Early History of Orissa

Author(s): Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

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AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
(Mekalānutkalāmíchaiva). It is quite possible that the Utkalas were living close to the Mekalas. i. e. the people inhabiting the Maikala range, which is the eastern outerwall of the Satpuras bounding Chhatisgarh on the west and the north. In early times, Utkala may have been the name of some region close to Maikala which was thus in Kośala-deśa. Pargiter thinks that the two names possess something in common, and that Utk ala comprised the southern portion of Chhota Nagpur and the northern tributary states of Orissa.
In the Purāņas, we find that the country of Utkala was situated just adjacent to that of Kalinga. In the third century A. D., however, the Matsya and the Vāyu Purāņas regarded the inhabitants of the Utkala along with those of Odra-deśa as the Vindhyans, and those of Kalinga as the South Indians.5 But from about the sixth century A. D. the epigraphic and literary references mention Utkala, sometimes as a separate country but generally identifying it with Odra.
Utkala has been left out by Hiuen Tsang, but Utkalavishaya was certainly conterminous with the region round
1. Mekala is grouped with Kojala as a country in the Plates of
Prithvisena II, E. I., IX, p. 269. 2, Amaraka taka, about 12 miles from Pendra in Bilaspur, across
the Rewat border, is the source of the Narbada and the Son, and forms the eastern peak of the Maikala range. The river Narbada has been described by ancient writers as Mekala-suti and the
Son is described as rising from Mount Mekala in the Ramayaņa. 3. Mārkaņdøya Purāņa, p. 327. For the etymology of ‘kala' in
Utkala and Mekala, and its connection with Kurala of the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta, seo G. Ramdas, IHQ, Vol. I, p. 685. In the time of Sasanka, Utkala-dega was
attached to the Dandabhukti. 4. Mahtab, H. O., p. 11. 8. Ibid, p. 12.