Bhubaneswar, December 15: The Indian National Trust for and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) on Friday released the book “Beyond Obvious: Odisha-Karnataka Relationship Over The Ages” written by scientist-turned-author Subhransu Mohapatro here.
Speaking on the occasion, retired bureaucrat Sanjib Hota said that many connections exist between the Odias and Kannadigas since ancient times.
“The teachings of Kalinga war had affected life in Karnataka through Emperor Ashoka’s inscriptions which are found in highest numbers in Karnataka,” said Hota.
INTACH State convenor AB Tripathy said that different narratives of the epochal historical events have been written by historians over the years. The history of the vanquished and the winners has always been written with bias. The time has come to write a correct history which is based on facts, he said.
Noted environmentalist Dr. Biswajit Mohanty spoke of the contribution of modern day Odias in the economy of Karnataka. He said that the maximum number of successful start-ups have been set up by Odias.
Dr. Adyasha Das said that while frequent battles between Vijayanagar Empire and Odisha Gajapati’s were common in the middle ages, today a deep economic connection between the two states is evolving with Karnataka being home to a million Odias.
Young historian Deepak Nayak said that proper documentation and research on the Kalingan influence in the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telengana and Tamil Nadu has not been done.
“These four States have history related to the Ganga and the Suryavamsi Gajapatis. Intach Odisha is soon earmarking on a project to document the entire Kalingan heritage in the four southern states and bring out a detailed report,” said Nayak.
Since the last two years, a team of INTACH Odisha, under the supervision of Deepak Kumar Nayak, has been exploring the region. Nayak has already identified and located many unknown monuments, inscriptions and artifacts in Andhra and Telengana.
Many unknown aspects of the influence of the Odia emperors who had extended their kingdom till Deep South have not been studied. Intach’s project will be the first detailed survey of Kalingan heritage in these States.
INTACH Bhubaneswar Chapter convenor Anil Dhir spoke of the Odia diaspora which exists in many States and the manner in which they have assimilated in the adopted places.
