ORIS'SA, an ancient kingdom of Hindustan, the authentic history of which goes hack to 473 A.D., extended from Bengal—a part of which it included—on the n., to the banks of the Godavari on the s., and from the coast on the e. to the river Gondwana on the west. From its remains of sculptures. inscriptions, etc.. we may infer Chat its early civ ilization was high. The temple of the sun at Kaniirek—ereeted.about the 12th c.---exhib its carvings representing the planets, sculptured figures of animals. etc., which show that at that date the plastic and mechanical arts were 111 a more advanced stale in Orissa than they were in England. It maintained its position as an independent monarchy till 1558, when, its royal line having become extinct, it became an outlying province of the empire of the great mogul. On the breaking up of this einnire. the more valuable por tions of Orissa were seized by the nizam of Hydrabad. The French, who had taken possession of a part of the country long,known as the northern Cirears, attempted to drive the English (who had also formed commercial settlements on the coast), out of India. The result of the contest for supremacy in India between the English and French is well known. The Mahrattas, who had seized a portion of Orissa in 1740. were forced to surrender it to the English in 1803. The soldiers of the East India company were marched into Orissa at the commencement of the present century, and an engage ment was subsequently entered into between the company and the native chiefs and princes, by which the former bound themselves to perform certain the coun try (as maintaining the river-banks in good repair), while the latter engaged to pay a yearly tribute. Of the many principalities into which Orissa was divided, a large num ber got into arrears with the government, and the restilt was that numbers of the estates were sold, and the government, as a rule, became the purchaser. Mach of the territory originally forming a portion of this kingdom thus fell into the hands of the British. The ancient Orissa, which existed as an independent monarchy for four centuries, and flour‘ ished as a principality of the mogul empire after 1558. is now hardly to he recognized in the British commissionership of Orissa, with an area of 23,901 sq.m., and a pop. of ('72) 4,317,999. This country was decimated by famine in 1868-09: and careful surveys of its coast were made in 1870. Orissa is traversed by a branch of the eastern Ghauts run
ning parallel with the coast. The hill-districts, winch nowhere present an elevation of more than 3,000 ft.. are inhabited by the Goods, the Koles. the Sourahs., and the Khonds. The Khonds occupied an area extending from n. of the Malianaddi, s. to the banks of tire Godavari. Their mountain-haunts are admirably suited for defense, as the districts which they inhabit are almost inaccessible; and although they do not yet appear to have adopted firearms, they manage their battle-axes and bows and arrows with an adroitness and courage that make them formidable enemies. The Khonds are a totally distinct race from the inhabitants of the plains, and there is but little resemblance between them and the other hill-tribes, the Gonda and Soorahs. The chief peculiarities of the Khonds are. that their language, which is quite distinct from those of the neighboring tribes, is not in the least understood by the inhabitants of the plains; and that human sacrifice formed, till within the last few years, one of the distinguishing features of their religion. 'They do not barter or and all commercial transactions are managed for the Khonds by the Panus, Doms, etc., regarded by their employers as inferior races. There am, how ever, no caste prejudices among the Khonds such as generally prevail throughout the plains of India. Agriculture and war are the only employments. The revolting custom of human sacrifice prevailed among the Khonds from the earliest times, .although it was not till 1836 that the attention of the government was specially called to the sub ject, at the conclusion of an insurrection, in the course of which British officers had been brought into contact with the hill tribes. The Khond victims, called Meriah, were always bought with a price, sometimes from families of their own tribes who had fallen into poverty, but generally kidnapped from the plains by miscreants of the Panu race. The Meriah victims were of both sexes, and of every age; though adults were held in the highest esteem, because, being the most costly, they were supposed to be more acceptable to the deity. The object of the sacrifice was to propitiate the earth-god; and abundant crops, security from calamity, and general prosperity were supposed to be insured to any one who had cut off a portion of the flesh of the human victim, and buried it in his farm.