Madhusudan_Das

206 Madhusudan Das:
in the reshuffling of provincial boundaries of 1955, unless the formation
of Orissa province was declared in 1936 or the Utkal University was
formed in 1943, is a matter of speculation one which need not be too
optimistic or too pessimistic. The disruptive forces were not dead. They
raised their head not only in 1948, when they were unsuccessful but
also in 1955 when they were successful. In spite of the merger agreement
with the native Orissa States on 15th December 1947 and the Extra-
Provincial Jurisdiction Act, of the same year, and the Administration
of Orissa States Order dated the 1st January 1948, claim was made
that Kalahandi and Bamra were not part of Orissa and this was negatived
by a Special Bench of Orissa High Court (ILR. 1 : Cuttack, p.l). The
other disruptive forces were active and Orissa lost Sareikala and
Kharsuan in 1955 as the native population were made to disown Oriya
as their mother-tongue. In this possible of future gloom and uncertainty
it is certainly an act, of farsighted statesmanship to have it officially
recognised that the rest of the Oriya native State are essentially Oriya
speaking when Utkal University Act, was passed in 1943. Section 1
(A) of the Act, runs as follows :
The territorial limits within which the powers conferred upon
the University by this Act, may be exercised, shall
compromise the whole of the province of Orissa and such
other Oriya speaking States, herein after in this Act, referred
to as affiliated States.
The process of revival of Oriya National identity was now
complete and our eternal gratitude is due to its master-builders.
Before I conclude this discussion, I would be failing in my duty
in not dealing with a serious objection to the reference to the mythology
of Lord Jagannath and its connected history of Orissa by leaders of
Oriya revivalism, on the ground that such revival of the mythology of
Lord Jagannath has imposed upon the Orissan society a deep
conservatism accompanied by a sense of idolatry. The missionaries
were alarmed at the growing popularity of the mythology of Lord
Jagannath and they carried an agitation urging upon the Government to
dissociate itself from the temple management on the ground that due to
growing popularity of the mythology of Lord Jagannath the prospects
of conversion in Orissa has got a serious set -back. But the latest