It is almost completely forgotten today, but there was a time when a giant wall made of thorny bushes and dead vegetation snaked its way for some 4000 km throughout India - from Kohat in NWFP to Sonepur in Odisha. This was the Customs Line, better known as the Great Hedge The Hedge originated in British attempts to keep salt manufactured in the rest of India out of Bengal Presidency. Bengal charged a tax on salt at the rate of Rs 3.25 per 40 kg as opposed to less than Rs 2 elsewhere.

On #InternationalMotherLanguageDay, a thread on my own - a variant of Hindustani spoken by more than a half million people in Coastal Odisha, but one that lacks a recognised name and is often subsumed into Hindi or Urdu. This however ignores the significant impact of Odia on it The grammar of Odia Hindustani is that of simplified Hindi/Urdu. Beames and O'Malley infact called it 'corrupt Hindustani'. Its origins are unclear - but broadly has to do with migration of Khari Boli or Persian speaking soldiers to Odisha since the 13th century

Bangalore's iconic High Court and Cubbon Park have a Koraput connection as well. It is in the figure of an Irishman, Col Richard Sankey - their architect, who also connected Koraput to the rest of India through a pucca road for the first time. Sankey was a veteran of 1857 before moving to Civil engineering full time and becoming the Chief Engineer of Mysore and later Madras. It was in the latter role that he was given the task of connecting what were then known as the Agency areas of Ganjam, Vizag and Godavari Dists.

Another map. This one is from 1832 and you can see that it is almost as good as a modern day one - a tribute to the map making abilities of the British surveyors. Let us see some interesting elements in this (1/n) Note the thin black line running along the coast from Chilika to Puri. This was the original highway. The mouth of Chilika was almost closed & was crossed on foot through marshy land near Malud in Puri. The Zamindar of Malud got his title for helping the British cross it in 1803

A non exhaustive thread on the origin of Cuttack street and market names

Lal Bagh - Named after the Lal Bagh Palace of Mughal Governors. Later used by Marathas and British. Present building built in 1870 for Commissioner of Orissa. Now Shishu Bhavan. Meria Bazar - Either named after the medhs of the various pujas or the colony of the rescued Merias from what is now Kandhamal who were saved from human sacrifice by the Meria Commission of 1840s

Thread on #utkaldivas

Odisha's present form is the culmination of a long and painful process. Undivided Cuttack, Puri and Balasore were part of Bengal since 1803. Undivided Ganjam and Koraput were a part of Madras since earlier. Sambalpur was with Central Provinces (1/n) Rest of Odisha was all princely states with Mayurbhanj as the largest - together called Garhjat. Idea of Odia speaking province was considered not feasible as four separate small British tracts separated by huge native states would be admin nightmare. (2/n)