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Paika Akhada
Paika akhada is an Odia term which roughly translates as "warrior gymnasium" or "warrior school". The martial arts performed by the people of Khandayat caste (peasant-militias) and Gopal caste (Cowherds) in Odisha, eastern India. In former times they served as the Paikas (foot Soldiers) under the kings. Today's paika akhada are used for practicing the traditional physical exercises in addition to the paika dance, a performance art with rhythmic movements and weapons being hit in time to the drum. It incorporates acrobatic manoeuvres and use of the khanda (straight sword), patta (guantlet-sword), sticks, and other weapons. The word ''paika'' comes from the Odia ''padatika'' meaning infantry. "''Akhada''" or ''akhara'' refers to a training hall, or in this case referring to a particular string of such schools. The former spelling is an alternate transcription of the proper Sanskrit ''akhara'' in which the Oriya letter ''ଡ଼ ṛ'', a flapped sound, is rendered as ''d'' as in mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odia Language
Odia (, ISO: , ; formerly rendered Oriya ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the official language in Odisha (formerly rendered Orissa), where native speakers make up 82% of the population, and it is also spoken in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Odia is one of the many official languages of India; it is the official language of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand. The language is also spoken by a sizeable population of 700,000 people in Chhattisgarh. Odia is the sixth Indian language to be designated a classical language, on the basis of having a long literary history and not having borrowed extensively from other languages. The earliest known inscription in Odia dates back to the 10th century CE. History Odia is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Aryan language family. It descends from Odra Prakrit, which evolved from Magadhi Prakrit, which was spoken in east India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
