Oriya Language - History

History

Oriya is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Aryan language family. It is thought to be directly descended from a Magadhi Prakrit similar to Ardha Magadhi, which was spoken in eastern India over 1,500 years ago, and is the primary language used in early Jain texts. Oriya appears to have had relatively little influence from Persian and Arabic, compared to other major North Indian languages.

The history of the Oriya language is divided into:

• Old Oriya (7th century-1200): The origin of the Oriya literature can be traced to "Bauddha Gana O Doha", otherwise known as Charyapada written by the Buddhist Siddhas of Orissa. The Oriya language begins to appear in inscriptions with Oriya scripts in temples, copper plates, palm-leaf manuscripts etc. Traces of Oriya words and expressions have been found in inscriptions dating from the 7th century AD. For example, the Oriya word କୁମ୍ଭାର /kumbha:rɔ/ ‘potter’ occurs in a copperplate inscription ‘belonging to a date not later than the 7th century AD’. Similarly, in inscriptions of 991 AD, Oriya words like ଭିତୁରୁ /bhituru/ ‘from inside’ and ପନ୍ଦର /pɔndɔrɔ/ ‘fifteen’ can be found. ‘An Oriya Passage’ also has been found in another inscription of about 715 AD.

• Early Middle Oriya (1200–1400): The earliest use of prose can be found in the Madala Panji or the Palm-leaf Chronicles of the Jagannatha temple at Puri, which date back to the 12th century.

• Middle Oriya (1400–1700): Mahabharat, Chandi Puran, Vilanka Ramayan of Shudramuni Sarala Das. Arjuna Das, a contemporary to Sarala Dasa, wrote Rama-Bibha, a significant long poem in Oriya. Towards the 16th century, five poets emerged, though there are hundreds year gap in between them. But they are known as Panchasakha's as they believed to same school of thought, Utkaliya Vaishnavism. The poets are Balaram Das, Jagannath Das, Achyutananda Das, Ananta Das and Jasobanta Das.

• Late Middle Oriya (1700–1850): Usabhilasa of Sisu Sankara Das, the Rahasya-manjari of Deva-durlabha Dasa and the Rukmini-bibha of Kartikka Das were written. A new form of novels in verse evolved during the beginning of the 17th century when Ramachandra Pattanayaka wrote Haravali. Upendra Bhanja took a leading role in this period, his creations were Baidehisha Bilasa, Koti Brahmanda Sundari, Lavanyabati were proved landmark in Oriya Literature. Dinakrushna Das’s Rasokallola and Abhimanyu samanta Simhara’s Bidagdha Chintamani are prominent Kavyas of this time. Four major poets emerged in the end of the era are Kabi surya Baladeb Rath, Santha Kabi or Andha Muni Bhima Bhoi, Brajanath Badajena and Gopal Krushna Pattanaik.

• Modern Oriya (1850 till present day): The first Oriya printing typeset was cast in 1836 by the Christian missionaries which made a great revolutions in Oriya literature and language.