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60 Translating Medieval OrissaNOTES1. Following the Hegelian model, conventional historiographydivides Indian history into three periods: ancient, medieval andmodern. For their administrative convenience, imperialhistorians highlighted medieval Indian history as a chaoticperiod. Although we retain such a traditional division fornarrative convenience, we do not attach the same negativeconnotation to the medieval period. Beginning from James Mill,most of the historians have classified Indian history into threeperiods basing their argument on scant historical material. Itseems the models of European historiography were imposed ona colony to perpetuate colonial control by positing colonial ruleas modern, progressive and beneficial compared with theunwieldy chaos of medieval times. Subsequent discoveries ofhistorical material by nationalist and subaltern schools haverejected this model. Medieval period in the history of Orissa canbe divided into two phases, viz. early and late medieval. Like theother regions of India, state formation, development ofarchitecture, literature etc. reached a state of maturity during thisperiod in Orissa history. For a number of socio-political reasonsOriya emerged as a vehicle of literature and higher conceptualthought in the later phase of medieval Orissa. This might beconsidered a chaotic period from the point of view of politicalinstability, but it did not hamper the growth of Oriya language oridentity formation.The construction of the notion of Orissa proper or what wasknown as Cuttack was started only after the British occupationof the region in 1803. The various tracts of the Oriya- speakingpeople were under different administrations throughout Orissa’shistory. A separate Orissa province was carved, only in 1936,out of the southern, central and Bengal provinces under theBritish rule. It became the first Indian state to be constituted on a