Odisha not Orissa; now spell it right

NI Wire

Bhubaneswar

Sat, 10 May 2008: 

The government of Orissa with concession from all state parties has decided to change the spelling of the state name from 'Orissa to Odisha' and the language from 'Oriya to Odia.' The Centre has agreed to this proposal and would come into effect with a formal accord of the state cabinet.

The new spellings as per the pronunciation of Odia language.

It was always misspelled and no such attempt was made by any individual or administration to bring this into notice. However, the present ruling BJD government taking the initiative first in 2007 asked the Centre to make the changes.

Even in the Indian Constitution, the names are placed as ‘Udisha’ and ‘Udia’ completely different from others. There was always a mistake between Hindi and English spelling of the two and which was never rectified.

The chief minister of the state Naveen Patnaik who himself doesn’t know how to read and write in Odia language, is now well on the front to take up the credit for taking up the cause.

The Centre has now asked for all formalities to be completed by the state administration before getting the spelling right in all official purposes for all time to come. For this the Central government needs to carry out the necessary amendment in the schedule-1 of the constitution, as the state home secretary informed reporters.

With a history of over 3,000 years, the name of the state is derived from the name of ‘Odra’ tribes as some historian believes. The land has also been known as Kalinga and Utkal. The majestic kingdom of Kalinga also reminds the famous war that led emperor Ashoka to embrace non-violence and called Dharmashoka from Chandashoka.

Odisha flourished under various dynasty and rulers which can be noted with the existing arts, architecture and multi-cultural philosophy. The state came under Mughals in 1576 then under Marathas in 1751 and in 1803 under the British East India Company.

In 1936, the Odisha (Orissa) became a separate province with Cuttack as its Capital, which was eventually changed to Bhubaneswar in 1956.