History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c16.2.1

v1.c16.2.1

Oḍra is clearly Northern Orissa, consisting of the modern districts of Midnapur, Balasore and Cuttack with that part of Puri which lies to the north of the marshes along the northern fringe of the Chilka lake. The description of the pilgrim is very short and does not agree with the present state of the country. For example, he states that the people are uncivilised, tall of stature and of a yellowish-black complexion. The average Oriya can hardly be called tall in stature and yellowish-black in complexion. He is usually dwarfish in stature and brownish black in complexion. The next remark of the Chinese pilgrim is quite accurate: "their words and language (pronunciation) differ from Central India." Watters translates this passage in a slightly different fashion: "The people were of violent ways, tall and of dark complexion, in speech and manners, different from the people of Mid-India." The pronunciation of the people of Orissa is still quite different from that of Bengal and Mahākośala or the Chhattisgarh division of the Central Provinces. The most marked difference is in the pronunciation of the semi-vowel, e.g., Ṛshi is pronounced Rushi. This is the beginning of the Southern fashion of the pronunciation of this letter. It is not possible to determine in what way the manners of the people of Orissa differed from those of the people of Bengal in the North and of those of Andhra in the South.