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ORISSA , a See also:tract of See also:India, in See also:Bengal, consisting of a See also:British See also:division and twenty-four tributary states . The See also:historical See also:capital is See also:Cuttack; and See also:Puri, with its See also:temple of Jagannath, is See also:world-famous . Orissa differs from the See also:rest of Bengal in being under a temporary See also:settlement of See also:land See also:revenue . A new settlement for a See also:term of See also:thirty years was concluded in 1900, estimated to raise the See also:total land revenue by more than one See also:half; the greater See also:part of this increase being levied gradually during the first eleven years of the term . To obviate destructive inundations and famines, the Orissa See also:system of canals has been constructed, with a capital outlay of nearly two millions See also:sterling.(See See also:MAHANADI) . The See also:province is traversed by the See also:East See also:Coast railway, which was opened .throughout from See also:Calcutta to See also:Madras in 1901 . The DIVISION OP ORISSA consists of the five districts of Cuttack, Puri, See also:Balasore, Sambolpur and the forfeited See also:state of Angul . Total See also:area 13,770 sq. m.; pop . (1901) 5,003,121, showing an increase of 7% in the See also:decade . According to the See also:census of r9or the total number of persons in all India speaking See also:Oriya was more than 92 millions, showing that the linguistic area (extending into Madras and the Central Provinces) is much larger than the See also:political province . The whole of Orissa is See also:holy ground . On the See also:southern See also:bank of the Baitarani See also:shrine rises after shrine in See also:honour of See also:Siva, the All-Destroyer . On leaving the stream the See also:pilgrim enters See also:Jajpur, literally the See also:city of See also:sacrifice, the headquarters of the region of See also:pilgrimage sacred to the wife of the All-Destroyer . There is not a fiscal division in Orissa without its community of See also:cenobites, scarcely a See also:village without consecrated lands, and not a single See also:ancient See also:family that has not devoted its best acres to the gods . Every See also:town is filled with temples, and every See also:hamlet has its shrine . The See also:national reverence of the See also:Hindus for holy places has been for ages concentrated on Puri, sacred to See also:Vishnu under his See also:title of Jagannath, the See also:Lord of the World . Besides its copious See also:water-See also:supply in See also:time of high See also:flood, Orissa has an See also:average rainfall of 622 in. per annum . Nevertheless, the uncontrolled state of the water-supply has subjected the See also:country from time immemorial to droughts no less than to inundation . Thus the terrible See also:famine of 1865-1866, which swept away one-See also:fourth of the entire See also:population, was followed in 1866 by a flood which destroyed crops to the value of £3,000,000 . Since then much has been done by See also:government to See also:husband the abundant water-supply . The See also:early See also:history of the See also:kingdom of Orissa (Odra-desa), as recorded in the archives of the temple-of Jagannath, is largely mythical . A See also:blank in the records from about 50 B.C. to A.D . 319 corresponds to a See also:period of Yavana occupation and Buddhist See also:influence, during which the numerous See also:rock monasteries of Orissa were excavated . The founder of the Kesari or See also:Lion See also:dynasty, which ruled from A.D .
474 to 1132, is said to have restored the See also:worship of Jagannath, and under this See also:line the See also:great Sivaite temple at Bhuvaneswar was constructed
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In 1132 a new line (the Gajapati dynasty) succeeded, and Vishnu took the See also:place of Siva in the royal worship
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This dynasty was extinguished in 1532-1534, and in 1578, after half a See also:century of See also:war, Orissa became a province of the See also:Mogul See also:empire
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It nominally passed to the British in 1765, by the Diwani See also: See also:Hunter, Orissa (1872) . |
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