Jagatsinghpur District

Jagatsinghpur District is one of the thirty districts of Odisha in the eastern coast of India. It became a new district on 1 April 1993 (Vide Government Notification No.14218/R dated 27.03.1993 and EOG No.459 dated 01.04.1993) being separated from Cuttack district. It lies between 860 3’ E to 860 45’ East longitude and between 19⁰58^' to 20⁰23^' north latitude. Its ancient name was Hariharapur. The city of Jagatsinghpur is the district headquarters. With 88.5% rate of male literacy and 68.5% of female literacy, the district ranks better than the national average in literacy and is one of the developed districts in Odisha. The district tops the list in male literacy and second in female literacy rate in Odisha.

Deltaic and partly littoral; the district of Jagatsinghpur is triangular in shape and small in geographical proportions. It is the smallest district in the state and covers a landmass of 1759 km². It has a history of its own dating back to the 6th century AD, having contemporaneity with the Prachi valley civilization. Its archaeological remains, navigation network, inland and overseas trade, fabric manufacturing & designing, religious tolerance and epoch-making glorious role in freedom struggle; have a savor of distinctiveness.

The places is predominately recognized due to its existence situating to the close proximity of River Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal heralded many eventual episodes and memorable heritage on the anneals of mankind.

History

Jagatsinghpur, being on the Odisha Coastal Plain, has much of the same history as the rest of Coastal Odisha. It was briefly ruled by the Mauryas: several coins from Mauryan period have been found in the district. Afterwards it formed part of the Chedi kingdom of Kharavela. Although Samudragupta conquered the territory during his extensive conquest, no evidence suggests the later Guptas controlled Jagatsinghpur directly. However Gupta support to Buddhist monasteries in the region has been recorded.

The history of Jagatsinghpur comprises the conglomeration of Hindu, Muslim, Maratha and British realms. The East India Company established their arsenals at Hariharpur in 1600. Understanding of the origin of the name of Jagatsinghpur and its nomenclature mostly depends upon the legends. Legend says the name of Jagatsinghpur (formerly Hariharpur) has come into existence as a revenue village, either in Mughal or Maratha rule after the name of Jagatsingh, the son of Bhagat Singh, an Amildar in Cuttack-Puri Sarkar or Cuttack Chakada since 1786. Bhagat Singh worked as an Amildar either in Mughal or Maratha rule. The Maratha administration kept the place under their jurisdiction and appointed Jagat Singh in 1748 to collect revenue. He collected the Peshkush and Nazrana and remained an unchallenged and uninterrupted administrator for a pretty long period.

As per the report of S.L. Maddo, the Settlement Officer, there was a tradition to name some villages after Amildars of that area. Jagatsinghpur had already become a revenue village before 1877 as per the revenue map of Jagatsinghpur village in 1877-78 Settlement. The said legend is partially tenable because of the total that the administrative unit Amil was introduced by Mughal rule which 4 continued during the Maratha rule also. Prior to Maratha rule the name Jagatsinghpur as a village did not exist. The British navigator Bruton who visited this place in 1633 did not mention Jagatsinghpur in his report. The very same place according to him was Hariharapur, a prosperous village. Hariharpur was an important village before the first half of the seventeenth century and it was declared as a Pragana under Cuttack Chakada during Maratha rule. The then Jagatsinghpur revenue village was not so important to be declared as Pragana or Thana till 1817.

During the Paika Vidroha (Rebellion of Paikas) in 1817, Hariharpur was a Thana. The then Jagatsinghpur became more prominent than Hariharpur for which the British administration renamed Hariharpur Thana as Jagatsinghpur Thana. During Maratha rule both Lala Kruparam Roy, Bada Dewan (Senior Dewan) and Lala Haribansa Roy, Sana Dewan (Junior Dewan) were inhabitants of village Lalasahi Jagatsinghpur and by exercising their power and position they reaffirmed their native village as Jagatsinghpur. Jagatsinghpur established its importance after it became a Thana and then the British rule declared Jagatsinghpur as a Sub-division in 1866 but the status of Sub-division was withdrawn in 1874 on account of low revenue collection. After independence, Jagatsinghpur was once more declared as a Revenue Sub-Division in 1967 and subsequently Jagatsinghpur Sub-Division was declared as an independent revenue district in April 1993 by the State Government.

