Buddhism for ten centuries prevailed in Orissa, but its only traces are to be found in the cave dwellings and rock habitations of the priests and hermits, and in recently deciphered inscriptions. Their principal settlement was at Khandgiri, about half-way between Puri and Cuttack. The Snake, Elephant, and Tiger caves here (see Udayagiri), and a two-storeyed monastry, known as the Queen's Palace (Rani-Nur), are the most interest ing excavations. They form relics of the three distinct phases through which Buddhism passed. The first, or ascetic age, is represented by the single sandstone cells, scarcely bigger than the lair of a wild beast, and almost as inaccessible ; the second, or ceremonial age, is shown in the pillared temples for meetings of the brotherhood, with commodious chambers for the spiritual heads attached to them ; the third, or fashionable age of Buddhism, reached its climax in the Queen's Palace, adorned with a sculptured biography of its founder. General Cunningham believes that the kingdom of U-cha, or Oda, spoken of by Hiwen Thsang, corresponds exactly with the modern province of Odra, or Orissa. In the time of that Buddhist pilgrim, the province was 7000 li or 1167 miles in circuit, and was bounded by the great sea on the south-east, where there was a famous seaport town named Che-li-ta-lo-ching, or Charitrapura, that is, the 'town of embarkation' or departure.' This General Cunningham sup poses to have been the present town of Puri, or the city,' near which stands the famous temple of Jaganath. Outside the town there were five contiguous stupa with towers and pavilions of great height, and lie supposes one of these to he that which is now dedicated to Jaganath. The three shapeless figures of this god and his brother lend sister Baladeva and Subhadra, are simple copies of the symbolical figures of the Buddhist triad, Buddha, Dharma, ant Sangha, of which the second is always represented as a female. The Buddhist origin of the Jaganath figures is proved beyond all doubt by their adoption as the repre sentative of the Brahmanical avatar of Buddha in the annual almanacs of Mathura and Benares. The political limits of Orissa under its most power ful kings, are said to have extended to the Hoogly and Damuda rivers on the north, and to the Godavery on the south. But the ancient province of Odra-desa, or Or-desa, was limited to the valley of the Mahanadi and to the lower course of the Surarna-riksha river. It comprised the whole of the present districts of Khatak (Cuttack) and Sumbulpore, and a portion of Midnapur. It was bounded on the west by Gondwana, on the north by the wild hill states of Jashpur and Singbhurn, on the east by the sea, and on the south by Ganjam. These also must have been the limits in the time of Hiwen Thsang, as the measured circuit agrees with his estimate. Pliny mentions the Oretes as a people of India in whose country stood Mount Maleus ; but in another passage he locates this mountain amongst the Monedes and Suari, and in a third passage he places Mount Mallus amongst the Malli. As the last people were to the north of the Kalinga, and as the Monedes and Snarl were to the south of the Palibothri, the Monedes and Suari must be the Munda and Suar, and the Oretes must be the people of Orissa. Malle is one of the Dravidian terms for a mountain ; and as the Orson, or people of West Orissa, still speak a Dravidian iialect, he thinks it probable that Mallus was not the actual name of the mountains, but may have been the famous Sri-Parvat of Telingana, which gave its name to the Sri-Parvativa Andhras ? The Uriya are Brahmanists, and inhabit the plains and valleys in the western tracts towards Outtack ; the Kol 'to the northward, also called o ; the Kandh in the central part, and the Saura 'n the south. These three last-named races ielieve themselves to be the aborigines of the istricts they now inhabit, and of others more xtensive of which they have been dispossessed by -he encroachments of other tribes. The Kol are 'aithful, honest, and of happy, ingenuous disposi :ions, as strikingly contrasted with the trickery nd falsehood of the Hindu ; they are hospitable, ut very irascible, and so prone to feel injuries cutely, that they frequently vent their resent nent or grief in suicide, to which this untutored -ople are terribly addicted. The Kandh inhabit e central part of Orissa, and until the middle of ;he 19th century they practised the barbarous leriah sacrifices, to propitiate the deity of the .arth by the slaughter of human victims, generally :hildren stolen from neighbouring districts, and purchased by the Kandh race for sacrifice, as no iCandh can be sacrificed, and no victim was held acceptable unless purchased. The ceremonial differed somewhat. But at the period appointed )3, their priests a solemn feast was held, lasting two lays and nights, which time was passed in the most revolting drunken obscenity. On the third day the hapless victim was brought out, and bound w n stake. The vietim's limbs were first broken, and the priest having given the coup de grace with an axe, the whole set upon it and hewed the quivering body piece-meal, each striving to carry away a bloody fragment to throw upon his own field. The British Government exerted itself successfully to suppress this sanguinary rite, to which the Kandh adhered with obstinate pertinacity.
