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54 Translating Medieval Orissarelationship between various segments gave way to a collaborativeone, within the framework of the courts of the small principalities.This collaborative relationship was the springboard for manytranslations. However, the subaltern groups, which were outside theperiphery of the court, continued their own translational enterprise. Itis fruitful to remember here that these groups were instrumental inthe subversive translational practices in Oriya in the initial phase.Thus there was in the changed political atmosphere a contest of sortswithin the subaltern groups to establish their own hegemony overwritten discourse in Oriya. The proliferation of parallel translationsof a single text was a manifestation of this assertion of identity byvarious subaltern groups both within and outside the court. Thisidentity-assertion through the Oriya language is among the importantfactors driving the growth of Oriya nationalism. This languagebasedOriya identity was also a troubled one because after the 16 thcentury the Oriya-speaking populace remained divided among threemajor political centers of power located outside Orissa. These threepower-centers were either apathetic or indifferent to the growth ofthe Oriya language. The apathy of the centre of power for the Oriyalanguage was very much pronounced in the eastern segment.Coupled with this apathy, there was rampant economic exploitationof the people as well. The local chieftains did not have any surpluswealth to patronize cultural activity. The literary discourse andtranslational practice thus survived precariously on the strength ofnascent linguistic nationalism and Vaishnav religious impulse.Translation, mainly of the Vaishnav religious texts during this phase,is an indication of such a phenomenon. After the shift of centre ofpower to Murshidabad in the last part of the 7 th century, even thisactivity declined. Only Mahatmyas, which catered to the religioussentiments of rural womenfolk, continued to be translated fromSanskrit.Similarly, the western part of Orissa had a dominantaboriginal population that was not conversant with organized