Consequent to the bifurcation of old Cuttack District into four new districts, the Jagatsinghpur District was created on 1 April 1993. The new district was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Biju Patnaik in an auspicious ceremony. The foundation stone to the District Collectorate was laid in November 1995 by the then Deputy Chief Minister Basant Kumar Biswal and it was inaugurated in November 1997.

Independence movement

The district had a large contribution to the freedom struggle of the country. It was Gopabandhu Das, the chief animating force, making Congress activities popular in Odisha. From the beginning of his career, he had associated himself with different sessions of the Congress. In 1920, after the special session of the Congress at Kolkata, Gopabandhu decided to carry on Congress programme in Odisha launched by Mahatma Gandhi. The Utkal Provincial Congress Committee was constituted early in 1921 and Gopabandhu became its first president. The arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in Cuttack on 23 March 1921 galvanized the Non-cooperation movement. It was Gopabandhu who translated the speeches of Gandhi which prompted the people to join the Non-cooperation movement. Under his leadership, by 30 June 1921, the Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee collected Rs.21000/- for Tilak Swaraj fund and enrolled 39000 Congress members. To carry out Congress programmes and to train workers and volunteers, Alaka Ashram was established in the district in the year 1922. To establish this Ashram, Gopabandhu Chaudhury, Bhagirathi Mahapatra and Pranakrushna Padhiary acted as the chief mobilizing force. It also became the meeting place of young volunteers (Banarsena) and published a weekly „Utkalika‟ edited by Sarala Devi, spreading Congress ideas like boycott of foreign cloth, law court and government institutions etc. The district had its contribution to the Civil Disobedience movement. Gandhiji had started this movement by breaking the salt law on 6 April 1930.

The Salt Satyagraha was a powerful movement in Coastal Odisha. The first batch of Satyagraha, led by Gopabandhu Chaudhury and Acharya Harihar, started for Inchudi from Swaraj Ashram at Cuttack. Kujanga was another important centre of salt Satyagraha. Rama Devi, Malati Devi, Sarala Devi, Rani Bhagyabati Patamahadei and hundreds of women volunteers joined the movement and violated the salt law. The centres of salt Satyagraha in the district were Chatua, Kaliapata, Paradeep, Erasama and Daradia. Apart from the organisation of salt Satyagraha, marches, boycott of foreign cloth, propagation of Khadi, picketing before excise shops and other constructive programmes formed part of the civil disobedience movement. This movement was withdrawn in May 1934. Sarala Devi was the first woman freedom fighter and satyagrahi from Jagatsinghpur in the freedom struggle. On 8 August 1942, the All India Congress Committee in its meeting at Bombay passed the Quit India resolution and gave a call for mass struggle to achieve freedom. Centres of Congress movement like Swaraj Ashram at Cuttack, Bari Ashram at Binjharpur, Alaka Ashram at Jagatsinghpur, Kendupatana Spinning Centre, etc. were declared unlawful. Prominent Congress leaders were taken into custody by 10 August 1942. The Quit India programmes included attack on post offices, police stations, tahasil offices and such other public offices to paralyze the administration and force the British to quit India. Such incidents occurred in the wake of the movements at various places such as Tirtol, Erasama and Jagatsinghpur. It became a forceful movement to make India free. Notable freedom fighter of the district Surendra Nath Dwibedi came to lime light by taking part in the Quit India movement. After years of struggle, finally the country became independent and the district moved forward in the path of modernization and development.

