Like much of India, colonial rule had a devastating impact on the economic and social life of the Oriya people. Numerous categories of crafts workers, especially weavers and dyers were bankrupted and reduced to abject poverty. The peasantry suffered under the burden of backbreaking taxes and forced unpaid labor. But the Oriyas did not accept subjugation without putting up heroic resistance. Just three years after British occupation, Jayakrishna Rajguru - hereditary priest of the Gajapatis (or the Rajas of Khurda) organized a revolt that ended in tragic defeat and his public hanging at the hands of the British. In 1818 there was another revolt when the entire state rose up under the leadership of Bakshi Jagabandhu Vidyadhara of Khurda. For six months the people of Southern Orissa were practically freed from British rule but in the end the rebellion was ruthlessly quelled and the aftermath was to be disastrous.

The nobility was systematically decimated, the Paikas - the national militia were disarmed and disinherited, and the peasantry already reduced to virtual slavery. All administrative posts not directly handled by the British were assigned to Bengalis who were perceived to be more loyal to British rule. From local police constables to assistant school teachers - Bengalis were hired but Oriyas excluded. Bengali chauvinists in Calcutta defended such a regime, some even going to the extent of demanding that all Oriyas be taught in Bengali since Oriya was nothing but a minor dialect of Bengali.

Even as urban Bengal received a few concessions like the founding of universities and cultural societies - Orissa was reduced to a minor outpost of the colonial empire - a cultural wasteland. Orissa's future was now inextricably linked to the growth of the national struggle in Bengal and the rest of the country, and any hint of growth in the national movement naturally drew enthusiastic support from nationalist-minded Oriyas.

Although independence brought about dramatic improvements in the lives of all sections of the population, two centuries of damage wrought by colonial rule could not be easily undone after independence. As evident from recent census results, high levels of poverty and illiteracy continue to dog the state.

For Orissa to regain it's ancient vitality, it will require not only greater sympathy from other Indians but a conscious programme of affirmative action from the centre that promotes mass education and employment opportunities so that Orissa can fully join the Indian mainstream as a vibrant and equal member of the Indian union.

Note: References to ancient Orissa may well include parts of Jharkhand, Southern Bengal, Chhatisgarh and Northern Andhra - which at various times were politically integrated into the different kingdoms of ancient and medieval Orissa.