50 Fun Facts About Odisha

Which Odisha shrine, called the Black Pagoda by European sailors, is built as a huge stone chariot on carved wheels?

Konark Sun Temple was raised around 1250 under King Narasingha Deva I, and its dark tiered tower was logged as the Black Pagoda in sailors' accounts as early as 1676.

Which English word for an unstoppable force comes from the deity whose chariot is hauled through Puri each year?

Juggernaut is the early English rendering of Jagannath, and its figurative sense of an unstoppable force became common in English in the mid-19th century.

Which Mauryan emperor, sickened by the slaughter of the Kalinga War around 261 BCE, renounced conquest for Buddhism?

Ashoka fought no major war after Kalinga, pledging never again to wage a war of conquest and devoting the rest of his life to ahimsa and dharma-vijaya, victory through dharma.

Which Odisha lagoon, the second largest coastal lagoon in the world, is home to endangered Irrawaddy dolphins?

Chilika Lake was one of India's first two Ramsar wetlands, listed in 1981, and it supports more than 225 bird species alongside the dolphins.

Which classical dance from Odisha's temples, revived by four gurus around 1950, is known for its tribhangi pose?

Odissi is often called the oldest surviving classical dance of India, and the tribhangi and chauka poses it uses appear in Jain Kalpasutra manuscripts discovered in Gujarat.

In which year did Parliament rename the state Orissa as Odisha and its language Oriya as Odia?

2011 brought the change through the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010 and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Bill, 2010, both passed by Parliament in Delhi.

Which planned city, laid out by German architect Otto Königsberger, became Odisha's capital in April 1948?

Bhubaneswar took over as capital on 13 April 1948, though settlement around it dates to the 1st century BCE, and its many surviving shrines earned it the nickname Temple City.

Which dam across the Mahanadi near Sambalpur, inaugurated by Nehru in 1957, is the longest earthen dam in the world?

Hirakud stretches nearly 26 km once its dykes are counted, and Nehru laid its first batch of concrete in April 1948, nine years before he opened it.

Which syrupy sweet won Odisha its own geographical indication tag in 2019, after a long origin feud with West Bengal?

Rasgulla in Odisha is a temple offering to goddess Lakshmi at Puri, and Odias mark a Rasagola Dibasa each July to reaffirm the state as the sweet's birthplace.

Which sport's senior men's World Cup did Odisha host twice within five years, in 2018 and again in 2023?

Hockey has become Odisha's signature sport: the 2018 tournament ran in the state capital, and for 2023 the state opened a 21,800-seat arena certified as the world's largest fully seated hockey stadium.

Which Odisha city, the state capital until 1948, was the 1897 birthplace of freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose?

Cuttack remains Odisha's judicial capital as the seat of the Orissa High Court, and it is called the Millennium City for its thousand-year history.

Which Kalinga emperor of the 2nd or 1st century BCE recorded his reign year by year in the Hathigumpha inscription?

Kharavela's record is cut in Brahmi with Jain phrasing, and it boasts of victorious expeditions against Magadha, the Satavahanas and a Tamil confederacy led by the Pandyas.

Which hill beside the Daya river, the presumed site of the Kalinga War, holds a peace pagoda built with Japanese help?

Dhauli's Shanti Stupa was raised in 1972 by the Japan Buddha Sangha and the Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangha, beside a set of Mauryan rock edicts cut into the hill.

Which 1817 uprising against Company rule, led by Jagabandhu, is hailed in Odisha as the first war of independence?

Paika Rebellion fighters rallied behind Lord Jagannath as a symbol of Odia unity, and in 2017 the state formally asked Delhi to rank their rising above the 1857 revolt, a request the Union government turned down in Parliament in 2021.

In which year did Odisha become a separate province on a linguistic basis, now marked every 1 April as Utkala Dibasa?

1936 stitched the new province together from Odia-speaking districts of Bihar and Orissa, the Madras Presidency and the Central Provinces, with John Austen Hubback as its first governor.

Which dynasty's ruler Anantavarman Chodaganga began the present Jagannath Temple at Puri in the early 12th century?

Eastern Ganga kings are remembered as the builders of Odisha's grandest temples, including the Ananta Vasudeva temple in today's state capital and the Madhukeshwara temple at Mukhalinga.

Which lawyer, honoured as Utkal Gourab, founded the Utkal Sammilani in 1903 to campaign for a united Odisha?

