Odisha (Odi)
Odi: ଓଡ଼ିଶା ōḍiśā
‘Land of the Odras’ [Orissa]
From Skt/Pkt: odra/odda. ‘Odra (people)’; Skt/Pkt: visaya/ rāṣṭra,/
In 2011the state officially changed its name from Orissa to Odisha and the name of its language from Oriya to Odia.
Orissa was a British corruption of Odis(h)a, itself a variation of Odda Visaya, a name recorded in the 11thC and as Odra Rashtra or Rajya in the 15thC.
Odisha’s territory matches that of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. It was in the aftermath of the Kalinga War in the 3rdC BC that Asoka famously repented and converted to Buddhism.
Odisha is home to more than sixty distinct ancient tribal groups and one ultra-modern missile testing site near Chandipur which has test-fired around one hundred missiles up to a range of 5,000km.
Angul (Odi)
Odi: ଅନୁଗୋଳ anugoḻa ‘Pleasant City’ [Angulaka-Pattana, Anugul] -...