The land celebrates diversities in true sense. The land boasts a rich cultural heritage and calendars more festivals than months in a year. That’s the glorious Odisha!With constant transformation from an ancient province of the Mauryan Empire to the modern Odisha, the land has never lost its essence of socio-cultural magnificence.

Earlier a province of Bihar, Odisha was separated into an independent State on April 1, 1936.  To celebrate the united spirits of Odias, this day has been celebrated as Odisha Foundation Day or Utkala Divas ever since. But how well do we know the history of this land?Here are some lesser known facts about Odisha: It was initially named ‘Utkal’ as, justifying the Sanskrit term, it was a land of majestic art and crafts where some of the finest artisans settled down.

Around 2,000 years ago, the land was home to tribes of civilised, urbanised and cultured people, who resided in Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput regions with Asurgarh as their capital.

This was way before Odisha became the core of Samrat Ashoka’s Kalinga.The land is mentioned in Ramayana and Mahabharata as Kantara, which altogether included Kalahandi, Koraput and Bastar. Records from the 4th century point out that Odisha, the then ‘Indravana’ was a vessel of precious stones and gems of the Mauryan Empire. After separation from Bihar, Odisha became the first independent State that was formed on a linguistic basis. The newly-formed Odisha had six districts, Cuttack, Puri, Baleswar, Sambalpur, Koraput and Ganjam. It was headquartered at Kanika Palace in Cuttack.John Austin Hubback became first Governor of independent province of Odisha. The State’s initial capital was Cuttack. Later, Bhubaneswar was declared  capital.