Patitasthan...
When we think of Odisha, we think of Lord Jagannatha, Sea beaches, Konarka temple, Sambalpuri Sarees and much more. But we rarely think about the situation of Odisha in ancient times or How the people were at that time? Let us have a small look.
Odisha was known as Kalinga, Utkala, Mahakantara, Odra, Oddiyana etc etc in different times.
The human history in Odisha begins in
the Lower Paleolithic era, as Acheulian tools dating to the
period have been discovered in various places in the region. 140 million
years ago (mya), the peninsular India, including Odisha, was a
part of the Gondwana supercontinent. Due to this, some of the
oldest rocks in the subcontinent, dating to Precambrian times, are found in Odisha. Some of the
rocks, like the Mayurbhanj granite pluton, have been dated to 3.09
billion years ago (Ga). The coal-fields in Mahanadi and Ib river basins are known
to be one of the richest sites for fossils in the subcontinent. This has
led to the discovery of new species, like the charophytes from the Permian Period, which were
found in the Talcher region and the Upper Permian megaspores from the Ib river area.
In the districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Sambalpur,Acheulian tools
dating to Lower Paleolithic times have been discovered.The Gudahandi hills in Kalahandi district have rock carvings and paintings dating
to Upper Paleolithic. From Kuchai, near Baripada, various Neolithic tools like hoes, chisels, pounders, mace heads, grinding stones and
also pieces of pottery. Prehistoric paintings and inscriptions have also
been found in Garjan Dongar in Sundergarh district, and Ushakothi in Sambalpur district and Vimkramkhol in Jharsuguda district. There has been an uncertainty about
the inscriptions at Ushakothi and Vimkramkhol regarding whether they are in a
proto-Brahmi script. Yogimath near Khariar has cave paintings from the Neolithic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Odisha
Later on, recent excavations in Talagada village (Khunutni), Baanga village (Jatani) and Duabarei village (Pipili) also throws very much light on the possible earliest civilisation in Odisha near about 4000-5000 years ago.
http://ashishkalinga.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-lost-civilisation-of-odisha.html
Then we have Great King karakandu, who was a powerful Jain emperor, ruled Odisha, Andhra and some parts of karnataka, somewhere between 9th-6th century before christian era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakandu
https://www.quora.com/Who-was-Emperor-karakandu
http://purnyabhumiodisha.blogspot.com/2016/01/kalingas-8th-century-bc-emperor.html
Excavations of sishupalgarh were also important in this context. Sishupalgarh, was much bigger then Athens in that time. This city was the first fortified city, in the entire world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisupalgarh
https://medium.com/@ashishsarangi/sisupalgarh-the-lost-city-e8087f363ca3
Then, what we know, is the great kalinga War. The war that took place in 261 B.C., changed the history of this mighty land mass. But what was the reasons behind this war were not properly documented at that time and therefore they are still unknown. We all are making assumptions in this case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_War
Why, Ashoka, attacked, such a tiny state when at that time he ruled almost entire India and what he get is still unknown.
Then, there was a mighty king Kharabela.
He conquered Magadha and built Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves as s symbol of victory over Magadha amd dedicated them to Jainism. He is one of the most underrated king in our history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharavela
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-king-Kharavela-been-so-underrated-in-Indian-history
And after Kharabela, there comes a huge time gap. No one is sure as to what happened during that period.
This was a good time to introduce a propaganda theory.
And the theory states: Patitas/Patits or Dalits used to live in Kalinga. People from Aryabrata/Aryavrata used to come Kalinga. But they used have a lot of problems to live with the Dalits. And finally a namecalling starts "PatitaSthan".
Next, Lord Jagannatha thought that he should himself come to the society and make the patits civilised.
Every year during Ratha Jatra, you can hear this during the live commentary in Odisha.
Even till date, some people from some northern states of India visit Puri Jagannatha temple but while returning home, they take bath in Ganga. They still have a thought that Jagannatha is a God of patits or Jagannatha temple is a patit temple???
Now the question comes what is the exact meaning of this. When there were powerful Kings like Karakandu, Kharabela etc and people of Kalingas used to travel to Indonesia for maritime business, how come all of a sudden all became patits?
And you will be surprised with another propaganda theory "Some people in some states believe that all the Brahmins and Kshatriyas of Kalinga/Odisha came from northern section of India."! Were there no teachers/preachers or fighters in Kalinga? Cant we call those teachers/preachers and fighters as Brahmins and Kshatriyas? So even the maritime traders were also patits? Hmmmm... Then there was nothing good in Kalinga and ghosts used to teach, preach, defend, and do maritime trade according to the propaganda theory.
If Aryabrata people had so much issue with patits, they could have gone to Himalayas and do Yoga. Why they used to come to Kalinga? Might be to take sunbath in Puri beach.
Now, from this, you can realise that this is called a psychological propaganda theory used in yesteryear warfare. If you cant win a place by muscle power, then morally downgrade it. Some changes must have happened to Kalingan society by this propaganda. But still the maritime business was in progress and Eastern Ganga and Gajapati dynasties also rose to power. No nonsesical theory can ever destroy a civilization as long as some people are a bit aware. But Yes, these theories can change the course of the society and the religious system.
Thanks
Ashish Sarangi
Ashish Kumar Nayak
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