Author: Rinky S

Bhubaneshwar, a city in north-eastern India’s Orissa province, prospered as a seat of Hindu devotion beginning in the 7th century CE. It is one of the most spectacular ancient temple sites in all of India due to the abundance of well-preserved sandstone temples that are all centred around the holy lake Bindusarowar. After spending many years at Kashi and realising that it was too crowded, Lord Shiva decided to meditate at Ekamra Kanana in Bhubaneswar. Because of this, Bhubaneswar also goes by the moniker Gupta Kashi (Hidden Kashi).Goddess Durga accompanied Shiva and watched over him when he meditated while dressed…

The Namalinganushasanam, a thesaurus in Sanskrit authored by the ancient Indian scholar Amarasimha, is more often known as the Amarakosha. The Sanskrit terms amara (“immortal”) and kosha (“treasure, casket, pail, collection, dictionary”) are the source of the name Amarakosha.This Sanskrit lexicon (kosha), according to Arthur Ba Keith, is one of the oldest ones still in existence. Keith claims that Amarasiha, who may have lived in the sixth century, “knew the Mahayana and used Kalidasa.”18 earlier works that the author himself acknowledges are all gone. The Amarakosha has been the subject of more than 40 critiques.Verse fragments from the Amarakoa are…

Jaganatha Misra is the author of the geography book “Kalahandi Bhugola”.India’s state of Odisha includes the district of Kalahandi. The area has yielded archaeological evidence of human habitation from the Stone Age through the Iron Age. In the south-western part of the state of Odisha, Kalahandi is located between 19.3 and 21.5 N latitudes and 82.20 and 83.47 E longitudes. It is bordered to the north by the Balangir and Nuapada districts, to the south by the Nabarangpur, Koraput, and Rayagada districts, and to the east by the Rayagada, Kandhamal, and Boudh districts. It is the 7th most populous district…

According to the Shiva Purana, there was once a conflict over dominion between Brahma, the Hindu God of creation, and Vishnu, the Hindu God of preservation. Shiva created a gigantic, never-ending shaft of light, known as a Jyotirlinga, that penetrated the three mystic states of the earth to put their abilities to the test. The pillar’s base was initially sought after by Vishnu in the shape of a boar (Varaha), while its top was sought after by Brahma in the form of a swan. Falsely claiming to have located the pillar’s summit, Brahma. Vishnu, however, meekly acknowledged his inability to…

Kharavela, also written as Khraba, was a king of Kalinga in what is now the Indian state of Odisha who reigned in the second or first century BCE. His rock-cut Hathigumpha inscription serves as Kharavela’s main source of information. The undated inscription has 17 lines, only four of which are clearly readable, while the remaining lines have different interpretations and are up for debate among experts. His rule is chronicled year by year in the inscription, which panegyrically praises him for his support of the arts, public infrastructure initiatives, social work, and several military successes. It is widely acknowledged by…

The territory within the region of Awadh in modern-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha corresponds to the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala, which had a rich cultural heritage. During the late Vedic era, it arose as a minor polity with ties to Videha, a nearby realm. The Kosala region gave birth to the Sramana movements, including Jainism and Buddhism, and was home to the Northern Black Polished Ware civilisation (c. 700–300 BCE).Following autonomous progress towards urbanisation and the use of iron, it was culturally different from the Painted Grey Ware civilization of the Kuru-Panchala region to the west of it…

A poetry collection called “Odianka Kandana” was released in 1936 by Kuntalakumari Sabat.She was born in the former princely state of Bastar, in Jagadalpur, on February 8, 1900. Daniel Sabat, her father, was a doctor. Monika Sabat was her mother’s name. Her paternal grandpa was a native of Puri’s Dandamukundapur. Before she was born, her father relocated to Bastar and embraced Christianity. She and her family relocated to Burma not long after she was born. She was born and raised in Burma. While in Burma, her father remarried, and Kuntala and her mother later returned to Odisha. After leaving Burma,…

Pratap Singh, often known as Maharana Pratap, was the Sisodia dynasty’s Hindu Rajput monarch of Mewar from about 9 May 1540 until 19 January 1597. In order to oppose the Mughal empire’s expansionist policies, he engaged in a number of significant engagements with Akbar, notably the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. Pratap rose to fame as a result of his military guerilla tactics, which served as an example to subsequent Mughal rebels like Malik Ambar and Shivaji. In 1540, the year Udai Singh II of Mewar assumed the kingdom after defeating Vanvir Singh, Maharana Pratap was born to Jaiwanta Bai.…

This is the tale of Rani Durgavati, a courageous monarch. The Rani, who was a descendant of the illustrious Chandela dynasty of Mahoba and the queen of the Gond kingdom of Garha-Katanga, bravely and skillfully confronted the power of the Mughal Empire. She made the decision to welcome death rather than risk being captured by the enemy, like many other women of her day. Named after the ferocious Hindu goddess Durga, Durgavati emerged as the deity’s human manifestation. On October 5, 1524, Durgavati was born at Kalinjar, one of the most formidable forts of mediaeval India, which is located in…

Gouraba Utkala Madhusudan Das was born on April 28, 1848, which is also known as Odisha’s Lawyer’s Day and the Odia Swabhiman Divas (also known as the Odia Honour Day). He was a supporter of the state, a writer, the first member of the College of London Missionary Society, and a social reformer. He was known as Utkal Gouraba (Pride of Utkal), Kulabruddha (Grand Old Man), and a poet and liberation warrior. The Father of Odia Nationalism, Madhu Babu was his well-known moniker. In 1881, he founded the Cuttack Town School and served as the society’s editor for the Brahma…