01 · Overview

What is modern Odisha?

The history of modern Odisha begins with the British capture of Puri and Cuttack in 1803 and runs to the present. It is the story of a people divided between three provinces who rebuilt their identity through language, literature and politics, and won a state of their own.

For most of the 19th century Odisha was a neglected corner of the Bengal Presidency. Revenue pressure, the salt monopoly and the catastrophe of 1866 brought misery, but also new schools, newspapers and a generation of reformers and writers. Their work produced the Odia movement, the province of 1936, and the modern state completed by the merger of the princely states after independence.

• Period1803 – present
• Colonial ruleBritish conquest, 1803
• Great uprisingPaika Rebellion, 1817
• Separate province1 April 1936 — Utkala Dibasa
• Key leadersMadhusudan Das, Gopabandhu Das, H. K. Mahtab
• Present shapeMerger of princely states, 1948–49

02 · Timeline

Timeline of modern Odisha

The main turning points from the British conquest to the merger of the princely states. Gold markers show the milestones most often asked in exams.

1. 1803

   In the Second Anglo-Maratha War the Company takes Puri and Barabati Fort; the Treaty of Deogaon confirms the British conquest of Odisha.

2. 1804

   The Raja of Khurda rises against the British; his minister Jayi Rajguru is captured and executed in 1806.

3. 1817

   The Paika Rebellion under Buxi Jagabandhu spreads from Khurda across coastal Odisha.

4. 1830s – 1860s

   Tribal resistance: the Ghumsar rising of Dora Bisoi and the Kandha rising of Chakra Bisoi.

5. 1857 – 1864

   Veer Surendra Sai leads a long guerrilla war around Sambalpur.

6. 1866

   The Na-Anka famine devastates coastal Odisha. The same year Utkal Dipika begins publication.

7. 1868

   Ravenshaw College is founded at Cuttack, a landmark in the growth of modern education.

8. 1867 – 1893

   Bhuyan risings in Keonjhar under Ratna Naik and later Dharani Dhar Naik.

9. 1903

   Madhusudan Das founds the Utkal Sammilani (Utkal Union Conference) to unite all Odia-speaking tracts — the heart of the Odia movement.

10. 1912

    Odisha is separated from Bengal and joined to the new province of Bihar and Orissa.

11. 1920 – 1942

    Odisha joins the national movement: Non-Cooperation, the salt satyagraha at Inchudi in the Civil Disobedience movement, and Quit India.

12. 1 April 1936

    The separate province of Odisha is created — celebrated every year as Utkala Dibasa.

13. 1937

    Provincial elections bring non-Congress and Congress ministries to power.

14. 1938 – 1939

    The Prajamandal movement spreads through the princely states — Dhenkanal, Talcher, Nilagiri, Ranpur.

15. 1948 – 1949

    The princely states merge with Odisha; Mayurbhanj joins on 1 January 1949.

03 · 1803 – 1900

Company rule, famine and a changing society

After 1803 the coastal districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore were governed from Bengal, while southern Odia lands lay in the Madras Presidency and the western tracts in the Central Provinces. Short-term revenue settlements, the loss of the salt trade to a government monopoly, and the auction of old estates hit Odisha hard.

The worst blow came in 1866, when failed rains and official neglect produced the Na-Anka famine: roughly a million people — about a third of the coastal population — died. The inquiry that followed exposed the indifference of the administration, and the crisis pushed Odia leaders towards education, journalism and public life.

• AdministrationBritish Administration in OdishaRevenue settlements, courts and the shape of Company rule.Read article →
• ConquestAnglo-Maratha Conflicts in OdishaThe rivalry that brought the British to Odisha.Read article →
• 1803British Conquest of OdishaHow Puri and Cuttack fell to the Company.Read article →
• 1866The Famine of 1866 (Na-Anka Durbhiksha)Causes, scale and consequences of the great famine.Read article →
• EconomySalt Trade in Odisha during the British PeriodHow the salt monopoly ruined a coastal industry.Read article →
• SocietySocial and Cultural Changes in 19th-Century OdishaReform, religion and new ideas.Read article →
• EducationGrowth of Modern Education in OdishaMissionary schools, Ravenshaw College and beyond.Read article →
• PressGrowth of Press and Journalism in OdishaFrom Utkal Dipika to The Samaja.Read article →
• ReligionMahima Dharma: History and TeachingsThe 19th-century faith of Mahima Gosain and Bhima Bhoi.Read article →
• Heritage125 Years of the Paralakhemundi Light RailwayA princely railway and its legacy.Read article →

