal along with a few additions like spices, peas, potatoes and tomatoes.

The delicious bhog was served at lunch time 1- 2 pm to all those who were in the club around that time for free. The unique feature of their bhog was the individual attention that they gave towards each visitor.

The concept of Sarvojanin puja also brought people of the entire locality together, irrespective of their social strata. This community spirit reached its high point, when hundreds of people, both children and grown-ups regardless of their social backgrounds sat cross-legged in rows to have their delicious serving of hot khichdi bhog.

Before Sarvojanin Durga Puja came to be celebrated in Cuttack, it was mainly confined to the temples – Cuttack Chandi Mandir and Gada Chandi Mandir. It was not before 19th century that the millennium city started celebrating the Durga Puja influenced by Bengalis at a time when the entire country had come under British rule.

Till Orissa attained statehood in 1936 it was part of the larger Bengal Presidency. Initially, a burgeoning middle class of Bengalis who had settled in the erstwhile capital city – Cuttack started to observe Durga Puja in Mrinamayee Murti (clay idol) form. Later they gave way to community Pujas that were conceptualised in permanent puja mandaps.

The earliest worshipping of Mrinamayee Murti of Goddess Durga is traced to a thatched house in Binod Bihar-Balu Bazar area during Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s visit to Cuttack in 1512. The idol was consecrated in the presence of the Bengali saint.

The Bengali priest who had accompanied the saint stayed behind and followed it up by full-fledged Durga Puja in 1513 in the thatched house which is now the Binod Bihari temple and the Puja Mandap of Balu Bazar Puja Committee.

In 1890, the business community of Balu Bazar (then the prime business centre in the city) together with residents of the locality took up the responsibility of the Puja and converted it into Sarvojanin Durga puja. Till now the descendants of the Bengali priest (Banerjees) continue to be the main priest of the Puja Mandap. The Goddess here is known as ‘Elder Sister’.

The Goddess at the Chandni Chowk Puja Mandap is known as ‘Younger Sister’. Nobody knows why. In 1817, a Bengali family (Duttas) started puja of Durga in clay idol form in a thatched house at AstaSambhu temple. Subsequently, it received the patronage of the royal family of Darpani and was shifted to the present Puja Mandap.

By end of 19th century, it was turned into Sarbojanin puja by pooling in the support of Dasah Sahis (ten localities). In the 1940s the Darpani royal family handed over the responsibility of Durga Puja to the people of the locality. Due to the royal link the idols of most Puja Mandaps in Cuttack were brought in a procession to the Chandni Chowk Puja Mandap before being taken for immersion to Purighat.

Even to this day the custom is being followed by around 40 of the old puja mandaps. The present number of Puja Mandaps have crossed 150. Of them around 80 observe Durga Puja in Mrinamayee murti form. The rest come up with idols of Mahadev and Hara Parvat.

Durga Puja in Mrinamayee murti form was also started by Late Swaroop Chandra Das, a Bengali Zamindar at his residence in Machua Bazar in as early as 1752. The Das family which continued with the tradition opened it up for the community of the locality two centuries later. The Goddess there is popularly known as Sarpa Durga.

Another Durga Puja in Mrinamayee murti form was started at Janakinath Bhawan, the ancestral house of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Oriya Bazar. When Subhas was rusticated following the ‘Oaten incident’ – alleged assault on E A Oaten, professor in history by students- he came to Cuttack in March 1916. In the same year Subhas along with friends of the locality started the Durga Puja.

Subhas returned to Calcutta within less than a year to resume his studies when Calcutta University revoked the rustication order. But his friends continued this tradition under the patronage of Subhas’s father Janaki Nath Bose. The puja was converted into a community celebration by the Oriya Bazar Sarbajanin Durga Puja Samiti when the entire Bose family decided to shift to Calcutta and settle there. Years later the Durga Puja started by Subhas Bose was shifted to the permanent Puja Mandap of Durgabari Samiti at Alamchand Bazar.

In 1832, Oriya and Bengali employees of the East India Company started Durga puja at Kazi Bazar. This is said to be the earliest Sarbojanin Durga puja in the city.

The Choudhury Bazar Panchayat Committee started Durga puja in Mrinamayee Murti form in 1872. Choudhury Bazar - one of the important business centres in Cuttack is said to have been named after one Manjinath Choudhury who constructed a Jain temple in the locality during the Maratha rule.

The mandap became a star attraction for visitors during Durga Puja when it pioneered use of traditional decorative craft associated with silver as base metal for the backdrop to the clay idol. With it came up the first Chandi Medha – silver filigree backdrop by using 250 kg of pure silver in 1955.

The ornamental style had then no parallel in the country as far as silver filigree was concerned. The Choudhury Bazar puja mandap continued to have the lone Chandi Medha in the city till the unique style was picked up by the Puja Mandap at Sheikh Bazar with a 350 kg Chandi Medha for their Goddess in 1991. Another 26 Puja Mandaps have since followed with Chandi Medhas made of 250 kg to 500 kg pure silver.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

BUXI BAZAR

I grew up in a Cuttack locality, also known as Sahi in Odia with closely-knit houses having hardly any space among them and rooftops so close that you can just cross over them.

Though born at Rasarasikapur in Athagarh, a sub-divisional headquarter town, some 40 kms from Cuttack my parents shifted to Cuttack and moved in to a rented house at Kalikinkar Lane when I was less than two years old.

It was a small stretch of street named after a Bengali gentleman who was the owner of the house and flanked by Basuli Sahi on one side and Badhei Sahi on the other. We stayed in the same house on rent for 28 years. By then we were a family of six with two more sons and a daughter born to my parents.

A dominant landmark of the locality overlooking our backyards was a huge community pond that was referred to as Buxi Pokhari which was a feast to watch from rooftop during the periodic communal fish-catch gatherings. In close proximity was also Buxi Bazar.

It is most commonly believed that Buxi Bazar was named after the leader of the Paika Rebellion of 1817, Buxi Jagabandhu.

According to historical records, Buxi Jagabandhu had surrendered to British forces with his followers in Cuttack on May 27, 1825. He was pardoned along with his followers.

He lived virtually as a prisoner in Cuttack. He prayed for the restoration of his former possessions and allowances to reside at Rorang. But he breathed his last on January 24, 1829 in Cuttack. The area where Buxi was held under house arrest in Cuttack was later named Buxi Bazar, runs the common belief.

But a letter written by an Acting Magistrate of Cuttack to his higher authority in 1814 indicates that the area was named as Bukshee Bazar prior to the beginning of Paika Rebellion and much before the coming of Bakshi Jagabandhu to Cuttack.

I came across the letter in Volume I of Cuttack One Thousand Years published by Cuttack Millennium Committee, The Universe. Acting Magistrate of Cuttack M Ainsle wrote the letter to George Dowdeswell Esquire, Chief Secretary to Government, Fort William. The letter indicated the demographic structure and names of localities of the then capital town of Orissa.

As evident from Ainsle’s letter Cuttack town was then divided into six divisions or Mohullas – Baloo Bazar, Telengah Bazar, Kafeelah Bazar, Gunga Manzil, Jallampoor or Kuddamrasool and Bukshee Bazar.

According to the letter the 6th Buxshee Bazar Mohulla was composed of Buxshee Bazar, Mulag Sehaye, Putna Markanul, Patna Marjumeer, Mungla Bagh, Meerza Patna, Kesarpoor Kusko, Pakee Mollee, Jagheer SayurraSchaye, Ranu Kunt, Jabrah, Marod Khan Patna. The Mohulla had a considerable number of Houses and many opulent individuals as well as large proportion of indigent inhabitants.

“The Mohulla has been fixed in extent and formation on due consideration of vicinity of different Bazars which compose it and also with reference to the poverty of some of the Bazar which are though not very continuous to the principal bazar or indeed to any one of the bazars yet are nearer to them than to the bazars which form the other five Mohulla”, the letter said.

In the Buxshee Bazar Mohulla there were then 1190 houses and 12 chowkeydars to provide security to all inhabitants. The city of Cuttack then had 6391 houses for the protection of which there were 55 chowkeydars whose monthly pay amounted to Rs 155.

The letter apparently dispels the belief that Buxi Bazar was named after Buxi Jagabandhu. But the antiquity of the name still remains obscure.

According to historical records Bakshi is a historical title used in India, deriving from Persian word for "paymaster", and originating as the title of an official responsible for distributing wages in Muslim armies.

Mir Bakshi was the head of the Military Administration in the Mughal Empire. The responsibility of Mir Baksh was to gather intelligence and make recommendations regarding military appointments and promotions.

Be that as it may. But the Cuttack Municipal Corporation has started the process for installation of a bronze statue of Buxi Jagabandhu at Buxi Bazar Square - one of the important junctions in the city’s main thoroughfare following a demand by the Buxi Bazar Byabasayi Sangh.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Legend of Baji Raut

On a day after October 10, 1938, at the Khannagar cremation ground in Cuttack, seven bullet-ridden bodies lay burning on a single funeral pyre. One of them was Baji Raut. He was 12.

Beholding it a 24-year-old revolutionary Oriya poet’s heart caught fire and what followed was Baji Raut – a long narrative poem that went on to become a classic that inspired generations and led to the birth of a legend…. The legend of a boatman-boy who fell to the bullets of British troops for resisting them to cross the river near his village by denying them the ferry boat.

The poet was Sachidananda Routray, popularly known as Sachi Routray who was later conferred with Padma Shree in 1962, Sahitya Akademi Award in 1963, Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1965 and Jnanpith Award in 1986. He died at the age of 88 at his residence in Mission Road, Cuttack on August 21, 2004.

Baji Raut won nationwide acclaim after Indian English poet and author Harindranath Chattopadhyay rendered it into English – The Boatman Boy in 1942. Later it was published in The Boat Man Boy and Forty Poems by Sochi Raut Roy in December 1954.

