Odia was accorded the status of a classical language of India on February 20 last by the Centre. It is a pride for all the Odias in the State and those staying outside. There was a demand for a pretty long time to get the tag. Now Odia is the 6th language in the Indian union to get the classical language status after Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The Prime Minister and Union Culture Minister certainly deserve credit for the new status of Odia language. However, there are a few persons from the State who relentlessly worked for securing the tag for the Odia language such as linguistic Dr Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, MP Rama Chandra Khuntia, leader Sk Matlub Ali, scholars Subrat Prusti and Natabar Satapathy. Former Rajya Sabha MP Khuntia took a leading role in it.
Odisha will get annually Rs 100 crore for research on Odia language and its tradition besides its promotion from the Centre. Further, the Central Government will financially help for setting up of research institutes on Odia language in the State. The primacy for the achievement goes to Dr Debi Prasanna Pattanayak and his disciple Subrat Prusty.
Odia heroes like Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das and Maharaja Krushna Chandra Deo among others unitedly fought for the creation of Odisha as a separate province besides for a separate status and reorganization to Odia language. Odia language was treated as colloquial and shadow language of Bengali and Sanskrit. The Bengalis were opposing to give a separate and independent status to Odia. That was the first achievement when a separate State of Odisha was formed on April 1, 1936. The recognition of Odia as a classical language on February 20 last has added another feather to the Odia pride.
There are many dialects within State. The Odia language is spoken with many variations in different provinces. The language of coastal region differs from the north, south and western parts of the State. There are also many tribals who communicate in their own languages. This vast wealth of languages belongs to the State. They should be promoted and research should be undertaken for their propagation and growth. A dictionary should be complied with meanings of each word in Odia explained in several other dialects. An encyclopedia of Udra or Audra should be prepared to unite all the regional cultures of the State. All the racial and regional languages of the State should be brought in to the fold of a common encyclopedia. Prof Natabar Satpathy is doing a project on it, which deserves congratulation.
There are sixty two tribes in the present Udra State. And every tribe has its own speaking language but few have individual script. Except Santal tribe, no other tribes have their scripts. The State Government as well as the Union Government should invite scholars for creation of scripts for every tribal language. All the primitive races of the State and the country have valuable treasure of information on the nature and utilities of plant and animal species. The knowledge is transferred from one generation to the other and remains mostly in verbal mode. Efforts should be made for dissemination of the tribal knowledge on medicines and different treatments. Besides, the culture and literature of the tribals also can be promoted if their dialects are promoted. Every tribal and forest dweller community has its own culture and heritage which go unrecorded. The mud walls of tribal houses present various kinds of paintings in different colours. The colours are prepared from leaves and barks of tress. The tribals also adopt certain age–old practices and rites. The prayers of Bhima Bhoi, a renowned tribal poet, give sufficient evidences on Jagannath culture.
The personal libraries of Odia Brahmin priests, containing palm leaf scripts, provide enough evidence about Udra culture and disapprove of Odia language as a shadow language of either of Sanskrit or Bengali. Dr Harekrushna Mahatav’s history book on Odisha provides sufficient clues for more information on the literary and cultural heritages of Odisha. There must be thorough and continuous exploratory research to record every new finding.