Archaeological Importance

The District Jagatsinghpur, earlier a part of the Cuttack District is rich in archaeological remains. Coins, inscriptions, images and monuments are main historical antiquities known in the district. Silver, punch marked coins have been reported from the district of Cuttack, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Bolangir and Ganjam. A trove comprising 379 silver punch marked coins was discovered from a hillock at Salipur police station and they belong to Maurya period. In 1931–32, imitations of Kushan coins also known as Puri Kushan coins were discovered from undivided Cuttack district. Odisha was not directly ruled by Guptas although a few gold coins of Guptas were found from the state. In the district of Cuttack, an archer type gold coins of Chandragupta-II, was discovered from Lalitgiri. It has the standing figure of the king as an archer, Garuda standard on the obverse and Goddess Laxmi on the reverse. Gold coins weighing 5 to 7 grains, called Ganga fanams have been discovered from Danduasinghpur under Jagatsinghpur police station. These fanams are attributed to the rulers of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. The various symbols on the obverse include a crouching bull, sankha, chakra etc. while on the reverse ankush, kuthara and some numerals.

The religious belief and rituals of the people find expression in the archaeological monuments of the district which includes temples and images of various pantheons. The temples generally follow the Kalingan temple style in having a curvilinear superstructure for the sanctuary and pidha deula, for the frontal porch. The Lingaraj Mahadeva temple near Balia, on the bank of Biluakhai river, is an important specimen of the early series of the temples and can be assigned to the 8th to 9th centuries. The small Rekha temple is Triratha in plan and has Mahisamardini as one of the Parsvadevatas. The Singhnath Siva temple in an islet of the Mahanadi at Singhnath is the most important Siva temple of 9th century A.D. The Amangai temple in another island of the Mahanadi near Kandarpur is now in ruins. Its pyramidal Jagmohan seems to be a later addition, but the Deula, pancharatha in plan, is a developed specimen of the Kalingan style. Sathalpur in Jagatsighpur sub-division had a temple for Saptamatruka and the images still exist there. Buddhist images of the district hail from Tarapur and Paradeep garh. The image of Lokeswar at Paradeepgarh, worshipped as Bisnu-Lokanath, is a unique temple of Gajaprustha style.

The department of State Archaeology was set up in 1965. Dr. Nabin Kumar Sahu, an eminent historian had made an initial attempt to make a survey of many important archaeological sites in the district and later Sri P.K. Ray, Superintendent, State Museum had identified 19 old monuments which are still maintained by the State Government. With the grant made available from the 10th and 11th Financial Commission, Sri B.K. Rath, Superintendent, State Archives in his recent survey (2005-2006) has found out a number of monuments in the blocks of Kujang, Balikuda, Naugaon, Tirtol, Jagatsinghpur, Raghunathpur and Biridi which belong to the 7 th century and post 7th century AD. This indicates that a civilization had flourished in this track around 4th and 5th century AD along with the Prachy Civilization on the southern side of the river Devi. Though there has been no excavation so far in this district, old sculptures and archaeological remains are available in plenty in the Lingaraj Temple, Balia; Kundeshwara and Sathalapur, Kosthi, Dhanisho, Kantara, Nasik, Paradeep Garh, Somanatha temple of Chatra, Tirthamatha of Tanra and Nandigram of Naugaon.