In the 33-page long Translator’s Notes dated February 15, 1942 published along with the anthology by Prabasi Press, Calcutta – 9 Harindranath Chattopadhyay wrote: “When that ugly and blood curling incident – the shooting and bayonetting of Dhenkanal boatmen – took place Sochi arrived on the scene with a mighty song celebrating the courage of those boatmen, the cowardice of the tyrants who slew them, and specially the immortal example of young boatman boy Baji Raut of barely twelve, whose name has now become a household one in the homes of revolutionary thinkers and writers. This song of Sochi’s begins with the powerful invitation to the tyrant:  

“Shoot, shoot as steadily as you can.  Our breasts are bared to your bullets!

Keep aside your wooden lathis, for we damn it all. Our breasts are made of rocks!”

The Song caught on, even as flames catch on in a forest-lighting up all the night with its lurid glare! Thousands and thousands sang it – it rang like a message of release struck from a giant gong hung from the ceiling of the firmament. It was not a song anymore; it became a machine-gun-a dangerous weapon which must be withheld. The song was proscribed in the state. It still is. But its effects on the masses have been ineffaceable”.

In a prelude to the Anthology – The Background of the “Boatman Boy” - Sachidananda Routray wrote: “The hero of the major poem in this book is a boatman boy of barely twelve, namely Baji Raut who fell a martyr to imperialist bullets of British Raj and its feudal underlings in India. He was but an ordinary human being, a mere dot in the vast multitude of man. But he has now grown to be a great force or should I say a mighty institution that inspires and vitalises a nation!

Further describing “The Daring boy of Dhenkanal”, Rautray wrote: “Baji Raut, born at the village of Nilakanthapur in Dhenkanal state in Orissa, was then barely twelve. He came from a poor family and had none to look after him except his poor old mother.

The fateful night of October 10, 1938 came. It had been raining incessantly for the last three days. The night was dark and the sky and the hills looked ogrish every time the patterns of the cloud changed. Baji was fast asleep on the banks of Brahmani River inside the little thatched shed of his ferry boat fastened to a tree. He had been posted there by the Praja Mandal as a sentinel to watch over the ‘ghat’ and to see that the boat was not used by the troops of the State Durbar to cross the river carrying out their murderous game of killing and looting people and burning down the houses of the houses of peaceful villagers across the river who were found sympathising with the Praja Mandal workers.

At the dead of the night, the police troops arrived at the bank of the river where Baji’s little boat was fastened………. They roused Baji Raut and demanded his boat to be taken across………. But the little hero stood undaunted and an inspired voice rang out – “This boat of mine belongs to the Praja Mandal. It cannot be hired out to you- the enemy of the people”. ………… One of them shook his tiny body violently while another struck his head with the heavy butt of his gun……. His skull was fractured and blood was oozing profusely. However, he did not succumb immediately. He got up, jumped to the river bank from the boat tied ashore, and called out to the workers of the Praja Mandal……. Soon after, other workers of the Praja Mandal appeared in the scene. They fastened the rope of the boat tightly to their waist and stood on the bank like trees deeply rooted in the soil. The police cut the rope that fastened the boat and rowed away…… After rowing away the boat a few yards the troops loaded their guns and fired a volley at the silent crowd standing in the bank. A few were killed instantly and many were wounded fatally.

Baji Raut, Hurushi Pradhan, Lakshman Mullick, Raghu Nayak, Guri Nayak, Nata Mullick and Fagu Sahu were among the brave deads who fell martyrs to imperialist bullets……. The dead bodies of the martyrs were later brought to Cuttack, the capital of Orissa and after the post mortem, were cremated on a single pyre by the author and his friends”.

“The poem that follows seeks to immortalise heroic sacrifice and the burning patriotism of the young hero Baji Raut who stands today as a supreme symbol of deathless struggle against the forces of darkness and reaction”, Routray wrote in the seven-page-long prelude dated September, 1942.

Exactly forty-four years later Friends Publishers, Cuttack printed the first edition of Surendra Mohanty’s Patha O Pruthivi in 1986.

Mohanty, one of the leading modern fiction writers in Odia language who had 50 books written in different genres, including some in English received the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for his magnum opus – Nilashaila. He was also conferred with Padma Shree.

Mohanty was also a parliamentarian. He was Member of Rajya Sabha 1952-57 and 1978-1984. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Dhenkanal in 1957 and from Kendrapada in 1971. He died at his residence in Shelter Square on December 21, 1990.

Written in the form of a memoir - Patha O Pruthivi – a book of 566 pages earned the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award. In Page 244, he recollected how he visited Nilakanthapur and met the mother of Baji Raut and queried about her son’s death. 

According to Mohanty, while narrating about her son's death on that fateful day, she said; "On that day, Baji had neither gone to the ferry ghat nor had held the ropes of the boat. He was standing under a tree in our backyard, on the river bank and watching the villagers holding onto the ropes of the boat. The river was in spate. The boat was going up and down with the rising waves. When the police troops fired the shots, a stray bullet came and hit Baji and he fell down on the spot".

 Mohanty then concluded: “Tenuh Pulice Fauzku Pratirodh Karibaku Jai Baji Raut Je Goolichotareh Sahid Hoijaichi – Eha Eka Sahityaka Kalpana Matra (Hence, that Baji Raut was martyred by bullet shots while preventing police troops is just a literary fiction)”.

Be that as it may. But Baji Raut has gone down in history as a classic case of literary fiction transcending facts. That is where fiction rises higher than facts and fiction is chosen over fact.

No wonder the Government of India in Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav -an initiative to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements named Baji Raut among the ‘Unsung Heroes’. 

“Baji Rout who was martyred on 12 October 1938 at the age of 12 only while peacefully resisting the British troop to cross the river in his village by denying them the ferryboat, is the youngest in the history of freedom struggle in India to gain martyrdom……. The killing of Baji became a sensation in Odisha and he became a legend”, the ‘Unsung Heroes Details” says.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

Swaraj Ashram

On March 23, 2021 the Department of Posts released a Commemorative Postage Stamp on 100 years of the first visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Orissa, a significant event of India’s freedom struggle.

A public function in this regard was organised at Swaraj Ashram in Cuttack as part of celebration of Azaadi Ka Amrut Mahotsava by India.

The First Day Cover of the Commemorative Postage Stamp showed the Swaraj Ashram at Sahebzada Bazar, where Gandhiji stayed during his first visit to Orissa on March 23, 1921.

Known by different names at different points of time, such as Satyabadi Mess, Satyabadi Ashram, the Swaraj Ashram remains the most iconic representation of anti-colonial non-violent resistance and India’s freedom struggle in Orissa.

The mansion which was once the hub of freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress in Orissa became a subject of interest for me when Smita, my sister chose it for dissertation as part of her MPhil degree in History in 1995.

The thesis entitled – Cuttack Swaraj Ashram and Freedom Movement in Orissa, observed: “Swaraj Ashram was a unique type of institution. It became the vehicle of such primary and fundamental works which not only precipitated events but also became instrumental in attaining independence”.

“It was a major centre of freedom movement activities and was concerned with the distribution of spinning wheels, promotion of spinning and training the workers for the propagation of the Congress programme”, the study observed.

Records indicate that the house belonged to one Dibakar Das of village Dikhitpur in Cuttack district. Sometime in 1912-13 Prof Yogesh Chandra Ray of Cuttack College started staying in the house on rent. After retirement he went away to Bengal. The house was then converted into a mess by students of Cuttack College. Most of them were former students of the Satyabadi School. Hence, it came to be known as Satyabadi Mess.

Gopabandhu Das also used to stay in that mess most of the time during his visits to Cuttack. Under his inspiration, the students of the mess joined the non-cooperation movement. It then came to be known for some time as Satyabadi Ashram.

Gradually, the house became fairly well known among Congress workers and it became the central meeting place of all the prominent leaders of the Congress. On March 13, 1921, the first Pradesh Congress Committee was constituted there with Pandit Gopabandhu Das as President and for the first time 12 members were elected to the All-India Congress Committee. From that day the house was christened as Swaraj Ashram.

Bhagirathi Mohapatra was second in command in Swaraj Ashram next to Gopabandhu Das. Atal Behary Acharya was in charge of volunteers and workers.

In Patha Pathi published in the Souvenir of Cuttack DCC in 1969, Brajabandhu Das gave a descriptive account of the Mahatma’s visit. Gandhiji alongwith Kasturba arrived in Cuttack on March 23, 1921. From the Railway station they were taken to the Swaraj Ashram in a procession of about ten thousand people in which there were 72 Kirtan Mandalis (groups of devotional singers). Three hundred volunteers looked after maintenance of law and order. All houses along his route were decorated with leaves and flowers. Women rained flowers on them from atop houses, the account said.

Gandhiji stayed at Swaraj Ashram for two days. On March 23, 2021 he addressed a public meeting on the Kathajodi riverbed to set up for Orissa a target of Rs 3 lakh for the Tilak Swaraj Fund.

On the next day he had meetings with the Muslims at Qadam Rasool, women at Binod Behari and students and lawyers at Tinkonia Bagicha.

Mahatma Gandhi’s first visit energized the Non-Cooperation Movement and strengthened the cause of freedom struggle. During his visit large section of youth participated in the movement and women folk regularly spun Charkha and propagated the use of Khadi and clothes of foreign origin were shunned. Such was the magical presence of Gandhiji that Orissa woke up from slumber and plunged itself in the national movement.

Gandhiji practically inaugurated the Non-Cooperation movement in Orissa. The contribution of Swaraj Ashram in this regard was invaluable and of great significance. The Ashram was witness to many interesting incidents and episodes, arrests, closures and raids, etc

The first batch of Salt Satyagrahis started their historic yatras from Cuttack Swaraj Ashram/ The Banar Sena (Monkey Brigade) functioned from Swaraj Ashram. The Ashram had an active role in the preparation for the ‘individual satyagraha’ and Quit India Movement.

