Lying cosily along the vast eastern sweep of the Bay of Bengal, Orissa is a predominantly rural, essentially agro-based State with a rich reserve of minerals, coal and many semi-precious stones. Although blessed with sprawling patches of fertile green coastal plains, the economy of the state is often established by natural disasters such as floods, droughts and cyclones.

Orissa is a palpably religious state. The state was once a center of Buddhist learning, but changes in ruling dynasties brought shifts in religious affiliation, moving away from Buddhism first to Jainism and then to Hinduism. It now harbours one of Hinduisms most active pilgrimage sites:

Puri.

Orissa's hazy past focuses with the War of Kalinga ( 260 B.C. ) .In ancient times Orissa formed part of the powerful kingdom of Kalinga, Around 260 BC the Kalinga kings, at the peek of their power, came into head-on collision with Ashoka, the powerful Mauryan emperor. When the war ended Kalinga was subdued, but the bloody carriage left Ashoka with such a bitter taste in his mouth that he turned his back on violence forever and embraced the Buddhist faith of peace and compassion To mark the event, he left many sets of rock edicts in the State, after the death of Ashoka, Kalinga regained its independence. Kalinga regained its independence. Buddhism quickly faded however. In the 2" Century BC, Kalinga became a powerful country once again under the rule of Kharavelas (the 3rd Chedi king), It was during his reign that Jainism was restored as the faith of the people.

With the death of Kharavela, Orissa passed into obscurity. In the 4th Century AD Samudragupta set out on his conquest of the south from Magadha. In AD 610, Orissa came under the sway of King Sasanka following whose death Harsha conquered Orissa.

The State had its own dynasty of rulers (the Ganga dynasty) in the 7th Century AD by which time Hinduism had reasserted itself. In AD 795 Mahasivagupta Yayati the Second, came to the throne and with him began the most brilliant epoch in the history of Orissa He united Kalinga, Kangoda, Utkala and Kosala in the imperial tradition of Kharavela. He is believed to have laid the foundation of the famous Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar.

Under the kings of the Ganga dynasty, the Orissan culture continued to flourish. Narasingha Dev of the Ganga dynasty is reputed to have built the temple of the Sun God at Konark.

Muslim incursions from both the Northwest and the south (Golconda) led at last to the overthrow of the Hindu rulers. From the 14th century, Orissa was ruled by successive Muslim Kings till 1592 when Akbar annexed it to the Mughal empire. With the decline of the Mughals, the Marathas occupied Orissa and continued to hold it till the British took over in 1803.

Despite an easy conquest, the British found it formidable to consolidate the territory as Oriyas offered stubborn resistance right from the beginning. The defective land revenue system and the administrative vagaries of the British rule gave rise to strong discontent among the people which ultimately gave rise to the "Pike Rebellion of 1817".Finally it was decentralised and kept under the control of different administrative provinces.

A failure of rain in 1865 resulted in the loss of usual crops and brought about a catastrophic famine in 1866-67 which led to the death of about one million in Orissa. It took Orissa a long time to recover from the effects of the calamity.

At long last Orissa was made into a separate province in 1936. With Independence the princely States in and around Orissa, surrendered their sovereignty to the Government of India. By the States merger (Governor's provinces) Order, The princely States of Orissa were completely merged with the State of Orissa on 19th August 1949 and the new Orissa became nearly twice its size by the addition of more people to its population.

Demographic Features
Among the stares of India, Orissa is tenth in area and eleventh in population with the latter figure standing at 36,706,920 according 2001 census. While covering 4.74 per cent of the country's total area, it accounts for 3.57 per cent of the total population. The density of population is 236 as against the all-India figure of 324 and the sex ratio is 972, the all-India ration being 933.

Orissa's percentage of literacy is around 63.6, the male-female divide being 76.1:51. Although the progress during the last decade seems to be consistent, we are not yet able to catch, up with the all-India level of literacy, which is 65.4%. 

About 85 per cent of Orissa's population live in villages. The districts of Phulbani, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi are mostly rural having a rural population of about 94 per cent in average. Only about 15 per cent of the people live in towns and cities. The 2001 census enlists 124 urban units including 102 statutory census towns, i.e. they have either a municipality or an NAC each. Of these there are only 8 cities with a population of one lakh and above. Two of these cities, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, are of the modern type, the rest have the traditional urban structure of agglomeration of houses in rows along roads or lanes. The low figure of urban population is almost half of the all-India percentage. However, there is a consolation that the initial Sap between the two figures is gradually getting reduced.

The occupational classification as per 2001 census data shows that the total workers in the State account for 142.73 lakh constituting 38.88% of the total population of the State. Out of the total number of workers, main workers accounted for 67.07%. The workers comprises of cultivators (29.69%), agricultural labourers (35.04%), household industries workers (4.83%) and other workers (30.44%). The proportion of male workers to make population and female workers to female population in 2001 stood 52.75% and 24.62% respectively.

While town life provides larger scope for varied activities, villages offer greater opportunities for community life. There are occasions when the entire village may rise to a man, for instance, when there is a crisis or calamity like a cyclone or flood. During festivals and ceremonies, the villagers feel like a single community. In Orissa festivals come periodically round the year: Raja; Dasahara, Nuakhai or Navanna, Karma, Kumar Purnima, Diwali, Rasa Purnima, Makar, Holi, Chait Parab and so on. During the- festivals, both in the villages and towns, the larger society operates as a cohesive unit, but more so in the former.

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