04 · 1804 – 1864

Early resistance to British rule

Khurda, whose kings were the hereditary servants of Jagannath, resisted first. In 1804 Raja Mukunda Deva II and his minister Jayi Rajguru rose against the Company; the Raja was deposed and Rajguru executed. In 1817 the paikas — the traditional militia of Khurda, stripped of their lands — rose under Buxi Jagabandhu, attacking government posts across Khurda, Puri and beyond before the revolt was crushed. In western Odisha, Veer Surendra Sai of Sambalpur fought the British from 1857 until his capture in 1864.

• 1804Khurda Rebellion and Jayi RajguruThe first armed challenge to the Company in Odisha.Read article →
• 1817 · Main articlePaika Rebellion, 1817Causes, course and suppression of the great rising.Read article →
• LeaderBuxi JagabandhuChief architect of the Paika Rebellion.Read article →
• 1857Revolt of 1857 and Surendra SaiSambalpur’s long war against the British.Read article →

05 · Hills & forests

Tribal risings

In the hill tracts, British attempts to impose revenue, police and control over customs met fierce resistance. The Kandhas of Ghumsar fought under Dora Bisoi in the 1830s and later under Chakra Bisoi; in Keonjhar the Bhuyans rose under Ratna Naik (1867–68) and Dharani Dhar Naik (1891–93).

• Kandha · 1830sGhumsar Rising under Dora BisoiResistance in the Ghumsar hills.Read article →
• KandhaKandha Rising under Chakra BisoiA decades-long struggle in the Kandha hills.Read article →
• Bhuyan · 1867–68Bhuyan Rising under Ratna NaikKeonjhar’s first Bhuyan rebellion.Read article →
• Bhuyan · 1891–93Bhuyan Rising under Dharani Dhar NaikThe second Bhuyan rising in Keonjhar.Read article →

06 · 1866 – 1936

The Odia movement and the province of 1936

In the late 1860s attempts to replace Odia with Bengali in schools provoked a spirited defence of the language. Out of this grew organised politics: the Utkal Sabha (1882) and, in 1903, the Utkal Sammilani, founded by Madhusudan Das to unite all Odia-speaking tracts under one administration. Rulers such as Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo of Mayurbhanj supported the cause.

In 1912 Odisha was separated from Bengal but placed in the new province of Bihar and Orissa. Two more decades of campaigning, commissions and negotiation followed until the separate province of Odisha came into being on 1 April 1936, bringing together the Odisha division, Koraput and parts of Ganjam from Madras, and Khariar and Padampur from the Central Provinces.

• Main articleUnderstanding the Odia MovementWhy Odias fought for one province and how they won it.Read article →
• MovementThe Rise of the Odia MovementA struggle for unity and identity.Read article →
• LeaderRole of Madhusudan Das in Making Modern OdishaUtkala Gourav and the Utkal Sammilani.Read article →
• LeaderSriram Chandra Bhanj Deo and the Language MovementMayurbhanj’s ruler and the Odia cause.Read article →
• 1 April 1936Creation of the Separate Province of OdishaCommissions, boundaries and the birth of the province.Read article →
• 1936Just after the Birth of Modern OdishaThe first steps of the new province.Read article →
• AnalysisOdisha’s Formation DebateRegional grievances or political strategy?Read article →

07 · 1905 – 1947

Odisha in the freedom struggle

Odisha’s leaders carried the national movement into villages and schools. Gopabandhu Das, founder of the Satyabadi school and the newspaper The Samaja, led Odisha into Non-Cooperation; in 1930 the salt satyagraha at Inchudi in Balasore made the district a centre of Civil Disobedience; and during Quit India the firing at Eram and the execution of Laxman Nayak of Koraput became symbols of sacrifice. In 1937 the province had its first elected ministries.