The ashram's function was initially to train workers and facilitate Congress work. Gradually, it also became the centre of activities of all programmes of the Congress, including propagation of khadi, prohibition and removal of untouchability.

Gandhiji visited Cuttack for the second time on August 19, 1925. During his visit on December 20, 1927, a spinning competition and a small khadi exhibition was organised at the ashram.

Swaraj Ashram functioned as the headquarters of all Congress activities. It became the nerve centre of Congress programmes All leaders used to flock there. According to available records Swaraj Ashram functioned as the office of the Provincial Congress Committee as well as the Cuttack District Congress Committee from 1921 to 1969.

In the 1930s when it was decided to purchase the building for location of the Congress Office, one Nalini Kanta Ghosh, who was then the SDO Kendrapada had become owner of the property. He sold the land on December 20, 1937 for Rs 10,550. A trust remained in charge on behalf of the Provincial Congress Committee.

Accordingly, the Utkal Swaraj Ashram Trust deed was registered on November 20, 1940 to utilise the properties for production, storage, sale of Khadi and other kinds of cottage industries, Hindi prachar and Harijan activities, establish libraries, reading rooms, press for lawful propaganda of Indian National Congress activities.

From 1980, neither the PCC nor the DCC functioned in Swaraj Ashram. The state government declared Swaraj Ashram as a protected monument in 1986 under the Orissa Monument Preservation Act. In 1992, the property in the name and style of Swaraj Ashram spread over 0.490 acres was vested with the state government following the declaration by the court of the collector, Cuttack.

But physical takeover was possible in January 2004 following eviction of unauthorised occupants from the premises. The Cuttack collector has since been its custodian. The State government has since reshaped it into a museum in memory of the lives and times of the Gandhian leaders and their contribution to the freedom movement.

The museum has been designed to present visual accounts — mostly photographs connected with the freedom movement and the role of Swaraj Ashram — which was in the thick of the non-cooperation movement in the 1920s.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

An acre for the King of Bards

Despite living in Cuttack since my school days I didn’t know that Upendra Bhanja Jayanti Saptaha is organised every year at Mission Road in the city to commemorate the birth of the celebrated Odia poet and classical Odissi music composer.  

Regrettably, my awareness was limited to enthusiastic references to the love lyrics of Upendra Bhanja by a fellow student of Odia Honours and friend up to this day - RB - during my graduation years.

Being a student of English literature, a newfound interest in Upendra Bhanja, led me to educate myself about him and know that he was a 17 th century poet renowned for his Odissi songs and epic poems that typified his extraordinary creative sensibility. He made significant contributions to enrich Odia literature.

His date of birth is not known with certainty, but it is traced to between 1670 and 1688 at Kulada in erstwhile Ghumsara Princely State, now Bhanjanagar, a town named after him in Southern Odisha.

He died sometime in the 1740s. By then he wrote some 52 to 60 books. While many of the hand-copied books have been lost in the absence of a printing press, only 22 are reportedly available. With his poetry replete with similes, he carved out a niche for himself in medieval literature as a leading ornate poet.

Upendra Bhanja’s works based on Odissi classical music, the traditional classical music of Odisha won him wide acclamation as one of the greatest Odissi composers of the time. His compositions are commonly employed in Odissi dance as well as Gotipua, Sakhi Nata, Prahallada Nata, Radha Prema Lila and other allied art forms.

He composed many love lyrics with symbolic reflection of nature. Devotion to the Almighty was integral to most of his poems. His Cantos (one of the sections into which long poems are divided) mostly ended with symbolic dedication to the Supreme power. Apart from the literary legend, historical facts are described in several of his works.

Upendra Bhanja whose first published work is "Rasapanchaka" came up with the first dictionary – Gita Abhidan in Odia literature. He is said to have contributed 32,300 words to Odia language and literature.

According to literary critics some of his well-known Kavyas – long narrative poetic compositions characterised by decorative elaboration are Baidehisha Bilasa (with each line starting with "Ba"), Rasalila, Brajaleela, Subhadra Parinaya  (with lines starting with "Sa"), Labanyabati, Premasudhanidhi, Rasika Harabali, Subhadra Parinaya and Chitrakabya Bandodhya, Koti Brahmanda Sundari, Kala Koutuka (with "Ka" initial for every line), Satisha Bilasa" (with 'Sa'  initial in every line), "Damayanti Bilasa" (with 'Da' initial in each line) and "Padmabati Parinaya" (starting each line with 'Pa').

He has been addressed as “Kabi Samrat” in popular reference since the early part of 19th century for his unsurpassed rhetoric excellence as a poet. Perhaps no other language has a poet to compare with him apart from Sanskrit.

According to poet and critic Mayadhar Mansingh, Upendra Bhanja may be taken as the most supreme master of using Sabada Alankar (a recognised and respected element in literary art in Indian poetics) in the whole Indian literature.

This year Upendra Bhanjas annual 78th birth anniversary week was observed as usual from May 16 to 22 at the Bhanja Mandap constructed for this purpose close to the Union Club in 1973.

Kalinga Bharati, one of the oldest cultural organisations of the state along with Utkal Chhatra Sahitya Samaj organised like all years the week-long anniversary marked by symposiums on Upendra Bhanja, Odissi dance and Odissi music from 6 pm to 10 pm.

But the red tape over grant of permanent lease of near to one acre land which has been the venue for the unrelenting observation of the Upendra Bhanja’s birth anniversary week year after year by Kalinga Bharati testifies how well successive governments in the state have patronized the ‘Kabi Samrat’ over the past nearly five decades.

Madhusudan Das, better known as Madhu Barrister had established the Union Club by obtaining a plot of 3.65 acres of Government land at Mission Road, on lease in 1914 with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s father Janakinath Bose as its first President. Union Club was purportedly established as a challenge to the colonial powers which refused entry of the locals to the Cuttack Club established in 1865 for Europeans and Anglo-Indians.

Kalinga Bharati – an organisation at Dagarpada in Cuttack was created by Guru Bichhanda Charan Patnaik in 1933-34 purportedly for the promotion of ancient and medieval Odia literature and culture, especially the works of Upendra Bhanja.

Available records, including Court orders indicate that Kalinga Bharati requested Cuttack Collector for allotment of land for permanent office, stage and library in 1971.

After Union Club agreed to spare one acre from the 3.65 acres lease hold land in its possession to Kalinga Bharati. Cuttack Collector approved the proposal and permitted sub-lease of one acre on May 30, 1971.

The sub-lease was executed on July 6, 1971 between the President of Union Club and Secretary of Kalinga Bharati. Secretary Union Club gave consent February 15, 1973 for construction of Bhanja Mandap on the subleased land.

Cuttack Improvement Trust accorded permission for construction of the Bhanja Mandap on the subleased land on June 9, 1973. Thereafter, Kalinga Bharati constructed a permanent stage to perform different literary and cultural functions along with a library and music rehearsal room’

In the same year when lease granted in favour of Union Club expired Kalinga Bharati applied for renewal of lease of the one-acre land in its favour. But the entire land 3.65 acres was renewed in favour of the Union Club on January 31, 1987.

Kalinga Bharati filed a title suit in 1989 before the Court of II Additional Civil Judge (Sr Division) which directed the Cuttack Collector to dispose of the case for permanent lease considering their possession within six months on December 20, 2013.

The available records further indicate that the Union Club sought intervention of Orissa High Court for allotment of the entire land in their favour in 2016. Acting on it the high court directed the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central) to take steps on the pending lease application.

Kalinga Bharati on its part also sought intervention of the high court in 2017. Responding to it the high court directed the Cuttack Collector to dispose of the pending lease application of Kalinga Bharati on July 22, 2019.

But the lease applications of both Union Club and Kalinga Bharati relating to the Khasmahal land are pending before the Cuttack Collector.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

From Circuit Court to High Court

During the colonial rule, Orissa was part of the Bengal province under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court. The British government formed the new province of Bihar & Orissa on March 22, 1912. But the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court continued over Orissa till the Patna High Court came into existence.

Records related to the history of Orissa High Court say the territory of Bihar and Orissa were earlier under the jurisdiction of the High Court of judicature of Fort William (Calcutta) in Bengal. A letter patent issued on February 16, 1916, by King George V constituted the High Court of Judicature at Patna in the province of Bihar and Orissa.

Patna High Court started functioning with seven judges including the Chief Justice and a Circuit Court for Odisha began functioning in Cuttack three months later.

The Circuit court in Cuttack was the precursor of Orissa High Court. It had its first sitting on May 18, 1916. It was the first of its kind in India and was somewhat an experiment.

Barrister Madhusudan Das was the president of the Cuttack Bar Association at that time. In his address welcoming the move, Das expressed hope that the circuit court would become a permanent bench for Orissa in future.

On April 1, 1936, Orissa was made a separate province, but it was not given a separate high court. What followed was a growing demand for Orissa to have its own High Court with several representations being submitted to the Government. On July 26, 1938 the High Court Bar Association at Cuttack adopted a Resolution demanding a separate High Court for Orissa.

Subsequently, the Government of Orissa by a resolution on August 15, 1942 constituted a committee to examine a question of establishing a High Court for Orissa. This committee comprised Bira Kishore Ray (the then Advocate General) as Chairman, Bichitrananda Das (Member of Legislative Assembly), Rai Bahadur Chintamani Acharya (President of High Court Bar Association), D.N. Narsingh Rao (Advocate) as Members and J.E. Maher (Superintendent and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs) as the Secretary.

The Committee’s report was published on December 31 1943. Consequent upon the government accepting the Committee’s recommendations the Governor of Orissa submitted an address to the Governor General of India on March 3, 1948 that a High Court, be constituted for the Province of Orissa.

According to the records the Governor-General of India issued the Orissa High Court Order on April 30, 1948. It provided for constitution of the High Court for the Province of Orissa from July 5, 1948. Then, by Orissa High Court (Amendment) Order 1948 the date of formation was changed and H.J. Karania, the then Chief Justice of the Federal Court of India, inaugurated Orissa High Court on July 26, 1948.

