Madhusudan_Das

202 Madhusudan Das:
The exercise of imperialist domination demands cultural
oppression, but the people are able to create and develop a
liberation movement because it keeps its culture alive in the
teeth of organized repression of cultural life, because its
politics-military resources being destroyed it continues to
resist culturally. People's art will reflect our struggle.
Unless this implication of the historical-cum-theoretical
background is fully realised, we cannot appreciate and assess the value
of the lifelong contributions of at least two of our great leaders of Oriya
Movement of establishing Oriya National Identity, namely Utkal-
Gourab Madhusudan and Pandit Godabaris Misra.
Due to the exigencies of the present occasions, this rather
incomplete account has to be confined to the lifelong contribution of
Utkal-Gourab Madhusudan, postponing for the present the implications
of the great nation- building contributions of Pandit Godabaris Misra
unless it is indispensably relevant for the subject matter of the present
discussion.
Utkal-Gourab Madhusudan was fully alive to the dangers of his
life's missions, Revival of Oriya National Identity. These dangers for
past and present as it then existed, may be summarised as follows :
(a) Under the British Rule,' the first calamity was the
recognition of at least 26 states of Orissa, which were
once a part and parcel of the Oriya Kingdom, into 26
sovereign States. In the cases of the Empress V. Keshab
Mahajan and Empress V. Udit Prasad [ILR 8 Calcutta
985 (Full Bench)] it was decided that Mayurbhanj was
not a part of British Orissa.
(b) Most of the border areas of Orissa were inhabited by
Adivasis who were victims of conversion by Christian
missionaries and they could be made to forget their ancient
Oriya heritage and thus offering handicap to Oriya
unification. This calamity actually happened in Assam
necessitating separate States for Adivasis.
(c) Ancient native Oriya culture had not only to protect itself
from the preaching of the missionaries, but from the
penetrating influence of three other provincial cultures