On the occasion of 80th Utkal Divas, Odisha artist Sudarshan Pattnaik created sand arts at Bhubaneswar Airport and Puri beach wishing the people. Apart from PM Narendra Modi, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to pay tribute to the pioneers of statehood movement.
Notably, on April 1, 1936, Orissa was formed and to commemorate the contributions and sacrifices made by the people of Odisha in those days, Utkal Divas, also known as Orissa Day, is celebrated across the state.
It is believed that Orissa was given a status of separate linguistic state due to the efforts of Utkala Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Shri Ramachandra Bhanjadeo, Maharaja Shri Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Raja Baikunthanath Dey, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher, and Gourishankar Ray. Later, the state was divided into 13 districts and then 30 districts.
Why is Utkal Day celebrated
In the ancient times, Orissa was the centre of Kalinga kingdom, although it was temporarily conquered (250 B.C.) by King Asoka and Maurya held it for nearly a century. As the Kalinga kingdom declined, many Hindu dynasties arose and built temples at Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Konarak. Later in the year 1958, Afghan invaders passed the state to the Mughal empire. After the fall of the Mughals, Orissa was divided between the Nawabs of Bengal and the Marathas. In 1803, the British conquered Orissa.
In the year 1912, the coastal section was separated from Bengal and made into the province of Bihar and Orissa. Later in 1936 on April 1, the new province of Odisha was formed after a battle of nearly 350 years.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.