The High Court started functioning with four Judges including  B.K.Ray as the Chief Justice with 1900 cases. As of January 31,2021, the sanctioned number of judges stood at 27. By the time of its 75th foundation day on July 26th, 2022, it stands further increased to 33 (22 permanent judges and 11 additional Judges) and the number of cases pending before it was over 1.8 lakh.

According to the annual report published by the high court in February 2022 after a gap of six years the formal alteration of the name of the state from ‘Orissa’ to ‘Odisha’ was made effective by the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Act, 2011. The Government of Odisha on 21st March 2012, issued the Odisha Adaptation of Laws Order, 2012 making it effective from 1st November 2011. The above change was reflected by the corresponding changes in the text of the Constitution of India. However, the corresponding change in the name of the High Court awaits the change to the Orissa High Court Order, 1948, the report said.

A new building of the Orissa High Court was inaugurated on November 11, 2012. Functioning of court proceedings was shifted to the new seven-storey building on January 2, 2014. With 1.68 lakh sq ft carpet area, the new building has 22 courtrooms and 22 chambers for judges along with lounges for them and other state-of-the-art facilities. The century-old court building has now been designated as a heritage building.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

From a Wasteland to a Temple of Learning

The Department of English at Ravenshaw University has a claim to be one of the oldest Post Graduate Departments in India. The department is set to observe its centenary celebrations.

I was a Post Graduate student of English (1982-84) during the diamond jubilee years of the department when the premier institution of Orissa was known as Ravenshaw College.

In fact, the college became a Post Graduate institution with the starting of M.A classes in English in 1922, a year after it was shifted to the present site.

In 1913, Nathan Committee of Patna University selected as site for the college a vast tract of wasteland – widely known as Chakrapadia where no one dared to walk alone after nightfall.

Yet, the British officers used it for horse racing and cricket matches, while women’s cycle races pulled more crowds.

On November 11, 1919, Lt Governor of Bihar & Orissa Sir Edward Gait laid the foundation stone to construct a complete set of new buildings. at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj donated Rs One lakh for electrification of the new buildings and purchase of science laboratory equipment.

Architect A M Millwood came up with the design of the Ravenshaw college building. As part of the early buildings that came up then was the college main block (the Arts Block now) which included the large hall, three large class rooms (36 ft x 34 ft), thirteen class rooms (30 ft x 20 ft), twelve smaller tutorial class rooms in addition to senior and junior common rooms and administrative offices.

The science buildings consisted of three separate blocks, each including a lecture theatre and the necessary laboratories and located in the middle was a library known as Kanika library named in honour of Kanika Raja Rajendra Narayan Bhanjadeo who had donated Rs 55,000 for it. The buildings also included two Hindu hostels, one small Muslim hostel and a few residential quarters for the Principal and the Professors.

The opening ceremony of Ravenshaw College was held on April 5, 1922. The Governor of Bihar & Orissa declared it open after completing the proceedings of his Darbar with the Feudatory Chiefs in the College Hall. The Governor also opened the library and unveiled the portrait of Raja of Kanika.

When Ravenshaw College celebrated its diamond jubilee on January 18, 1936, the then Principal H R Batheja in his report observed: “We have at last a temple of learning, fair to look on, stately in proportions which compares not unfavourably with the only other template – The temple of Jaganath for which Orissa is known all over India. The twin monuments represent Orissa to the outside world and are a source of justice and pride to every Oriya”.

When the British occupied the Barabati Fort in 1803 there was no school or college in Odisha. Cuttack city had its first educational institution in 1822. Baptised as Cuttack School it was started by William Banptous and managed by the missionaries till it was taken over by the British government in 1841.

After upgrading it continued to be the only middle English school in the Orissa Division. It was named as Cuttack Zilla School when it was raised to the status of high school in 1851. It was converted into a Collegiate School in 1868, paving the way for establishment of a college in Cuttack.

Subsequently, the first college was born with the introduction of intermediate classes in the collegiate school in the same year.  While in 1875 the school was named as Ravenshaw Collegiate School, its college wing was separated into a full-fledged government degree college in 1876 and named as Cuttack College affiliated to the University of Calcutta. In 1878 the Cuttack College was renamed as Ravenshaw College.

In the March 27, 2017 Bhubaneswar edition of The Telegraph a former Civil Servant wrote an article advocating a name change of the Ravenshaw University. An attempt was made to foist a debate over it. But there were no takers. I was then The Telegraph’s Principal Correspondent based in Cuttack. Understandably, no alumni would like to be robbed of the identity of being a ‘Ravenshawvian’.

Thomas Edward Ravenshaw was Divisional Commissioner at Cuttack from 1865 till 1878 when he retired and returned to England. Apart from being instrumental in introducing collegiate education Ravenshaw gave a memorandum to the authority for the establishment of the degree college.

But Lt. Governor of Bengal, Sir Richard Temple, agreed to the proposal on the condition that a contribution of Rs.10,000 was forthcoming from the public. The Maharaja of Mayurbhanj Krushna Chandra Bhanjadeo donated Rs 20,000 to fulfil the condition. It was on his insistence the name of Cuttack College was changed to Ravenshaw College in 1878.

The story of the Ravenshaw College with a campus sprawling over 87.4 acres has since been a classic tale – a sweeping story of Cuttack and of Orissa, that spans over one and a half century with its alumni virtually the Who’s Who of Orissa.

The Ravenshaw College Hall (now heritage hall) was the venue of declaration of Orissa as a separate province on April 1, 1936 where Sir John Austin Hubback was administered the oath of office of the Governor. On January 9, 1937, the first Provincial Durbar was also held in the College Hall.  

The first historic Session of the Provincial Assembly was held in the Ravenshaw College Hall, Cuttack on July 28, 1937. The Assembly had altogether 10 sessions with 188 sitting days in all till it was dissolved on September 14, 1945. The election for the Second Provincial Assembly was held under limited franchise from April 4 to April 9, 1946. The newly elected members were administered oath on May 27, 1946 and the Assembly met for its First Session on the same day in the College Hall. Thereafter, it housed the State’s Legislative Assembly up to even after Independence till it was shifted to Bhubaneswar as the new capital.  

The college originally was affiliated to Calcutta University and, thereafter to Patna University in 1917 and was finally affiliated to Utkal University in 1943. Utkal University began functioning from the college campus itself till its campus came up in Bhubaneswar in 1963.

Ravenshaw College observed its centenary in 1968. The Government of India honoured it through the issue of a commemorative stamp in 1978. It was then among the three educational institutions in the country to get the honour.

Ravenshaw University figured in the Lok Sabha debates on February 12, 2021 with Cuttack M.P Bhartruhari Mahtab highlighting the need to declare it as Central University by the Union Government.

Ravenshaw was granted autonomous status in 1989. It was given special status of unitary university by the Ravenshaw University Act, 2005. But it has lost this special status since the repealing of the act by the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.

Today it has 27 undergraduate courses and 23 post graduate courses under nine schools having research facilities under PhD and DLit programmes. It has two centres for excellence – Centre for Environment & Public Health and Centre for Odishan Studies and four independent centres - Centre for Aurobindo Studies and Futurology, Centre for Translation and Digital Humanities, Centre for Women’s Studies and Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.

The University is set for expansion to a second campus spread over 124 acres at Naraj on the western outskirts.of the city.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

Prelude to a Pinch of Salt

Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March – a nonviolent protest against the British monopoly on salt production in March – April, 1930 marked a turning point in the Indian independence movement. It played a major role in India’s subsequent freedom from British rule.

But much before this (42 years back) Madhusudan Das, the architect of modern Orissa, better known as Madhu Babu, framed a mass protest around salt in Cuttack.

When Gandhi was 22 years old, he wrote his first article on Salt in The Vegetarian as early as February 14, 1891. He described salt as ‘heavily taxed’ for the people of India who lived on bread and salt amidst complete poverty.

Madhu Babu was 40 years old when he orchestrated the protest against the salt tax by way of a large public gathering at the Cuttack Municipality Market on February 11, 1888. It is believed to be the first public meeting in India to protest the salt tax.

It was pointed out that poor Indians had a tax burden several times bigger in comparison to the people of England. The tax on salt was termed "unjust," because the taxed salt was all imported from abroad and reduction in salt tax was pressed for.

Madhu Babu addressed the huge gathering in Oriya and pointed out that the total tax per head in England was Rs.8 against the per capita income of Rs.300 whereas in India it was Rs.16 against the per capita income of Rs.20 per annum.

The salt law was chosen by Madhu Babu for mass protest as salt farming was one of the principal trades in Orissa and both native salt manufacturers and consumers were hit hard by it.

In the ‘Cuttack District Gazetteer’, O Malley had recorded that the best quality of salt was then being manufactured in the Orissa coast. Revenue realised by the East India Company from the Salt in Odisha through monopoly amounted to about Rs 18 lakh per annum.

Orissa salt became a British monopoly in 1804. The private sale of salt was completely prohibited. Those who had salt in their possession had to sell to the salt department immediately at a fixed price. Subsequently, the manufacturing of salt by anyone other than the government was declared illegal.

Instead, the salt department in Orissa advanced money to salt labourers for salt production. The Orissa salt had a ready market in neighbouring Bengal. The British in Bengal traded in Orissa salt too.

While clandestine manufacture of salt continued the salt manufacturing families were further ruined when the administrative control of the Orissa salt department was transferred, to Madras.

Though in the Allahabad Session of the Congress of 1888 a mild protest was raised against the salt tax, Madhu Babu felt restricting protests to mere resolutions would little serve the purpose.

Soon after the Allahabad Session Madhu Babu convened the huge public meeting with the support of the Utkal Sabha in the Cuttack Municipal Market. He attacked the salt tax and demanded the restoration of the Odisha Salt department to the administrative control of the Government of Bengal from the Madras Government to save the salt industry in Orissa.

