#UtakalaDiwas: From ancient glory to fight for the motherland, Know more about Odisha day
Bhubaneshwar, Apr 1: Today Odisha is in the high spirit because today is a day to remember ancient glory and the contribution of fallen heroes, Yes! Today is 1st April, the Utakala Diwas or Odisha Day.
The land of temples and delicacies fight hard for the statehood. This day celebrates across the Odisha in the memory of the formation of the state as a separate province on 1st April 1936.
In the ancient times, Orissa was the center 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 Afghan invaders passed the state to the Mughal empire.
After the demise of the last Odia king Mukund Dev in 1568, the state had been ruled by Mughals, Nawabs, Marathas, and British. However, there was no presence of Odisha state name in Indian political map in that era. not a single effort for a separate place for Odia community rather than representing Bengal, MP or Andhra Pradesh.
There were Odia novels, prose, poetry, plays, culture, huge odia speaking population and everything that's required in a place which is necessary for statehood.
A revolution was started by this organization continued for three decades under the leadership of Utkala Gouraba Madhusudan Das, Utkala Mani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Pandita Nilakantha Das, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher, Basudeba Sudhaladeba, Radhanath Ray, Bhubanananda Das, A. P. Patro and many others with the support of the public.
Finally, the British gave up and accepted Odisha as a province of India. It was 1st April 1936 when Odisha entered in state list of INDIA with 6 districts only. Now Odisha comprises 30 districts.
Unfortunately, Madhu Babu (Utkala Gouraba Madhusudan Das) passed away in 1934, 2 years before his dream came true. Odia community have a deep-rooted respect for Madhu babu for his contribution in building the Odisha.
In Odisha today, Thousands of shops and Jhankis make this festival more beautiful. There are competitions arranged like a fireworks competition. One can enjoy these fireworks displays which make the sky all the more stunning. On this day all across the country, the family of Odia arranges different cultural programs. Utkala Divasa the day of remembrance for all Odia helps everybody to be united.