Sculptural depictions of Jain Tirthankaras, particularly of Rishabhnath and Parshwanath are found in Nasik (in the temple premises of Khandeswar), Manapur-Gadama (in Raghunathpur Block), Nuadhana in Biridi Block, Sahada (in the temple of Suvarneswara) and in Sujang in the temple of Dhabaleswara. All Tirthankara images found in Jagatsinghpur district are in Kayotsarga Mudra and they probably belong to the 9th -10th century AD. Though no Buddhist Chaitya, Stupa or Vihara have been discovered in this district, a plenty of Buddhist archaeological remains have been traced by various scholars over ages. Dr. Nabin Kumar Sahoo and Professor Donaldson have made an extensive study on the Buddhist images found in Tarapur, Balia, Kamalapur, Baredia, Nasik, Kalyanpur, Dihasahi, Kundeshwar, Kaduapada, Tanra, Paradeep Garh, Mudupur and Marichipur. The four stone sculptures preserved in a newly built temple in Tarapur have been identified as the Buddha in ''Bhumisparsha mudra'', the eight-armed Marichi, Manjubara Manjushree and the last image is goddess Prajna Paramita. In the Bhagavati temple of Balia we find Tara's image. In Kamalapur village there is a five-headed Oddiyana Marichi, cutely standing on a chariot drawn by seven swines. In Kaduapada village we also find another Marichi image. She is eight-armed and is being driven on a chariot by seven swines. In Paradeep Garh we find two temples. In the Pareshwara temple in the northern niche there is Avalokiteshwara Padmapani. The Lokeswara Temple in Paradeep Garh has drawn the attention of many scholars. The sanctum sanctorum has been built following the Buddhist temple architectural plan. It is Gajaprustha as it resembles the back and rear portion of an elephant. This architectural representation is unique in India. The Lokeswara image enshrined in the sanctum sanctorum is four-armed. Buddhist Lokeswara holding a string of beads, a water pitcher and a stump of lotus and the fourth hand showering blessings. Probably this temple belongs to the 8th -9 th century AD. The above narration is merely a brief introduction to the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments in the district of Jagatsinghpur. A panoramic picture is available in the 1st volume of "Jagatsinghpur: Atita O’ Barttamana", compiled by Dr. Bholanath Rout (2006).

Geography

Jagatsinghpur is situated on an elevation of 15 meters (49 feet). It is the smallest district in the state and covers a landmass of 1759 km². The place lies between 86⁰3^' to 86⁰45^' East Longitude and between 19⁰58^' to 20⁰23^' North latitude. It is predominantly recognized due to its triangular geographical propinquity with the Prachi valley in the south and that of Chitrotpala in the north and is surrounded by the districts of Kendrapara in north, Cuttack in west, Puri in south and Bay of Bengal in East. It enjoys a temperate climate. Winter is cold, while summer is hot and humid. Four major rivers of Odisha irrigate the mainland of Jagatsinghpur. These are the Mahanadi, Kathajodi, Devi and Biluakhai. The district is prone to cyclonic rainfalls during the monsoons. The cyclone of 1999 caused maximum damage in this district. Mahanadi is the longest river in Jagatsinghpur and Alaka, Biluakhai, Hansua, Devi and Paika are among the major rivers which pass through the district. Two main canals are Taladanda & Machhagaon which are chief sources of flow irrigation
Taladanda
canal (ତାଳଦଣ୍ଡା କେନାଲ୍) is the longest and largest canal in Odisha. Dug up by the British in 1869, it ran parallel alongside Mahanadi river in Cuttack and dropped in the bay of Bengal in Paradeep. The 85 km long canal was the lifeline of all the adjoining areas like Jagatsinghpur, Chandbali, Jatni and helped the farmers of these areas immensely. The work of the canal was started by Sir Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, then commissioner of Cuttack, the founder of Ravenshaw College and the most loved Britisher in Odisha.

Divisions

This district was subdivided into 8 Tehsils, they are Jagatsinghpur, Kujang, Tirtol, Balikuda, Biridi, Naugaon, Ersama and Raghunathpur. The last four are new tehsils created in 2008 and it is also divided into 8 blocks, 8 Tahasils, 1,321 Revenue Villages, 76 R.I. Circles, 194 Gram Panchayats, 1320 villages, 13 Police stations and two Municipalities functioning in the District.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Jagatsinghpur district has a population of 1,136,971, roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Rhode Island. This gives it a ranking of 410th in India (out of a total of 640).The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was only 7.5%. Jagatsinghapur has a sex ratio of 968 females for every 1000 males, and an average literacy of 86.59%: 92.38 percent male literacy and 80.6 percent female literacy. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 21.83% and 0.69% of the population respectively.

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 92.32% of the population in the district spoke Odia, 3.71% Urdu

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