Eminent author Surendra Mohanty in his monograph on Madhusudan Das published by National Book Trust in 1972 wrote: “As a consequence of this popular movement, the salt department in Orissa was ultimately transferred from Madras to Bengal. Since then, rationalisation of salt tax continued to feature as an important economic and political programme of Madhusudan; and this was 42 years before 1930 when Gandhiji gave a revolutionary orientation to the anti-salt tax campaign and the issue if salt tax came to acquire a new significance in Indian politics”.

Orissa was the most distressed region due to the British salt policies. But Gandhi chose the West coast for his salt satyagraha. It is said Gandhi’s choice was so because he felt closest to the salt makers of Gujarat.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Angry Old Man

As Odisha observed Biju Patnaik’s 25th death anniversary today (April 17, 2022), I was reminded of a public call he gave after he returned as Chief Minister for the second time on March 5, 1990 at the age of 74. And how the call was umpired by the Orissa High Court.

Biju Babu gave the public a call to beat up corrupt officials in 1991. “But take permission from me before you beat them up”, he announced. Soon the secretariat was flooded with complaints. Some officials were manhandled, provoking an uproar.

I was then the Cuttack based Senior Correspondent for Sun Times, an English Daily then being published by the Eastern Media Limited from Bhubaneswar.

The controversy reached the High Court with a public-spirited advocate challenging the call given by the chief minister.

The petition was filed by way of a public interest litigation. The case of the petitioner was that the public call violated the basic structure of our Constitution and was against the rule of law. He sought an injunction in this regard.

The HC decided to hear the case as it felt the petitioner was not a meddlesome interloper or a busybody who had approached the court in the garb of public interest litigation.

The HC observed: “The petitioner cannot at all be regarded as belonging to the aforesaid category of persons inasmuch as he, being a member of the Bar, is vitally interested in perseverance of the rule of law and if the call given by the Chief Minister to beat corrupt officials encourages people to take law into their own hands, the petitioner would well be within his rights to this Court to see that the rule of law is maintained”.

When the Court weighed the merit of the controversy the Advocate General contended that the call for beating up should not be taken literally, as all that the Chief Minister had desired was to instil a fear psychosis in the mind of the corrupt officials by making them known that the Government would not tolerate corruption and even the Chief Minister at his level would get these matters examined and, if any truth is found in the complaint, stern action shall be taken.

The Chief Minister's call for beating was an emotional expression in indignation against the particular situation existing in the State wherein corruption was found to be rampant. The Chief Minister also wanted people's participation in eradicating corruption and exhorted them to be bold in this regard. The call wanted to bring home the point to the corrupt officials that corruption would no longer be tolerated and strong remedial and disciplinary measures would be taken in those cases where the allegations would be found established after investigation.

As evident from the full text of the judgment in the case the Advocate General sought to bring home the purport and the basic idea behind the call of beating up given by the Chief Minister by referring to the speech made by the Chief Minister on the floor of the House on March 14, 1991.

As recorded in the judgment the English translation of the unedited Oriya speech made by the Chief Minister on the aforesaid date read:

"It is impossible to manage these people. Therefore, I have given it to the people. I am telling to the people, be conscious of your rights. Those who are committing theft and those who are committing dacoity, beat these people. But before you beat them, you ask me and then beat them or else, if you beat them, cases will be instituted against you. Whatever you do, do it only after you ask me and after taking my permission. Whatever charges you have got against them, give it to me in writing and they have also done so. After they have given the charges, investigation has been made of the charges and action had been taken and more stern action would be taken. This I have expressed in the house. I have not given permission to anyone I have not given permission to anyone I have not given permission to anyone. (Interruptions).

Thereafter, the Chief Minister stated as below in English: --

"I have said only to put fearlessness in the minds of ordinary, oppressed and poor people and told that you have a right. You are a citizen of this country, you have a right to revolt against corruption, against injustice you have a right. Therefore, they revolt against corruptions, but bring it to my notice. Do not take law into your own hands. I have a squad of officers. They will investigate and punish."

The HC formed the view that it was clear the Chief Minister did not want the people to take law into their own hands. He also stated that after the charges were investigated and were found to be tenable, action had been taken and more stern action would be taken.

The lawyer – petitioner fairly agreed that if the statement of the Chief Minister is read down as indicated in his Assembly speech, he would be left with no grievance on this score, as corruption being rampant, a call to deal with the corrupt officials strictly and to create a fear psychosis in their minds cannot be said to be in any way violative of the rule of law. The procedure of getting the complaints examined by a special officer cannot also be said to be against the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution.

The judgment said : “For the reasons stated above, we, dispose of the application by stating that though the petitioner had good reasons to approach this Court, yet in view of the stand taken by the learned Advocate-General on the merits of the grievance which finds support from the speech of the Chief Minister made in the Assembly on 14-3-1991, because of which Shri Das ultimately stated that there was not much left to feel aggrieved, no cause for issuing any injunction or direction survives”.

The division bench of (the then) Chief Justice B L Hansaria and Justice B N Dash observed: “The storm has been well blown over. We part with the hope that such storm would not be seen

again”.

The judgment was delivered on April 24, 1991. The petitioner in the landmark case was Advocate Bimal Prasad Das who later went on to become a Judge of the Orissa High Court in 1999.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Mystic Saint & Sakhigopala

Chaitanya was one of the most prominent saints of the 16 th century who pioneered a great social and spiritual movement by teaching and demonstrating the science of love of God – Bhakti Yoga.

His timeless teachings hinged on the concept that one can act in spiritual consciousness even within one’s home, occupation and social affairs. His teachings along with the Hare Krishna Mahamantra overwhelmingly touched the lives of millions in Odisha.

Born in Bengal in 1486, Chaitanya travelled extensively all over India from 1510 to 1516 with sojourns in Puri. Finally, he settled at Puri at the age of 30 and spent the rest of his life in the constant adoration of Lord Jagannath, in whom he saw Lord Krishna.

In 1513, Chaitanya visited Cuttack to have darshan of Sakhi Gopala. The Anantavarman inscription of King Prataprudra Dev indicated that his father Purushottam Dev while defeating King of Karnataka Nrsimha had married his daughter Padmini, and brought the Deity of Sakhi Gopal to Cuttack.

In  Sri Charitamruta Chaitanya, the author Kaviraj Krushna Das Goswami wrote that Chaitanya came to Cuttack only to have a darshan of God Sakhi Gopala.

The story goes that a poor young man of a village near Vidyanagar fell in love with the daughter of the village headman. However, being of a higher economic status, the headman refused to give his daughter’s hand to the young man. Some villagers, including the headman and the young man, went on a pilgrimage to Brindaban. The village headman fell ill. While the fellow villagers abandoned him the young man attended to him. He soon got well and in gratitude, promised to give his daughter in marriage to the young man. He kept Lord Gopal in Brindaban as witness.

As soon as they returned to the village the headman went back on his promise, asking the young man to produce a witness in support of his claim. The young man went to Brindaban to bring Lord Gopal as his witness.

Impressed by the young man’s devotion Lord Gopal agreed to come as witness to the promise on a condition. The Lord will follow him but the young man will not look back. As they reached Vidyanagar the young man could not hear any footsteps behind him and looked back. Immediately, the Lord turned into a stone statue. The Young man named it Sakhi Gopala. When the King came to know about it he ruled in favour of the young man and built a temple there and made arrangements for worship of Sakhi Gopala.

The Sakhi Gopala temple was also witness to king Purushottam Dev’s love with Padmini. When he defeated the King of Karnataka Nrsimha and returned with Padmini, he brought the idol of Sakhi Gopala and its jewelled throne.

According to an account the idol had remained installed near the Gadgadia Ghat till Chaitanya saw it during King Pratap Rudra Dev’s reign. Then it was shifted to the Barabati Fort. But, the inscription of Jagannath Temple by Purushottam Dev indicated that it had been installed at Gopal-Priya-Jagati in Barabati Fort by the time of Chaitanya’s visit. The idol was later shifted to Khurda, then to Puri. Finally, it was installed in a temple in Satyabadi area of Puri district. Subsequently, the place was named as Sakhigopala.

When Chaitanya reached Cuttack, he was received by King Pratap Rudra Dev with great pomp and ceremony. It was the mystic saint’s first meeting with the King. It was the full moon day of Kartika month. Upon reaching the Gadgadia Ghat before having Darshan of Sakhi Gopala he is believed to have taken bath in the Mahanadi and rested on the sands of the river bed. As Chaitanya walked on the sands (Bali) of Mahanadi the festivity surrounding his visit was called Balijatra.

Chaitanya spent the last 18 years of his life in Puri till he disappeared on June 14, 1534. He was 48. But his disappearance or passing away remains one of the most challenging mysteries till date. Neither his mortal remains nor any marked grave were found.

Nothing definite has been determined so far, making it difficult to fix up the exact time of his passing away. While some believe Chaitanya passed away within the Jagannath Temple some believe he breathed his last in the Gundicha Temple. Tetanus after a brick injury in one of his legs is put forth as a cause of his death while few scholars and researchers believe that Chaitanya suffered from epilepsy and might have passed away, out of exuberant ecstatic emotion, near the image of Jagannath.  

On the day of Chaitanya’s disappearance, it was claimed that his body merged with Lord Jagannath inside the temple. A murder angle has been also a part of the unsolved mystery . It is hoped that the veil that was drawn over the incident will be blown over, one day.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

Vandals Of The British Kind

It may seem bizarre, but it’s true. The British East India Company had dismantled the Barabati Fort, and sold its stones to moneyed men of the town at 5 to 6 paisa each.

When the Barabati Fort was taken over by the British force from the Marhattas in 1803 the citadel had impenetrable double stone walls built of laterite and sandstone. They were defended by square slopping bastions with openings for canons. There were two gateways behind the main gateway which was flanked by lofty towers. 

