History of Odisha

The glory and the history of ancient Odisha spanning from last 2000 Years. It was proud Kingdom of Kalinga. Kalinga was only state that controlled most of the sea routes in Bay of Bengal.
For many centuries, a substantial part of Southeast Asia, such as Kampuchea (Cambodia), Java, Sumatra, Bali and Thailand were colonies of Odisha.
As a fact the name of the country "Siam" is derived from Oriya/Sanskrit Shyamadesha.
The temple of Angkor Wat is a fine example of Odisha's architecture, with some local variations. Bali still retains the heritage of Odisha.
A major turning point in world history took place in Odisha. The famous Kalinga war that led emperor Ashoka to embrace non-violence and the teachings of Buddha was fought here in 261 BC near the Daya River which is often said that the whole river tured out to be red with blood.
Later on, Ashoka did recognized his fault and became a desiple of Gautam Budha. Then at a later stage after getting the whole Gyan from Gautam Budha he started preading Buddhist philosophy all over Asia with his Son() and Daughter ().
In the second century BC, Kalinga flourished as a powerful kingdom under Kharavela. It is he who was built the superb monastic caves at Udayagiri and Khandagiri.Subsequently, the kingdom was ruled under various monarchs, such as Samudragupta and Sasanka. It also was a part of Harsha's empire.
In 795 AD, the king Yayati united Kalinga, Kosala and Utkala into a single empire. He also built the famous Jagannath temple at Puri.

King Languda Narasimha Dev is reputed to have built the magnificent sun temple in Konark. Although now largely in ruins, the temple would easily have rivaled the Taj Mahal in splendor.

The ruins of a major ancient university and center of Buddhist learning, Ratnagiri, was recently discovered in Odisha. Scholars from far away lands, such as Greece, Persia and China used to study philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and science at this famed University.

Taxila, Nalanda and Ratnagiri are the oldest universities in the world. The ruins of Ratnagiri University have not been fully excavated yet.

During the dark ages of Indian civilization, Odisha was ruled by a succession of Muslim kings. It was later annexed by emperor Akbar and became part of the Mughal empire.

After the fall of the Mughals, the Marathas under Shivaji invaded the land and continued to rule until 1803 AD when Odisha fell prey to the barbaric British.

Modern Odisha was carved out of Bihar in 1936. Contemporary Odisha has a proud cultural heritage that arose due to the intermingling of three great religious traditions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and later on enriched by Islam and Christianity.