Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Orissa Government behaves hypocritically in many respects. But it should give up hypocrisy with respect to Veer Surendra Sai.
Our discussion on Surendra Sai being well read in these pages, we do not now prefer a new discussion on his life and sacrifice. But, we can certainly say that he had made the greatest and the most inspiring sacrifice for restoration of the distinct dignity of Sambalpur, the place that has the most monumental contribution to culture of Orissa.
Orissa owes its name to Uddiyan Tantra founded by the founder of Vajrayana of Buddhism, Indrabhuti, the light of Udradesh, Sambalpur.
Indrabhuti was the man who coined the name Jagannatha for Gurudev Buddha and established him as such amalgamating the tribal matriarchy with Buddhist tenets that are yet in vogue in the Jagannatha temple system.
So, it is Indrabhuti of Uddiyan Sambalpur who gave birth to Jagannath culture on which Orissa’s unique world outlook is based.
When this Jagannatha has been converted from Buddha to Vishnu and thereby into a deity controlled by the caste supremacists, it may depend on argument and counter argument to arrive at this truth that Jagannath of Puri owes his origin to Indrabhuti of present day Sambalpur. But, no argument is needed to show that Surendra Sai had made supreme sacrifice for restoration of the distinct position of Sambalpur.
I have in these pages as well as in my columns in Oriya language harped several times on transfer of a portion of the State Secretariat comprising departments having more relevance to western Orissa and high lands to Sambalpur as well as for establishment of a bench of the Orissa High Court in this place without wastage of time. The people of the western region are also agitating for availability of executive and judicial government at their door step.
These essential facilities are not being available to people of Western Orissa simply because the State Government is not rising above timidness and hypocrisy.
If Surendra Sai is really to be honored, the unique contribution of Sambalpur region to Orissa should be unreservedly recognized and the offices of executive and judicial government must be established in Sambalpur.
So, politico-administrative hypocrisy should be given up with respect to Surendra Sai and he should be given due respect by establishment of a bench of the Orissa High Court at and by transfer of a part of the State Secretariat comprising departments more relevant to Western Orissa to Sambalpur without wastage of time.
Filed under: administration, Animadversion, art & culture, Editorials, history, judiciary, news, orissa, oriya, politics, Uncategorized | Tagged: orissa high court, sambalpur, secretariat, veer surendra sai, western orissa |
Orissa Matters 
The people of Sambalpur are the only inhabitants of Odisa who openly challenges Buddha Jagannatha and denies His Sovereignty on Odias and His Odia pronunciation. Here are some examples:
1- People of Sambalpur have already converted Budha Raja (Buddha Raja) into Kosaleswara, thereby detaching the most prominent Buddhist link from their native land.
2- People of Sambalpur have been deliberately replacing Buddha Jagannatha by Samalei publicly during the inauguration rituals of almost all stage programmes arranged by themselves.
3- People of Sambalpur can not pronounce ଳ by default, thus, can not pronounce even କାଳିଆ, for which ସମ୍ବଳପୁର is now ସମଲପୁର whereas a complete omission of ଳ from pronunciation is simply impossible for an Odia speaker. We can consider the examples in this regard from both northern and southern parts of Odisa which were also being rudely dominated by Anti Odia Clans for centuries.
4- People of Sambalpur are more prone to pronounce Halanta, hence become almost unable to maintain the purity of Odia pronunciation in their daily conversations.
5- Buddhism has never nourished any such land named Kosala. Still the people of Sambalpur become hypnotized with this hypothetical name.
The language of Bajira Jana literature was Odia, later translated into Sanskruta. So, how the language of the inventor land of Bajira Jana could be so far away from the basic pronunciation framework of Odia???
Perhaps, the Odiana Pitha (not Uddiyan) and Sambhalaka were not there where these are being projected today. As Nabin Kumar Sahu, the highlighter of Sambalpur as Odiana Pitha and Sambhalaka, belonged to Sambalpur area, he may have identified Sambalpur to be the then Sambhalaka of Odiana Pitha(coz it’s a very common practice for most of the intellectuals belonged to Sambalpur and Co. to pretend by projecting themselves and their estate as numero uno in every possible aspects of Odisa).
However, the hatred of the people of Sambalpur towards Odia language and Odisa as a whole is forcing me believe that the Buddhist history of Odisa was not that as it is being told today regarding Odiana Pitha and Sambhalaka and Indrabhuti Dea and Lakhminkara Dei.
1. It is not hatred or euphoria that makes us, the people of sambalpur, asssume us to be at numero uno position; rather it is the imposition of culture from others which makes us run for clean air. No doubt, we have been attacked and reigned for long by people of different cultures, but still we have managed to stick to our basics. We have enriched our vocabulary while retaining the uniqueness of our language. How can we accept the Cuttack-version of odia as our native language when any average cuttack-dweller will never accept the barhamapuri dialect as a standard odia?
2. Sambalpuri language has its own uniquness. If we can not pronounce “ଳ” because we do not need it, just like a cuttack-dweller pronounces Kailash as Kayilash and not as Kaelash. There is severe lacuna in your language, the swara varna is not pure at the first place, see it first. We do not have a script yet, but our pronounciation is perfect for our use.
3. More than half of the world speaks a Halanta-ending language and the world is happy without any complaint. Very few languages are A-karanta. You be happy with that and we will be happy too. We are not desperate to speak Odia, please leave it to us to choose what we speak. You decide your own, please.
4. We replace or place or whatever do at cultural program is very very regional. While Budha raja is a deity who is worshipped in the sambalpur town only, Samlei is revered all through the western region. So naturally she is worshipped at the beginning of any ritual. Why do you bring on the Jagannath/kalia at the beginning of any ritual then? why not ladukeswar baba/chandaneswar baba/ tarakeswar baba? It is quite naural to worship the deity who is accepted more. It is without prejudice.
5. Regarding the placing of historical places, you are requested to place evidence that Uddiyana pitha/ sambalaka/ hirakud/ Parimalagiri/ Ganiapali are not original seats of buddhisam, rather fake!! If you can place evidence of their alternate locality, it will be an obligation.
[…] These pages carry our views on various dates like Feb. 3, 2009,Sept. 29, 2010,August 31, 2011, Jan. 23, 2012 Now as a historic solidarity amongst the inhabitants of Western Orissa in demand for the High Court […]