The Saura, who inhabit the southern part of the province, have the same superstitions as the Kandh. They are even more savage and bar barous ; so much so, indeed, that a Saura Is said to have no hesitation in depriving a human being of life for a very trifling consideration, or at the command of his chieftain.
Amongst the Uriya race high cheek-bones rem to prevail, with good features and straight hair. Amongst the customs peculiar to this province, Dr. Hunter says, is one that, if a man die child less, his brother, if he have one, most marry the widow. The Brahmans of Orissa differ from all other Brahmans, in some respects as regards their food, and a great many obtain their livelihood as cultivators ; they also trade, and follow the occu pations of brickmakers, bricklayers, etc.
The Pana of the frontier and south of Orissa are a wild predatory tribe.
The Juanga are a forest race, and until 1871 the sole dress of their women consisted of bunches of leafy twigs. They are also called Pattooah.
Hindol, one of the tributary states, of 312 square miles, and 28,025 inhabitants, mostly aborigines semi-Hinduized. Of these the Tula. number 1622 ; the Kandh, 1611 ; and Pan, 3680 ; 18,854 Khasa, Brahmans, and Khandaits, follow ing Hinduism.
Uriya or Ooriah is the language of Orissa, and the country takes its name from the Or or Ordu tribe, who seem to have come from the N.W. In the Orissa district they appear to have had very narrow limits, viz. along the coast line from the Rasikulia river near, Ganjam northwards to the Kans river, near Soro, in lat. 21° 10' ; but in the process of migration and conquest under the Ganga Vansa dynasty, the limits of Orissa (Ordesa) were extended to Midnapore and Hoogly on the north, and Rajamundry, on the Godavery, on the south. The Uriya tongue is a tolerably pure dialect of Bengali. About Ganjam, the first traces of Telugu or Teling occur, though the Uriya still prevails forty-five miles south of Ganjam, on the lowlands of the sea-shore, beyond which Telugu begins to predominate. At Chica cole, Telugu is the prevailing language ; in Vizianagram, Telugu is only spoken in the open country, and Uriya in the mountains runs farther down to the south. Telugu is spoken to within 45 miles south of Ganjam, and at Ganjam Telugu ceases. On the coast line Uriya continues in the direction of Bengal as far as the RijIi and Tumluk divisions on the Hoogly. On the western side of the Midnapore district, it. inter mingles with Bengali near the river Subunreka. To the westward, the Gond and Uriya languages pass into each other, and at Sonepur, half the people speak the one and half the other language.
The temples at Orissa are more numerous than those of all Hindustan. They were erected between the years A.D. 500 and 1200. That at Bhuvaneswara was A.D. 637 ; that at Puri was A.D. 1174 ; and, with the exception of that of Jaganath at Puri, the ancient Dantapura, all were erected under the great Kesari dynasty, or Lion line of kings, who reigned A.D. 473 till 1131, when they were succeeded by the Ganga Vansa, the third of whom built Jaganath. That called Parasuram Eswara is 20 feet square and 38 feet high, and its sculptures are cut with a delicacy seldom surpassed, and of the most elaborate character. It is supposed to have been built A.D. 450 or 500. Those of the Mukt Eswara shrine are even richer and more varied in detail. Bhuvaneswara temple is supposed by Mr. Fergusson (p. 420) to have been built by Lelal Indra Kesari, who reigned A.D. 617 to 657. It is the finest example of a purely Hindu temple in India. 300 feet long and 60 to 75 feet in breadth, every inch of the surface is covered with carving in the most elaborate manner, and the effect is marvel lously beautiful. Its Nat Mandir, or dancing hall, was erected by the wife of Salini, between A.D. 1099 and 1104. Besides this, there are the Raj Rani temple, and many others.
The Canarac temple is known to the British as the Black Pagoda.
The Jaganath temple at Puri externally measures 640 to 670 feet, and is surrounded by a wall 20 to 30 feet high, with four gates. An inner enclosure measures 420 by 315 feet, and is enclosed by a double wall with four openings. Within this last stands the Bitra Dewul, and the great tower rises to 192 feet.
Jajpur, in Cuttack, on the Byturni river, was once the capital of the province. It has a pillar which was erected in the 12th or 13th century.
The last five hundred years anterior to the Christian era were those in which Buddhism effected its settlements in Orissa. The Ceylon texts place the advent of the Sacred Tooth in Puri at 543 B.C. The Buddhists honeycombed mountains, and excavated the rock monasteries of Orissa. The people now are, even more than the Bengali race, conservative, bigoted, and priest ridden. The whole territory is sacred ground, to which Hindus perform tirt'h or pilgrimage ; but about July is the great period of assembly at Jaganath (yoga-natha). The sun was formerly the object of worship there.—Colburn's Journal, 1861 ; Thomas' Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, p. 241; Wilson's Glossary ; Cunningham's India, p. 507 ; Elph. India, p. 223 ; Stirling in As. Res. xv. p. 254 ; Imp. Gaz.; Fergusson's Cave Temples.