British misspelt “Orissa” is now Odisha!

Orissa will soon be known as ‘Odisha’ and Oriya, the language, will from now be referred to as Odia.

On Thursday, the Union Cabinet gave its stamp of approval to the state government’s proposal to rename `Orissa' to `Odisha' and the `Oriya' language `Odia'. The state assembly resolved to change both names in August last year in deference to the manner in which the name of the state is pronounced in the local language.

But this required an amendment to the Constitution in order to take effect. The proposed amendment is likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

The state is called Udisa (Hindi) and Orissa (English), and the language Udiya (Hindi) and Oriya (English) in the Constitution. The stage government had said that the correct names were Odisha and Odia, respectively.

The state was spelled “Orissa” in the Indian Constitution adopted in 1950. BJD, though, espoused the view that this wasn’t the correct spelling for the name of the state. In the local script and language, the name of the state is spelt as it is pronounced: “Odisha”.

In the Tantric literature of the mediaeval period the word Udisa has been frequently used and in Tantrasara, Jagannath has been referred to as Udisanatha. Poet Sarala Das mentions both the words Odra Rastra and Odisa in his famous treatise Mahabharata while Gajapati Kapileswaradeva (1435–1467 AD) in his proclamation inscribed on the temple walls of Jagannath calls his territory as Odisa Rajya.

In Sanskrit, the region was referred to as Odra Vishaya or Odra Desa. Both Pali and Sanskrit Literatures mention the Odra people as Oddaka and Odrah, respectively.

In the Mahabharata the Odras are mentioned along with the Paundras, Utkals, Mekalas, Kalingas and Andhras, while according to Manu the Odras are associated with the Paundrakas, Dravidas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Sakas, Paradas, Pallhavas, Chinas, Kiratas and Khasas. The location of the Odra territory has been given in the Natural History of Pliny in which it is mentioned that the Oretes inhabited the country where stood the Mount Maleus.

The Orissa assembly had moved a resolution in August to change the state's name to Odisha and its official language from Oriya to Odia, saying the names had been used wrongly. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik moved the resolution in the House which was approved by a voice vote.

The Centre had agreed and had asked the state cabinet to give a formal approval. The Centre had also asked the state government to pass a resolution in the state assembly to this effect. The state assembly did that last year.

In the past two decades many cities have been renamed in the country. Major cities that have been renamed after Independence include Kanpur (formerly Cawnpore), Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Pune (Poona) and Kochi (Cochin).