Madhusudan Das, also called Madhu Babu and the Grand Old Man of the state, has his 28 April birthday marked across Odisha as Lawyers' Day.

Which Odisha chief minister, a pilot who flew Indonesian leaders past the Dutch, funded UNESCO's Kalinga Prize?

Biju Patnaik flew Sjahrir and other leaders out of Jakarta in a Dakota in July 1947 on fuel from abandoned Japanese dumps, and his donation created the science-popularisation prize in 1952.

Who, the father of modern Odia literature, wrote Chha Maana Atha Guntha, India's first novel about exploited peasants?

Fakir Mohan Senapati wrote his four novels between 1897 and 1915, and he is also remembered as the father of Odia nationalism.

Which 12th-century poet's Gita Govinda, a lyric on Krishna and Radha, is sung every night in the Jagannath Temple?

Jayadeva's birthplace is disputed, with Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Odisha, a Kenduli in Bengal's Birbhum district and another in Bihar's Mithila all claiming him.

Which chariot, Jagannath's own at Puri's Rath Yatra, rolls on 16 wheels, two more than his brother Balabhadra's?

Nandighosha is also called Garudadhwaja, and each of the three chariots carries a wooden charioteer and four horses, with nine painted guardian deities around its sides.

To which shrine, said to be the deities' aunt's home, are Puri's chariots hauled for a week each Rath Yatra?

Gundicha Temple stands at the far end of the Bada Danda grand avenue from the main shrine, and it is named for the queen of Indradyumna, the temple's legendary builder.

Which Rath Yatra ritual has the Gajapati king of Puri, the deity's foremost servitor, ceremonially sweep the chariots?

Chhera Pahanra is performed by the Gajapati Maharaja as Adhyasevaka, the first and foremost servitor, and in 1975-76 the then king skipped it because he was away in Chicago.

Which tree supplies the wood for Puri's Jagannath idols, carved afresh in the Nabakalebara rite last held in 2015?

Neem is prescribed by the Bhavishya Purana as the most auspicious wood for Vishnu images, and the 2015 renewal came 19 years after the previous one in 1996.

What eight-spoked wheel of ashtadhatu alloy tops the Jagannath Temple in Puri, flying a different flag every day?

Nila Chakra is crafted from ashtadhatu, an alloy of eight metals, and is regarded as sacrosanct; by custom a fresh flag goes up on it daily.

Which three-day festival of womanhood in Odisha, when girls play on swings, marks the menstruation of Mother Earth?

Raja Parba takes its name from rajas, Sanskrit for menstruation, and its second day opens the solar month of Mithuna, from which the rainy season starts.

Which western Odisha harvest festival, held the day after Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrates the season's new rice?

Nuakhai falls on the fifth lunar day of Bhadrapada, and the first grain is presented to the presiding deity before any bird or animal can peck at it.

Which Bargarh festival drama, the world's largest open-air theatre, turns the town into Kansa's kingdom of Mathura?

Dhanu Yatra retells Krishna's visit to Mathura for the bow ceremony of his demon uncle Kansa, with the Jeera river standing in for the Yamuna and a nearby village as Gopapura.

Which Kartik Purnima fair on the Mahanadi bank recalls the overseas trading voyages of ancient Odia mariners?

Bali Jatra means 'voyage to Bali', and on the festival morning Odias float tiny boats of paper, banana bark and cork on rivers and ponds in memory of the Sadhaba sailors.

What name is given to food cooked in earthen pots over firewood in the Jagannath Temple and sold at Ananda Bazaar?

Mahaprasad comes out of the Rosa Ghara, described as the world's largest kitchen, where temple cooks called Suaras and Maha-Suaras prepare it, and it is sometimes fed to the dying.

Which peak in Koraput district, rising about 1,672 metres, is the highest point in Odisha?

Deomali lies near Barabandha village in the Kotia panchayat, about 70 km from Koraput town by way of Semiliguda.

Which Mayurbhanj tiger reserve is famed for pseudo-melanistic tigers, whose coats appear mostly black from inbreeding?

Simlipal has been part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009, and about 37% of its tigers carry the recessive trait that makes their coats look black rather than orange with stripes.

Which Kendrapara national park, India's second largest mangrove ecosystem, is a refuge for saltwater crocodiles?

Bhitarkanika's creeks and tidal deltas also shelter Indian pythons and king cobras, and its eastern edge is sealed off from the Bay of Bengal by the Gahirmatha beach.