• OverviewNational Movements in OdishaThe freedom struggle in Odisha from start to finish.Read article →
• 1905Swadeshi Movement in OdishaBoycott and swadeshi in Odisha.Read article →
• 1920–22Non-Cooperation Movement in OdishaGopabandhu Das and the first mass movement.Read article →
• 1930–34Civil Disobedience Movement in OdishaSalt satyagraha at Inchudi and beyond.Read article →
• 1942Quit India Movement in OdishaEram, Koraput and the last great movement.Read article →
• 1942Quit India Movement and the Women of OdishaWomen leaders and volunteers of 1942.Read article →
• 1937–47Non-Congress and Congress MinistriesOdisha’s first elected governments.Read article →

08 · The Garjats

The princely states and their merger

Twenty-six princely states (Garjats) covered much of inland Odisha under British paramountcy. From the late 1930s the Prajamandal (people’s association) movement challenged forced labour and feudal exactions — in Dhenkanal the boatman boy Baji Rout was killed by state police in 1938. After independence, under pressure from the people and from Harekrushna Mahtab and Sardar Patel, most rulers signed merger agreements, and the states joined Odisha on 1 January 1948; Mayurbhanj followed on 1 January 1949.

• ParamountcyBritish Relations with the Princely StatesHow the Garjats were ruled under the Crown.Read article →
• 1930s–40sThe Prajamandal Movement in OdishaPeople’s movements against princely rule.Read article →
• 1948–49Merger of the Princely States of OdishaHow Odisha took its present shape.Read article →
• MergerPrincely States and their Merger with OdishaThe states, their rulers and the merger process.Read article →

09 · People & literature

Makers of modern Odisha

Modern Odisha was shaped as much by writers as by politicians. Fakir Mohan Senapati created modern Odia prose, Radhanath Ray brought new forms to Odia poetry, and Gangadhar Meher wrote from western Odisha in a voice of his own.

• LeaderUtkala Gourav Madhusudan DasLawyer, reformer and father of the Odia movement.Read article →
• WriterFakir Mohan SenapatiThe father of modern Odia fiction.Read article →
• PoetGangadhar MeherThe poet of nature from Barpali.Read article →
• RulerSriram Chandra Bhanja DeoThe reforming Maharaja of Mayurbhanj.Read article →

Classics of the Odia renaissance

• Radhanath RayChandrabhagaThe legend of Konark’s river retold.Read article →
• Radhanath RayChilikaThe great lake in Odia verse.Read article →
• Radhanath RayMeghadutaKalidasa’s cloud messenger in Odia.Read article →
• Gangadhar MeherTapaswiniSita’s exile in Meher’s epic poem.Read article →

10 · Since independence

Odisha after 1947

Independent Odisha built a new capital at Bhubaneswar, which replaced Cuttack in the late 1940s. The Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi, inaugurated in 1957 and one of the longest earthen dams in the world, brought irrigation and power, and steel and mining transformed the north and west. The super cyclone of 29 October 1999 killed close to ten thousand people; the disaster-management system built afterwards has since saved many lives through large-scale evacuations during later cyclones. In 2011 the state’s official name in English changed from Orissa to Odisha, and in 2014 Odia was recognised as a classical language.

For today’s issues — governance, education, environment and heritage policy — see our Contemporary Odisha and Editorial sections.

11 · Complete index

All articles on modern Odisha

Every article on modern Odisha on this site, grouped and in reading order. Type below to find one quickly.

No article matches that search. Try “Paika”, “Odia” or “Quit India”.

12 · For OPSC & university exams

Quick revision: points to remember

1. 1803: British conquest of Odisha in the Second Anglo-Maratha War; Barabati Fort captured in October.
2. 1817: Paika Rebellion of Khurda, led by Buxi Jagabandhu.
3. 1866: Na-Anka famine; Utkal Dipika founded the same year by Gourishankar Ray.
4. 1903: Utkal Sammilani founded by Madhusudan Das; 1912: Bihar and Orissa province formed.
5. 1 April 1936: separate province of Odisha — the first created mainly on a linguistic basis — celebrated as Utkala Dibasa.
6. 1 January 1948: princely states merge with Odisha; Mayurbhanj follows on 1 January 1949.

Sources & further reading

1. Mahtab, H. K. The History of Orissa. Cuttack.
2. Patra, K. M. Orissa under the East India Company. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1971.
3. Banerji, R. D. History of Orissa, Vol. II. Calcutta, 1931.
4. Das, Manas Kumar. History of Odisha, Vols. I–III.
5. Sahu, Y. K. History of Odisha, Vols. I–II.
6. Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Famine in Bengal and Orissa in 1866.
7. Report of the Orissa Committee (O’Donnell Committee), 1932.