But by the last quarter of the 19th century only the moat around the fort and the gateway survived a demolition rampage. In fact, there is no dearth of documentary evidence cited by historians which indicate that the Fort was pulled down to pieces and the purchasers of stones were reportedly asked to bear the expenses.

Many of the dismantled stones were used for repairing the 11th century flood protection wall that extended from Chahata up to Gadgadia on the right bank of Mahanadi River on the north side and south side from Chahata up to Purighat via Satichaura along the left bank of Kathajodi. Broken stones were used for making public roads. The stones were also used for construction of the Light House at False Point, a low headland in Bay of Bengal nearly 90 kms from Cuttack.

The story of systematic destruction of history began in 1828 when the flood protection wall which had by then become more than seven centuries old required repair and some British officers suggested use of stones from the Fort for the purpose. Then followed suggestion for removal of the stones from the Fort for construction of roads. The rationale behind the suggestions of the officers was the abundance of stones in the Fort. 

Responding to the suggestions the Fort Williams in Calcutta authorised use of the Barabati Fort stones for the repair of the flood protection wall and the public roads. The Military Board reportedly gave a free hand to the officers to sell the surplus stones as there was more than enough for the purpose. Subsequently, hundred stones of all sizes reportedly fetched from Rs 5 to Rs 6.

By 1856, the dismantling of the Barabati Fort ramparts and other structures within it reached such a situation that the Public Works Department Government of Bengal ordered for halt to the destruction of the fort and the excavations in the interior to be filled up.

In a letter written to the Magistrate Cuttack on August 11, 1956, Commissioner G F Cockburn observed: “The injury done to the old fort is irreparable and it is a most discreditable circumstance that one of the finest remains of antiquity in the province of Orissa should have been destroyed in the way it has been for the sake of stones for the use in roads and other public works”.

But removal of the stones from the old structures continued with officers reportedly coming up with fresh suggestions for bringing down of the ruined walls running round the fort and regular excavations parallel to the moat. 

On December 20, 1856, Cockburn wrote to the Chief Engineer Fort Williams: “There has been irreparable injury already committed on the old fort and I am most unwilling to approve of any further destruction. It was one of the finest architectural memorials in the province of the former native governments. It is now a matter of discredit to us and spoken of as such by all men who visit the ruin”. 

But the chief engineer insisted that further excavations should be allowed, ‘filling up hollows with earth and sand’. On April 1, 1857 Cockburn unwillingly approved of the proposed systematic excavation. Subsequently, demolition of the remains of the walls of the fort was undertaken, according to noted historian P Mukherjee.

 In 1873, historian George Toynbee found the Fort converted into “an unsightly series of earthen mounds” and the precincts within it into “wilderness of stone pits”.

Records attribute the ugly state of then to a treasure hunt by a British officer who believed that a hidden treasure was left behind by the Maharatas who they left hastily when the Barabati Fort fell to the British forces on the afternoon of October 14, 1803. 

The outcome of the treasure hunt remains a mystery.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Making of a Lexicon

Bhasakosha Lane got its name from the Purnachandra Ordia Bhasakosha - a monumental seven-volume Odia language lexicon with 1,85,000 words and their meanings in Oriya, Bengali, Hindi and English, which was compiled over 90 years ago.This encyclopaedic work of 9500 pages considered to be a treasure of Oriya language was conceived and compiled by Gopal Chandra Praharaj whose residential house was in that locale in Cuttack town.

 The magnum opus was the outcome of twenty-seven years’ labour.  The collection of words commenced in 1913. Starting with the first volume on 13 vowels in 1931, printing of the other six volumes on 34 consonants was finished in August 1940 at a cost of about Rs 1.5 lakh.

 Praharaj’s teacher W W Henderson’s suggestion to him to do something for his own language inspired him to undertake the compilation of a comprehensive Oriya dictionary.

 In 1913, Praharaj was nearing forty and already a flourishing lawyer in Cuttack, when he busied himself collecting Oriya words and idioms from Ganjam, Sambalpur, Singhbhum and the erstwhile feudatory states and from classical and modern writings.

 For it he toured the entire present-day Orissa and outlying areas with Oriya speaking population which are to be found in today’s Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. He collected and noted peculiarities of their dialects, including words borrowed from other languages like Persian, English and Telugu.

 In the compilers introduction to the Bhasakosha’s first volume Praharaj said: “One peculiarity of the Oriya language has charmed foreign philologists. The other sister languages have broken up into various dialects. For instance, Bengali spoken by 50 million people has four dialects, the Assamese spoken by 170,000 thousand of people has two dialects, the Bihari spoken by 35 million has 8 dialects, the Hindi or Hindustani has got at least a dozen dialects.

 But Oriya, properly speaking, has got no dialect. The grammatical frame work or trunk of the Oriya language remains constant, though thousands of Bengali, Hindustani, Telugu and Marhatti words have been incorporated into it in the outlying Oriya speaking tracts by the influence of these neighbouring languages.”

 Praharaj started arranging the collected words alphabetically in 1917 and compiling the manuscripts in 1919. Srimati Pitambari Devi, his sister-in-law made invaluable contribution by way of collecting from original sources – from the mouths of people proverbs, popular sayings and songs, female songs, songs sung by the cowherd, the fisherman, the cartman, the ploughman and the folktales. From her collection he was able to add at least five thousand popular and dialectical words. The others who assisted him were Pandit Kulamani Das, Ramachandra Rath and Chandrasekhar Mishra. With their assistance the manuscript was ready in 1927.

 In August 1928, at the instance of the Director of Public Instruction (Government Bihar & Orissa) Rev H W Pike (modern Oriya translator of New Testament) after careful study of the manuscript of the lexicon recommended financial help to the undertaking saying: “It is a monumental work partaking of the nature of an encyclopaedia, built on the line of some of our larger dictionaries. It aims at being exhaustive, including words in use in all parts of Orissa as well as words incorporated in the language from other languages (English included). It includes proper names and gives brief summaries of the history of the more interesting ones in Indian history.

It gives a vast number of references to Oriya literature by way of illustrating the usages (particularly unusual usages) of words, and it finally explains the meanings in three languages. In my opinion the work would be a great advance on anything now in existence and would prove of great value to scholars and students and for the comparative study of Bengali and Oriya. There is at present no Oriya dictionary which remotely attempts at what this work does. As a monument of the Oriya language and a standard work of reference on that subject, I believe the dictionary is well worth printing”.

 The quadri-lingual Oriya lexicon in seven volumes covers 9250 pages of dictionary matter and about 250 pages of other matter. Utkal Sahitya Press published the seven volumes between 1931 and 1940. Each volume was priced at Rs 15. Apart from its own office at Chandni Chauk in Cuttack the Bhasakosha had agents for the publication in London, Leipzig (Germany), Paris, Berhampore and Patna.

 In addition to compiling the lexicon, Praharaj raised the finances for its printing by collection of public donations, grants and subscriptions. He also supervised the printing and sales of the published work.

 As work progressed Praharaj was forced to give up a lucrative practice in the Bar and toil day and night. Then again when contributions ran short at one stage in the middle of the work, he had to part with his residential house in the town to meet the financial requirements for production of the lexicon.

 The title of the work has the name of Maharaja Purnachandra Bhanja Deo as per the wish of his brother Maharaja Pratap Chandra Bhanja Deo of Mayurbhanj who gave liberal donations for the project.

Praharaj dedicated the seventh volume to the then Viceroy and Governor General Lord Linlithgow. In his consent note Lord Linlithgow wrote: “The Viceroy has never lent his name to any such undertaking; but considering the excellence of the work and the herculean labour the compilation has involved, I lend my name unhesitantly to this marvellous production of yours”.

But after the publication the Bhasakosha charted a pathetic course as it had not many takers. While it adorned the libraries of the princes who had patronised the work a large number of printed copies were destroyed unsold. Some were pawned away or sold cheaply by the owners who by then were stalked by penury. Purnachandra Bhashakosha went into obscurity after the death of Praharaj in 1945.

 The monumental work, copies of which had become rare and partially destroyed  got a new life after over five decades. In 2006, Lark Books started reproducing it and Srujanika, a registered society for research and innovation in science, education and development came up with E-Bhasakosha - an electronic version of the lexicon.

In the same year a digital version was prepared by the South Asian Language and Area Center at the University of Chicago by using the base work by Srujanika for coming up with an electronic form of the lexicon. With it Purnachandra Ordia Bhasakosha became a part of an online dictionary on South Asian Languages prepared by the University of Chicago.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Myth of Kalapahad

Most people in Odisha have heard about Kalapahad as the destroyer of temples, especially for his blitz on Jagannath Temple at Puri and Sun Temple at Konark after the attack on Barabati Fort.

Nonetheless, the identity of Kalapahad is shrouded in mystery as very little is known about him for sure. When he attacked Barabati Fort in 1568, it was as a general of Afghan army of the Muslim Sultan of Bengal to conquer Odisha.

What happened when he attacked Barabati Fort? The puzzle of the death of Mukunda Dev, the last independent Hindu ruler of Odisha and what followed the fall of Barabati Fort may never be solved, but were the legends about the 16 th century’s most ferocious Afghan general a myth that gained currency three centuries later?

Kalapahad attacked Barabati Fort when Mukunda Dev who was then ruling Odisha was away engaged in battle with the Sultan of Bengal Sulaiman Karrani on the banks of Ganga.The Afghan general led another wing of the Sultan’s army to Cuttack. Nothing much is known about what followed except from folklores. In one of his poems – Kalapahad - based on folktales Godavarish Mishra wrote: "Aaila Kalapahad Bhangila Luhara bada, Peeila Mahanadi pani Suvarna thalire heda parasile Mukundadevanka rani." (Then came Kalapahad, Broke the Iron gates. His army drank the waters of Mahanadi, the queen of Mukunda Deva served beef to Kalapahad in a plate of gold)This Odia couplet became well known in Odisha in the 19th century. A century later in his book Barabati Durga (The Fort of Barabati) Krupasindhu Misra wrote: “Aaila Kalapahad Bhangila Luhara bada, Peeila Mahanadi pani Suvarna thalire heera parasile Mukundadevanka rani''.