Which sea turtle species has its largest and most important nesting beach in the world at Gahirmatha in Odisha?

Olive ridley females come ashore in synchronised mass nestings called arribadas, a habit they share only with the closely related Kemp's ridley.

At which Balasore beach, also home to DRDO's Integrated Test Range, does the sea retreat up to 5 km at low tide?

Chandipur's test range has launched Prithvi, Agni and Shaurya ballistic missiles along with the Akash and Barak 8 air-defence systems, while the resort town lies about 16 km from Balasore railway station.

Which Jajpur valley, holding most of India's chromite ore, made a 2007 list of the world's ten most polluted places?

Sukinda holds about 97% of India's proved chromite reserves, and the listing came from the Blacksmith Institute in September 2007.

Which Odisha zoo, the first in India to join WAZA, had three white tigers born to ordinary orange parents in 1980?

Nandankanan's white cubs were born to an ordinary orange father-daughter pair with no link to any other captive white tiger, and the park also breeds gharials and black panthers.

Which two-tiered waterfall in Mayurbhanj's tiger reserve, falling about 399 metres, is the second highest in India?

Barehipani's 399-metre total height comes from differing estimates, and the forest around it has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 2009.

Which 11th-century Shiva shrine with a 180-foot tower is the largest in Odisha's capital, the ancient Ekamra Kshetra?

Lingaraj Temple is credited to the Somavamsi king Yayati I, and its deity once stood under a mango tree, the Ekamra of the city's old name.

Which Odisha painting on cloth, a speciality of the craft village Raghurajpur, was made as souvenirs for Puri pilgrims?

Pattachitra takes its name from the Sanskrit patta, cloth, and chitra, picture, and Raghurajpur is also the birthplace of the dance guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.

Which metal is worked into Tarakasi, the 500-year-old filigree craft for which Odisha's former capital is nicknamed?

Silver filigree earned the city the title Silver City, and the craft is more than 500 years old, with Archaeological Survey photographs of its artisans at work from around 1873.

Which technique, tie-dyeing warp and weft threads before they are woven, gives Sambalpuri sarees their patterns?

Ikat is called bandha in Odisha, and the craft of tying and dyeing the yarn first, known as Bandhakala, is the signature of the Sambalpuri weave.

Which Odisha dessert with a name meaning 'burnt cheese' is baked for hours from cottage cheese, sugar and semolina?

Chhena poda gets its flavour mostly from caramelised sugar, and since 2022 Odisha has marked 11 April as Chhenapoda Dibasa.

Which Odia dish of cooked rice soaked or lightly fermented in water is celebrated with a dedicated day every 20 March?

Pakhala Dibasa was declared by popular initiative to be kept by Odias worldwide, and the dish is also among the daily offerings cooked inside the Jagannath Temple.

Which martial dance, whose three styles include Mayurbhanj in Odisha, joined UNESCO's heritage list in 2010?

Chhau comes in three styles named for their home regions, Purulia in West Bengal, Seraikella in Jharkhand and Mayurbhanj in Odisha, the first two of which use masks to identify characters.

Which insects and their eggs go into Odisha's kai chutney, the tribal dish given a GI tag in 2024?

Red weaver ants, Oecophylla smaragdina, are collected with their eggs from the forests of eastern India, and the chutney is credited locally with nutritional and medicinal value.

Which Puri-born artist, given the Padma Shri in 2014, is famous worldwide for sculptures built from beach sand?

Sudarsan Pattnaik set a Guinness World Record in February 2017 with a 48-foot sand castle on Puri beach, a mark since beaten in Germany, and was born in 1977 into a Karan family in the town's Marchikote Lane.

Why are Odia script letters rounded, with the top line of their Siddham ancestor curled into an umbrella shape?

Writing on palm leaves, which tear when scored with too many straight lines, pushed Odia scribes toward curves as the script evolved over more than 1,000 years from a Siddham variant.

Which Odisha city, whose steel plant was built with Krupp and Demag, became the largest German colony outside Germany?

Rourkela's plant, the first in India's public sector, was established in February 1959 on some 7,700 hectares acquired from tribal inhabitants, with Nehru having announced the project in 1953.

Which Odisha sprinter, raised in a weaver's family in Jajpur, became India's first athlete to openly come out in 2019?

Dutee Chand said the 2018 Supreme Court ruling decriminalising gay sex gave her the courage to speak, and she is the third Indian woman ever to run the 100 m at an Olympics.