CUTTACK, town and district of British India in the Orissa division of Behar and Orissa. The town is situated on the river Mahanadi. Pop. (193i) 65,263. It is the centre of the Orissa canal system, and a station on the Bengal Nagpur railway from Madras to Calcutta. It contains a Government college and girls' high school, named after Ravenshaw, a former commissioner; a training college, a school of engineering and a medical school. The principal industries are silver filigree work of fine quality and tanning.
Formerly the capital of the Hindu kings of Orissa, Cuttack was the capital of the Mogul and, after them, of the Maratha governors of Orissa till its capture by the British in 1803. Some remains are still left of the Barahbati fort, which dates back to the 16th century.
The District of Cuttack forms the delta of the Mahanadi and Brahmani, together with a hilly tract inland. It has an area of sq.m. and a population of 2,176,707. It consists of three physical divisions : first, a marshy salt-impregnated strip along the coast, from 3 to 3om. in breadth; second, an intermediate stretch of alluvial plain; third, a broken hilly region, which forms the western boundary of the district. Cultivation does not begin till the limits of the salt tract are passed. The rice plain stretches inland for about 4om. and is a fertile region with an extensive system of irrigation. The hilly frontier separates the delta from the feudatory States. It consists of a series of ranges, 1 o to 15m. in length, running nearly due east and west, with wooded slopes and valleys between. The highest hill is Assiagiri, 2,500 feet. The district is intersected by three large rivers, the Baitarani, Brahmani and Mahanadi, which after numerous bifurcations find their way into the sea by three principal mouths. Silt-banks and surf washed bars render the entrance to these rivers perilous. The rivers having, by the silt of ages, gradually raised their beds, now run along high levels, and during floods pour over their banks and sometimes destroy the crops. Numerous interlacing channels establish communication between the main streams. Rice forms the staple product of the district; its three chief varieties are biali or early rice, sarad or winter rice, and dalua or spring rice. Cuttack is one of the few districts in the province in which jute is largely grown. The Orissa canal system, which lies within Cuttack district, is used both for irrigation and transport pur poses. Interesting archaeological remains are found at the subdi visional town of Jajpur (q.v.) and at Dhauli is an inscription of the edicts which express Asoka's remorse for the suffering he inflicted in his conquest of Kalinga.