 The substituting of the word Heda (Beef) with Heera (Diamond) obscured the situation during the fall of Barabati. While the use of Heda indicated that dishonour was meted out to Mukunda Dev’s Queen by being forced to serve beef to Kalapahad, the use of Heera suggested Queen’s appeasement of Kalapahad through presentation of diamonds and preventing ransacking of the fort. 

Five years ago, an Odia play was staged on the premises of the Jagannath Temple at Ukkunagaram in Visakhapatnam. Artists of Sanskruti Vihar, Cuttack staged it. The report published on it in The Hindu on July 14, 2016 dateline said the play showed how Kalapahad managed his way to the palace destroying everything valuable on the way and tried to outrage the modesty of the Queen but she committed suicide. The play was scripted by Chandra Sekhar Nanda. But there is no historical evidence to corroborate it.

 The circumstance of the death of Mukunda Dev is also riddled with inconsistencies.  While some believe Mukunda Dev was killed by Ramachandra Bhanja, the feudatory chief of Sarangagarh who proclaimed himself as king of Odisha at Gohiritikira near the present-day Jajpur town, some say he was killed by Kalapahad.

 After the fall of Barabati Fort, Kalapahad turned to attack Mukunda Dev, who by then had been defeated by Sulaiman Karanni and taking shelter in the fort of Kotsima. As per the Khurda manuscript two agents of Mukunda Dev betrayed him. With their help Kalapahad took the jungle path and attacked his army from the rear. Mukunda Dev was defeated and killed in the battle.

 With the Afghan invaders left unchallenged after the death of Mukunda Dev, the Barabati Fort passed into the hands of the Afghan Muslims and Odisha was thus conquered by the Sultan of Bengal in 1568.

 Some believe Kalapahad was a Hindu Brahmin. His real name was Kalachand Roy. He converted to Islam after falling in love with Bengal Sultan’s daughter Dulaari. Later, he wanted to reconvert, but the priests at Jagannath Temple declined and he took out his wrath by attacking Hindu Temples. But leading historians believe he had Afghan origin.

 In his History of Bengal Ghulam Hussain Salim wrote in 1788: “Of the miracles of Kalapahar, one was this, that wherever in the country, the sound of his drum reached, the hands and the feet, the ears and the noses of the idols, worshipped by the Hindus, fell off their stone figures, so that even now stone-idols, with hands and feet broken, and noses and ears cut off, are lying at several olaces in that country”.

 Sometime in February 2016, scholars deliberated over the iconoclastic portrayal of Kalapahad at a seminar held at the National Archives of India Records Centre in Bhubaneswar.

There was by and large a consensus among the participating historians and researchers that Kalapahad attacked Odisha in 1568, but myths about him started doing the rounds three centuries later.

 In Odisha during the Odia language revolution in 19th century he was portrayed as an ardent Jagannath follower who turned vindictive when he was not allowed to enter the temple. In Bengal he was seen as standing against Brahmanical oppression in plays and novels.

Some temples were destroyed during Kalapahad’s attack on Odisha. The scholars believed that his attack on Jagannath Temple in Puri is limited to legends fraught with inventions and not corroborated by facts. The destruction of the Sun Temple at Konark is also incorrectly attributed to him.

Such stories by way of literary medium of legends created the myth of Kalapahad. Was there a method behind it?

[lalmohanpatnaik]

How did Cuttack deal with floods 1000 years ago?

Hidden in plain sight, below the ring road circling the Cuttack city on three sides, is an ancient landmark unknown to even most inhabitants.The Stone Revetment, an early 11th century protection wall, a unique engineered structure that was medieval India’s answer to frequent inundation during floods in rivers. An old adage in Odia runs - Kataka Chintah Baimundi Kuh (Baimundi’s concern for Cuttack). The story behind this saying goes that when Somavamsi King Markat Kesari was on a round riding his horse through his capital Baimundi stopped him and made a fervent appeal for saving Cuttack from the fury of floods that ravage the city year in and year out.The old man offered a bag of coins as his contribution for construction of a flood wall to protect the people of the city from inundations by flood waters of Mahanadi River and its tributary Kathajodi. 

Baimundi's plea moved the king to construct the Stone Revetment over 1000 years ago.The Somavamsi rulers shifted their capital from Tosali (present Bhubaneswar) to Cuttack after Nrupa Keshari founded it in 989 AD. But the new capital was soon found to be constantly inundated during high floods in the two rivers.To solve the problem sized block stones were used to build the massive flood wall and keep the rivers within their current channel.The stone revetment believed to have been constructed during Markat Keshari’s reign (1005-21 AD) was designed to be flood-resilient to provide protection to the city. Protecting the north side, the protection wall extended from Chahata up to Gadgadia on the right bank of Mahanadi and south side from Chahata up to Purighat via Satichaura along the left bank of Kathajodi.Considered to be a unique feat of the ancient engineering skill standing from the depth of water the gigantic stone revetment with subsequent refurbishments has defied the fury of floods for over thousand years now.

Andrew Stirling in his account of 1822 writes: “As an instance of rapid rise, it deserves to be recorded that during the heavy rains of 1817 the water of the Cajori rose in one night to height of 18 ft, as ascertained by the careful measurement. This immense volume of water which was then perhaps one and half mile in breadth by thirty- or forty-feet depth, over topped the general level of the town and station by a height of nearly six feet and was only restrained from overwhelming them by a solid embankment faced with stone and supported by buttresses, the work of former Governments”.From the account it is evident that the possibility of inundation by floods was effectively taken care of when the protection wall was constructed and buttressed during the reign of subsequent rulers.Short accounts of British Engineers shed some light on the condition of the structure and the steps taken during the British period for its repair.

Lieutenant John C Harris in a study of the devastating flood of the Kathajodi and Mahanadi rivers in 1855 submitted a report indicating the disastrous effect of flood on the Cuttack town and the suggested remedial measures.“The revetment may be described as an irregular line of masonry, partaking of character of a wall in some portions of a simple casting in others, constructed of large blocks of laterite and sandstone set in mud cement, and painted with lime plaster exteriorly the weight of its crest varying from 17 to 36 ft above the low waterline, and width at top and bottom respectively from 3 to 4 and 5 to 8 ft.”.“Upon what foundation this wall rests, is matter of the purest speculation at this day. It is not known in fact to have any foundations whatsoever, other than such as it has formed for itself by settlements, either gradual, owing to the action of gravity upon the loose soil beneath it, reduce as this is, during floods to a semi-fluid state or again bodily in the form of breaches after the subsidence of the waters”.

Evidently, Markata Keshari’s original stone revetment of Markat Keshari has been obscured due to repair, renovation and reconstruction during which the British officers used stone blocks from the dismantled ramparts of Barabati Fort and temple fragments.In fact, with protective works involving widening of the embankments by extending them into the river, both in the Mahanadi and Kathajodi faces and coming up of the ring road on it in the 1980s has covered most of the original stone revetment. Nevertheless, some stretches of original stone facing between Sati Chaura and Chahata and between Chhata and Gadgadia can still be seen.

[lalmohanpatnaik]

The Palace in Ain-i-Akbari

Over the past century much ink has been spilt for decoding the architecture of the palace at Barabati Fort mentioned in Abul Fazal’s Ain-i-Akbari. What was noticed for its grandiosity has remained more of an enigma.

When Thomas Motte, the British agent of Governor of Bengal Robert Clive visited Cuttack in 1766 he was charmed by the external grandeur of the Barabati Fort with its ramparts, watch towers and a towering edifice in its middle.

From the bank of Mahanadi River, Motte, who was on his way to Sambalpur to explore the possibility of diamond trade saw a striking resemblance of the citadel at Barabati with Windsor Castle located on the bank of the River Thames in England.

In his account Motte wrote: “Cuttac (Cuttack) appears from hence a noble city. The rising ground on which it is situated, the stone wall by which it is defended from the force of the stream; the great number of mosques with which it is adorned and the regular appearance of the citadel strongly resembling the west side of Windsor Castle, unite to make the perspective view of the place extremely grand.”

Motte’s account gives credence that the palace mentioned in Ain-i-Akbari was intact in the second half of 18th century.

The Barabati Fort served as the residence of all sovereign powers who ruled over Orissa after Ganga ruler Anangabhima Deva III constructed it towards the end of 12 th century. But the citadel was taken note of after it came under the control of the Mughal Empire.

The palace caught the attention of Abul Fazal during his purported visit to Barabati Fort along with Emperor Akbar’s General Mansingh in 1592.  Ain-i-Akbari was compiled in Persian in 1594-95.

That there was a Navatala Prasad (Nine Storied Palace) at Barabati Fort gained ground with the publication of the first English translations of the Ain-i-Akbari in the 1890s.

According to Francis Gladwin’s translation Abul Fazal wrote – “In Cuttack there is a fine palace, built by Raja Mukund Deo, consisting of nine stories. The first storey is for elephants, camels and horses; the second for artillery and military stores, where are also the quarters for the guards and other attendants; the third is occupied by porters and watchmen; the fourth is appropriated for the several artificers; the kitchens make the fifth range; the sixth contains the Raja’s public apartments; the seventh is for the transaction of private business; the eighth is where the women reside; and the ninth is the Raja’s sleeping apartment”.

The translations triggered a disagreement over the palace as most historians felt it not reasonable to believe that the palace was nine stories tall. What baffled them the most was the location of elephants in the first storey.

Historians by and large have been of the consensus that Abul Fazal had meant to say the palace had nine ashianas and the Persian word was misinterpreted and translated as nine stories. But they differed on the interpretation of Ashianas.  

While some read it as nine courtyards arranged horizontally in rows instead of nine floors vertically on top of another, others visualised it as nine courts at different heights if not one above the other.

By far the most acceptable interpretation of Ain-i-Akbari by some historians has been the portrayal of the palace as a structure having nine courts standing on platforms of increasing heights, the ninth one being at the highest level. The nine courts were constructed in a circular manner with separate rising paths to each from the ground floor, giving the palace the appearance of a towering edifice, which Motte saw in 1766.

The Barabati Fort was devastated with the British takeover from the Marathas in 1803. In 'Orissa : Its Geography, Statisstics, History, Religion, and Antiquities', Andrew Stirling who visited Barabati Fort in 1818 stated - “No traces of the famous palace of Raja Mukand Deo nine stories in height, mentioned in the Ayin Akberi, are to be found within the walls of fort Barabati, but the fragments of sculptured cornices, etc., which have been dug up at different times, and more especially a massive candelabra, or pillar furnished with branches for holding lights, formed of the fine grey indurated chlorite or pot stone, are probably the remains of some large and splendid edifice.

”During excavations undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the mound within the Barabati Fort in 1989-91, 32 pillars possibly of a Central Hall of the palace were unearthed. The ASI archaeologists found in some of the 32 pillars, two building phases, indicating that the palace was rebuilt at least once.

In his report Director of Barabati Fort Excavation Dr B K Sinha said: “Abul Fazl in Ain-i-Akbari refers to a nine ashiana palace built by Mukunda Dev and since the period of his reign was only 8 years, it is possible that instead of building a new palace the Raja enlarged the existing palace”. His report entitled Excavations at Barabati Fort, Cuttack, Orissa, 1989-91 appeared inCuttack Millennium Committee and Celebration published in Cuttack: 1000 years, Volume I, printed by the Cuttack City Millennium Committee.  

[lalmohanpatnaik]

A Temple lost in time

India indeed is land of many Hindu temples destroyed by Muslim invaders and one such shrine was the temple of Lord Jagannath at the Barabati Fort. The temple was built in the first half of the 13 th century. The temple with its deity known by the name of Purushottam was consecrated in 1229.The Jagannath Temple was gigantic and had architectural design with sculptures depicting erotic couple, musicians, standing female figures, heads of females showing ornament and different hair styles akin to that of the Konark Temple.When the Barabati Fort fell to Firoz Shah Tugluq in 1361, the temple was thoroughly destroyed and completely forgotten later.

 A remnant of the temple in the form of the base of a temple was unearthed during excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the fort in 1990-91. Three mouldings identifiable with the base of a temple were found in the north-eastern corner of the mound.It was then that I became curious to know more about the temple to which the remnants possibly belonged. The only inscription that could be related to it was the Nagari Copper Plate.

The inscription was named so as the Copper Plate was found from a well at Nagari village in Cuttack district in 1956. Interpretations of the inscription differed but there was by and large a consensus in them that Ganga ruler Anangabhima Dev III (1211-1238) issued it after establishing a new citadel at Barabati in 1229. Anangabhima Dev III built a Purushottam or Jagannath Temple at Barabati Fort from where he ruled his empire. The inscription was issued on the occasion of consecration of the temple in the same year.But the question that rankled me was – How do you lose an entire temple?

 Historians, primarily relying on Muslim historians attribute it to the invasion of Cuttack during the reign of Ganga King Bhanu Dev III.Towards the end of 1361 Firoz Shah Tugluq who ruled the Delhi Sultanate invaded Orissa and entered the capital without any resistance as Bhanu Dev III left the Barabati Fort with members of the royal family and went into hiding. 

What followed was an exodus of thousands of men, women and children from Cuttack to escape the wrath of the Sultan of Delhi.Firoz Shah Tuglaq then desecrated the temple and destroyed it altogether. He returned to Delhi without appointing a Governor after Bhanu Dev III surrendered giving twenty elephants and promising to pay a heavy amount as yearly revenue.But the historians differed on the fate of the stone idol at the temple. While some historians believe that Firoz Shah Tuglaq carried off the idol to Delhi some others claim that the massive seated idol recovered from the moat of Barabati Fort  and now preserved in the Odisha State Museum is the Purushottam idol which was installed by Anangabhim Dev III.The ASI archaeologists considered the unearthing of the remains of the temple from the earliest levels as the most remarkable discovery during excavations at Barabati Fort. 

The small portion of a temple showing three mouldings of the base over a foundation of laterite blocks were the earliest structure found during the excavations within the Barabati Fort, the ASI report said.In his report Director of Barabati Fort Excavation Dr B K Sinha said: “No evidence has been found which may conclusively establish the identity of the temple, but the evidence that the temple belongs to the earliest phase at Barabati read with the Nagari inscriptions of King Anangabhima Dev III (1211-1238) of the Ganga dynasty, referring to a temple of Jagannath the deity of which was known by the name of Purushottam, points to the possibility of the temple unearthed during excavations at Barabati Fort being the one built by the Ganga ruler”. His report entitled Excavations at Barabati Fort, Cuttack, Orissa, 1989-91 appeared in Cuttack Millennium Committee and Celebration published in Cuttack: 1000 years, Volume I, printed by the Cuttack City Millennium Committee.

The mouldings of the temple were found to a length of nearly fourteen ft east-west, but beyond this, on both sides the base of the temple built of whitish sandstone was hidden by the overlying laterite pillars. More than four hundred fragments belonging to the temple and some mutilated pieces of sculptures, images of Ganesha and Surya showing close resemblance to Konark Temple were recovered from the filling between the laterite pillars.

Dr Sinha said: “The identity of the temple is further strengthened by the description of Tarikh-e-Firozshahi by Afif, a somewhat contemporary account of Firoz Shah Tugluq’s reign, wherein the destruction of the Jagannath Temple during Firoz Shah’s occupation of Cuttack and carrying off the idol of Purushottam to Delhi has been mentioned. All these evidences read together tend to establish that the temple found, during excavations at the Barabati was the one built by Ganga ruler Anangabhima Dev III between 1211 and 1238 and destroyed by Firoz Shah Tugluq in 1361”.

It is strange that an entire temple was lost in time following desecration after 130 years of construction. But stranger more is that such a huge temple was completely erased from the memory of the people with passage of time and Hindu kings came up with constructions over it after lapse of a century and half!

[lalmohanpatnaik]

Mound of the Dead

The people of Cuttack had long puzzled over the mysterious high mound towering up to more than 130 ft in the centre of the Barabati Fort area.

From my school days, I often wondered what created the pile of earth – and whether the mound could hold clues to the famed palace which found mention in Abul Fazal’s Ain-I-Akbari.

Climbing up the mound was then not a very arduous task. Curiosity took us – small group of friends - to the hill top several times. Sitting on the flat circular stone structure atop the mound was a perfect momentary getaway.

Most of those who grew up in Cuttack, I am sure would not have missed such sojourns to the top of the mound prior to 1989. For sports persons the high mound was a veritable choice for weekly hill climbing sessions as part of their fitness training.

The possibilities of excavation of the remains of the Barabati Fort spread over 102 acres surrounded on all sides by a stone lined moat were explored when Cuttack celebrated 1000 years in 1989.

The whole fort area was notified as a protected monument and handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1915. Nonetheless no effort for excavation followed till the issue was raked up by the Cuttack City Millennium Celebration Committee.

As the State government had constructed staff quarters and workshop in the northern part and in the entire southern part a Stadia and an indoor stadium the ASI was left with just the high mound and some flat area around it covering nearly 15 acres.

The launch of excavations by ASI at the foot of the mound on the southern side on December 1, 1989 marked the starting of the millennium celebrations. The excavation was undertaken to establish a cultural sequence at the site to determine the earliest occupation at the site and to conduct an area excavation at the mound to expose the remains of different cultural periods.  

Excavations by ASI offered no concrete answers except for indicating that the mound was a pile of earth, gravel, sand, and debris heaped for protection or concealment. Buried beneath the mound, the archaeologists discovered a square structure built over a fairly big flat area which was carefully prepared by filling up the earlier remains of the site, with sand and debris.

 The square structure had a ramp on the northern side and for its construction temple fragments including sculptural panels and dressed Khondalite blocks were used. There were also traces of stone paving and lime plastered floor all around the structure.

According to ASI records the Survey of India carried out filling operations over the square structure and the ramp and established a triangulation station over it at a height of 40.6 metres above mean sea level in 1854. It was subsequently attended to in later years as the Station also served as a Pendulum Station and bench mark. The station being of importance, care was taken that during excavations it suffered no damage, the ASI records say.

In his report Director of Barabati Fort Excavation Dr B K Sinha said: “The square structure, when built was conceived as of great importance for a great amount of labour was spent in filling the structural remains of the earlier period and thereby creating a big mound, flat at top, rising about seven metres from the surrounding plane. The square structure built atop this flat area was intended to dominate the skyline of Cuttack city”.

William Brutton who visited Cuttack in 1633 mentioned of a big square sloping bastion of stone at Barabati Fort in his account. Dr Sinha was of the view that Brutton’s reference gave an idea that the structure was built before 1633.

His report entitled Excavations at Barabati Fort, Cuttack, Orissa, 1989-91 appeared in Cuttack Millennium Committee and Celebration published in Cuttack: 1000 years, Volume I, printed by the Cuttack City Millennium Committee in 1990.

Dr Sinha said: “Though no absolute identification of the structure is possible but (1) its date being prior to 1633 and (2) from the nature of the structure it appears as a Samadhi or Memorial of some important person. The paved area and later the lime floor around the structure give ample support to this point for these may have been used for congregations etc”.

If it was a Samadhi or Memorial, then who was the important  person ?  Was it Mukunda Deva, the last Hindu ruler of Orissa who was killed in the battle against Afghan intruders of Bengal in 1568 ?

The obstruction of the high mound on the northern side by government quarters brought excavation to a stand still after two years and subsequent termination. So, the excavations could not be carried to its logical end, scotching the possibilities of revealing chapters of history of Orissa which are yet to be discovered.